I used to feel compelled to start and finish one book before starting another. Now I feel compelled to juggle many books (and ideas and languages) at once.
Still, there is the residual guilt.
Finish what you start.
Finish every last morsel on your plate.
You can't leave the table till you finish.
Even if it gets cold.
Fuck that.
I want it hot! hot! hot!
So I juggle.
I am learning to live with my juggling.
For the last three weeks this is my juggling routine:
I read 3 poems from Ronald Johnson's Ark, 3 poems from William Bronk's Selected, 3 poems from Rosmarie Waldrop's Blindsight, 3 poems from Maurice Scully's Livelihood.
In between the readings (or during, time can be frozen) I jot down words in my small notebook.
Then I reconstruct them and add them into my long poem Campanology.
Every 3 days (or so) I re-read and re-order Campanology (try to find connective tissue).
mainly it's:
Read/Juggle
Re-arrange
read/juggle
re-arrange
read/juggle
re-arrange
Any other jugglers out there?