Coleman Barks surprised me with a gift. It was his book Xenia—a book of definitions—
words he had culled from the OED and other arcane
places. Some words were the creation of
Coleman himself. I had just spent ten
days in a poetry workshop that he led at Hollyhock on Cortes Island in British
Columbia. The word Coleman wanted me to
look at and perhaps meditate upon was “isomer,” defined as “something very like
but in another energy state.”
Is that how Coleman saw me?
In another energy state? I know my
energy state at Hollyhock was happy. Our
group hiked, swam in the sea and we even gathered oysters that we consumed on
the half shell. We saw otters, eagles and other wildlife. And we wrote poems. It was a wonderful time. I wrote this poem
after a hike with a naturalist who showed us the tiny jawbone of a shrew he had
found.
We chased all our bugbears away
with the jawbone of a shrew
as we hiked
all down the rocky
blue afternoon.
Otter. Watercolor by Barbara Spring
For me, writing poetry is a journey of discovery and a nitor
delight. (Nitor is from Xenia)
Coleman had inscribed Xenia
with this note:
For Barbara, With gratitude and admiration for your writing. Coleman
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