1. The Poet and his Muse


    Date: 10/24/2015, Categories: Love Stories, Author: Sisyphus, Rating: 6, Source: LushStories

    literature from the University of Boston and had now made the uninvited five hour trip to his cabin in Maine. She had emailed him eight months earlier telling him that she had discovered his poetry in a used bookstore in Cambridge and knew instantly she had to do her doctorate on his work. She said she was “blown away” by his poetry. Surprised and delighted by her enthusiasm and desire to study his work for her PhD, he agreed to answer some questions and help her in anyway he could. He also told her how much he valued his privacy and time and might not always be available. All of their emails had been focused on the poems in his earlier books, the techniques he was experimenting with and his use of metaphors and imagery, but also what was going on in his life at the time in an attempt to put the poems in context. Jason was impressed with how serious and disciplined Allison was and how probing and insightful her observations were, often pointing out things in the poetry that he had not been aware of. He thanked her when she shared her appreciation of a poem or a particular line, and they often sent three or four emails back and forth in a day when discussing a particular topic. Then one day, Allison asked if he minded having an online chat and Jason agreed it would be faster and easier. The chats were definitely more efficient and focused mostly on Jason’s later books. Emily always had her questions prepared, took notes, then typed a new question into the chat and waited for ...
    his response. One time, she asked if he had Skype and he wrote back, “No, and I don’t I have any intention of getting it.” “That’s cool,” she wrote back. Gradually, as they corresponded and chatted about his poetry, she would ask him what was happening in his personal life and their on-line conversations became friendlier and a little more casual. He mentioned that he baked bread and told her what he had planted in the garden and that deer were browsing in front his cabin, but he never revealed anything too personal. Recently, towards the end of one of their chats, Allison mentioned she was having personal problems and difficulty concentrating. A week had passed and he hadn’t heard from her, which surprised him, because previously she had contacted him at least every two days with a question. Then, a week ago, he received an email that she had broken up with her lover of two years and she was in a bad way. She might have to take a break from her writing, and then added how much she appreciated the time he was giving her, and again told him how important she thought his work was and that he deserved to be better known. Jason liked that someone was so interested in his work and his life, especially after having not published a book for ten years. Rarely was he invited to give a reading and he was now resigned to the fact that he was pretty much forgotten after being so acclaimed for his work and his influence on younger poets. It had been twenty years since winning the Pulitzer ...
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