WHILE I WAS CLEARING THE CAT LITTER,

an idea for a new poetry book surfaced. This is why I clean the cat litter. Anyhoo: this new poetry book (is about and) will be entitled KING LEAR'S FOOL. Excited am Moi!

Speaking of books, 'twas a pleasure to have a poetry discussion rise with the son this morning. I happened to have my manuscript-in-progress -- MICHEL'S REPRODUCTIONS OF THE LOST FLAG: SCULPTURES -- on the counter and he asked about it. And, among other things, we discussed the evolution of its title per

Sculptures of Reproductions

Sculpting Reproductions of Emptiness

Sculptures of Reproductions of Emptiness

Reproductions of the reproductions of the empty

REPRODUCTIONS OF THE LOST FLAG: SCULPTURES

to finally its final (I think) title:

MICHEL’S REPRODUCTIONS OF THE LOST FLAG: SCULPTURES

I explained how this book is based on sculpting verses out of the prose poem blocks in my 1998 book, REPRODUCTIONS OF THE EMPTY FLAGPOLE. And that I'd found it unexpectedly complicated to generate a title that hewed to the new collection's concepcual underpinnings that might be evident in its two epigraphs:

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”
—Michelangelo (1475-1564)

What if the block of stone was a block of prose?
—Eileen R. Tabios

I said that the reference to "Michel" referred to "Michelangelo" but that since a reproduction is not quite the thing itself, I shortened the name to approximate-due-to-reproduction the name. I said, "It's just like when you take a photograph. Your photograph is not the same thing as what you capture in your camera."

That made my photographer-son's eyes light up in understanding. What a blessing to see that light. Such a different nature of conversation than what he encapsulates in his Facebook post where he claims that when I talk about being a poet, I usually only talk about making books.  I look forward to more poetry discussions with moi son!

But here's the thing, when I was clearing the cat litter this morning and an idea for a new poetry project came up, I didn't think of writing a new poem entitled "King Lear's Fool." I thought specifically of a new BOOK with that title. That says something about Moi as a poet -- I'll leave it to others, though, to articulate that matter...