I really did value what Mackey had to say, and I wish I had been able to go to his reading the other night, but crew practice got in the way. Like Courtney, one of the things I found to be most interesting was the idea of initiating a thought but never completing it. There have been times in my writing when I have intentionally left something unexplained, but I never thought about why I did that until I heard Mackey speak in class. I also had the opportunity to read some more of his work from Eroding Witness and I found that it actually clarified some of the questions I had about his other poems that we went over in class. It made me realize how connected all of his poems are and, more importantly, how much skill in writing must be required to make the poems so dependent on each other. I am more than a little tempted to visit one of my friends at UC Santa Cruz at some point and see Mackey again.
On another note, I am also looking forward to our next workshop. I don't feel as though my most recent poem is on par with the others I have written because I tried to go in a slightly different direction with it that I have in the past, so I will really value the input of my peers. See everyone tomorrow.