Bedrest Ghazal

This is by far the hardest form I've ever attempted. I think it came out very poorly, partly because of the phrase I chose to repeat at the end of each couplet (it was an assignment), partly because I don't think the subject matter necessarily fits the form. However, it's a draft, and I'll sit on it a little while longer. At least I've written something so far in 2006.

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I think the hardest part about working for the Antarctic Program is that I think I've written my fill of Antarctic poems, but it's still a very large part of my life. I'm having a hard time finding something else to write about--and I've always been a writer of landscapes. It's just so hard to write well about having a baby without falling into Overused Metaphor Lake. OK, it's a challenge for this year.

By the way, if any of you are going to AWP, check out the panel on Antarctic writers.... I'm not part of the panel, having never gotten a grant from the NSF to go just to write poems, but will be there.