This
is a short note to readers of this blog regarding my slow rate of posting
recently. I have been working on a few
projects which have taken priority. One
is a commentary on the book A Guide to
True Peace, which is a manual on Quaker contemplation. It was published 200 years ago but is based
on material that goes back to the 1600’s.
I have been spending a lot of time doing research and tracking down the
original sources for many of the passages in the Guide. I love this kind of
research; nothing makes me happier than sitting on the floor surrounded by
dusty tomes (or books from reprint houses), tracking down the history of a
passage and how it has changed as it gets used over the centuries.
I am
in the final editing phase and I hope to have it completed by the end of next
month.
I
have, at the same time, been working on a 100 Verse (Hyakuin) renga. Like most of my renga it is a solo work. Writing a solo 100-verse renga is time
consuming. The thing about a renga that
long is you have to keep in mind topic placements and spacing and many other
factors for it to come out right. In
addition, my hope was to incorporate the type of rhyme scheme I have sometimes
used in shorter renga where the last syllable of the last line of verse X
rhymes with the last syllable of the first line of verse X + 1. I finally finished it on Monday; and I was
able to incorporate the rhyme scheme through the whole of the renga, and, in addition, discovered some additional rhyme usages
in the process. It still needs a little
tweaking, but basically I am satisfied with it.
My
hope is to return to more regular posting in October.
Thanks
for your patience.
