Hello!
Adam and I are finally at home, after multiple weeks on the road and spending time in four different states. And it feels so good to be plopped down on our couch with my laptop!
We spent the last three days at a music festival in Iowa. And it was a million degrees. And there were a million people. And I'm so tired. But we had fun! We made it through with very minimal sunburn. And we managed to stay pretty hydrated throughout the whole ordeal! We saw The Japanese House! And Chappell Roan (for the third time in a year lol)! And Noah Kahn! And a bunch of other bands!
It was great and fun and exciting AND you'll probably never see me at a music festival again!
Adam's cousin and her family live near the area where the festival was held, and they were gracious enough to let our sweaty little selves stay at their place! It was so fun to get to spend time with them and extra nice to have a soft bed to come home to at the end of the long days (I probably would have screamed at Adam all night if he brought me to an all-day outdoor event in the middle of summer WITHOUT a body of water AND made me camp for three nights in 90+ degree weather)!!!
Anyway, the week was spent with amazing music and even better conversation! And now we're ready to be posted up at home for a little while (before we go on a trip again in a few weeks, because it never stops)!
I'm giving myself a strict writing schedule for the coming days and am hoping to get a ton of work done on my novel! I've re-written the first two chapters and am excited to keep getting through revisions!
I also wrote a short story in the Notes app of my phone throughout the festival because I realized I was supposed to submit something to my writing group to have workshopped! And had nothing to offer because I’ve only been working on revisions! But it felt so nice to actually write something quick and casual and new!
It would have been smart of me to jot down poem ideas throughout the festival too, so it would have been easier to sit down and write this. But unfortunately, that didn't come to mind! I'm going to blame the heat! Good poetry is probably never written by someone sitting in the direct August sunlight for hours and hours and wearing a sweat-soaked cut-off tank top! I was fighting for my life out there.
So, here's a poem draft I didn't want to write because I simply wanted to keep watching The Perfect Match but I wrote anyway! (I'll also say: good poetry is probably rarely written by overtired people smashing keys and trying to put words together quickly! But also good poetry can't come from poetry that was never written! So maybe it'll be good someday)! A messy little draft about the calmness of nights at home, when things are boring and good (and being constantly anxious):
BUT DO YOU LOVE ME AFTER THE HEATWAVE? with a sunburnt face and glasses? Or a little mean in the drive-through because I don't care how many chicken nuggets you order? What if it ends somewhere and you don't tell me? What about the days when there's nothing to say, a dry throat and tired eyes? A hand next to a hand not touching. The TV louder than our thoughts, and a bag of chips between us. When I ask if you still love me, you laugh. But it's the way you say yes even when you're busy or soccer is on. Or you make me cry when you turn the TV off. Your focus switched, hand on my face like a magnet.