honeydunce

I have this great/crazy memory from late fall 2007–night time on a farm in Evans City. I yelled some poetry at a bonfire next to Alan while he played guitar. Afterwards I walked to the barn with a wine bottle in hand and witnessed redbeard Joel, Markus and others stomping around in crazy circles, shouting PERSONAL SPACE PERSONAL SPACE! at each other and at the sky/the ground/themselves. Their circles grew tighter, their stomps louder and in time with each other. They were shouting PERSONAL SPACE standing clavicle to clavicle, next to the mouths of others, spinning back out into their own–you got it–personal space. A sight to be seen, indeed.

That’s what I’m thinking about now. Personal space. There is one area in the new apartment that I am already fixated on, obsessing about. A writing nook. My office. My refuge. The place where I will get shit done. A place for bookmaking, scribbling poems, editing, and schoolwork. A corner of comfort and inspiration. I know where this personal space of mine will be(in the sunroom of the new place), but it’s the how I’m working through. I have the desk, aka the spinal cord of the matter. Next I guess it’s a matter of organizing, filing, and images.

To soothe my daydreaming, I started perusing the desks of the well knowns and not-so-well knowns. Something to create sparks from imagery. Here are some favorites:


Nicholas Mosley
Why I like this one: the clutter, the disarray, the proximity of books in the background. Mosley mentions he keeps pieces of folk art that he has collected around him.

Ciaran Carson
Why I like this one: All of the books. The chair, and the quaint little tea tray set up on the nearby table. I just purchased a set of old funny trays from the thrift store so I could definitely see stashing one aside for the writing room. For coffee, couscous, that sort of thing.

Raymond Briggs
What I like: Various posters/images tacked to the wall in front of the desk and around the window. I am a big image-inspired person, and currently I hang various images/pictures from rows of baker’s string above my desk. I will probably repeat this measure in my new place. I love being able to look up at something that visually moves me and pull words from that. I also love the use of red at his desk, especially the filing cabinets. I also love that at first glance, the desk area appears cluttered, but everything is pretty organized.

Will Self
Holy post-it, batman. I don’t really use them at home, but I really like the illusion this creates. More:

Wowza.

One of my favorite writing areas belongs to Hunter S.Thompson, though I can’t find an image online to show you right now. Other things I’ll keep in mind:

“The state of my desk is always an indication of how the writing is going.” - Ronan Bennett (how true)

“There is method in the seeming chaos. Trust me.” –Ian Rankin