I walk to work everyday, about 5 miles round trip. and as I get ready to leave for work this morning I wonder how poetry affects my day job. work, the kind we do for a steady income, has quite an impact on our reading and writing lives: loss of time and energy is only a couple of things. but working does have its benefits too, for example a wider exposure of vernaculars, friendships established among co-workers and so on, an independance from academe.

but how does all these things go re: my writing. surely my day job has some influence, much like my walking to and from work. in walking I can slow down long enough to meander, discover local architecture, talk with people, watch how individuals behave as they also walk and drive, check out my favorite bookstores. all these I know have influenced my writing: if not in subject matter than certainly in compositional methods. et tu?