Eliot Inspirations on the Eve of Epiphany

I wrote 3 poems this morning--3!!  Of course, I haven't written much during the month of December:  one that I wrote when I needed it for the academic essay I was writing and one set of haiku for a poetry meeting that I blogged about in this post.

In that post, I also talked about our poetry assignment for our next poetry meeting:  to write something in response to T. S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men."  I had ideas for my poem, "The Hollow Women."  And now I have 3 poems!  Will I keep them as individual poems or will I weave them together?  I'll likely do both.

I wrote about the women who work in offices and the women who work in the houses of the women who work in offices.  I had also been reading Jan Richardson's post about the wise men and Epiphany and what if women came too?  She also includes in that post a link to a free download of her Retreat for Women's Christmas, which includes poems and artwork and blessings and writing/thinking prompts--a great resource if you're in the mood for a contemplative treat with a nonobnoxious spiritual theme.

For weeks now (decades really), I've been thinking about the great mass migrations we've seen, people moving from the south to the north in search of better lives.  Something triggered the English major part of my brain, and I thought, didn't T.S. Eliot write a poem about the wise men?

Indeed he did write "Journey of the Magi."  Ah, the joys of the Internet!  I pulled up that poem, and I wrote my 3rd poem, about undocumented immigrants making their way through the desert.

I don't think I've ever referenced T.S. Eliot as much in just one day.  I recognize the importance of Eliot, being the good English major with a Ph.D. that I am, but he's never been one of my touchstone poets.  But I've been having fun with him this morning.

And I'm not done yet!