Today, while hurrying

...to complete a couple days worth of gardening in the space of four hours in order to beat the heavy rain that's on its way, I stopped briefly to watch a Tiger Swallowtail feed on a Siberian Iris. I then remembered the shots I had taken of a swallowtail a couple weekends ago at the very outhouse in my last video post. Well, it was between the outhouse and the filleting shack.


Tonight I started reading Little Eurekas: A Decade's Thoughts on Poetry by Robyn Sarah. It's a very readable book, at least so far. I'm on page 35. In the chapter titled "Poetry's Bottom Line: Towards an Essay on Poetics" she lists six signs of a good poem. All six ring true, but the last one came as a surprise: "It makes me want to write a poem myself." I know I sometimes need to write after reading certain poems. The urge strikes and I act on it. Without question. I hadn't thought about why until now. That's what surprises me.

Update:
June 26 - It rained all day. Rained hard. The cat slept. Groaned off and on. And so it was raining when I came upon "No Road" by Philip Larkin, a poem Robyn Sarah looks at in Little Eurekas. It's funny because when I was in Saskatoon last week, I bought Philip Larkin's Collected Poems, the very book from which this poem was taken. [I should note that the version I linked to above is not the same. The version on the site goes "And still would be followed. A little longer, / And time would be the stronger " while the version in the book goes like this: "And still would be allowed. A little longer, / And time will be the stronger".]

Update:
June 27- It's sunny today. Right now I'm reading Quick by Anne Simpson. I really should start packing. I'm taking Quick and Little Eurekas along on this road trip. Have a great Canada Day!