Confirmation not Crossroads

"in general if you are most concerned with just story-telling and not so much details about how the story is told, you probably will not like literary writing courses. Literary writers tend to get into the nooks and crannies of writing. This is not to say that genre writers do not focus on language. It’s just that literary writing tends to focus on how the story is told and not always the story. If you are not a “micro” writer, you may not enjoy it very much." everywritersresource.com
Having written something for 2 days in a row, I feel moved to meander through my life goals, all the while answer those questions that loom. Ya know, was Karen Fish right, my poetry professor of 3 semesters and the same grade? Do I still intend to teach poetry? Do I need an MFA and why? What's the point? Yes, this is how my mind works, especially as I look at my college class and roommates. They have each gone on to accomplish wonderful things, much of it to do with writing. That's when it hits me. I spent 4 years in classes where the written word, the literature, was paramount to the story. I workshopped in my dorm, when I wasn't in classes, b/c we enjoyed the exchange. I marvelled at how they each played with language and created new images, again and again.
The pursuit of an MFA is a tug of war for me. I truly never felt as if I NEEDED it, b/c I knew I was a good writer. I knew that not every one will accept/support my style and voice. But, hey, I am a black woman, lol, so that goes with the territory. I really didn't intend for my work to be read with such dimly colored glasses. Afterall, I'd read and worked with some of the premier poets of the time, relying heavily on the academics of Iowa and the Breadloaf Anthology. I'd discovered Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath, Jorie Graham and Lia Purpura. I guess, for me, being published isn't enough. I've done that online and in a couple things, over the years. It matters where I am published b/c of the audience. I didn't intent to merely convey my passion for poetry, in and of itself, but for the fine art that it really is. Everyone can write, unless you either have no access to technology or no hands. It is the quallity of writing that moves me. Does that sound academically elite? Maybe. Does that mean that I have nad a higher standard set for me? Yes. Therfore, anytime I read other's work, I am looking for something more. I have a hard time reading the basics and even harder writing them. I feel asi f I do the words injustice and that my vocabulary should express more than one syllable words on a page.
This is by no means a comparison of how life happens. I know that life choices have consequences. Most of my friends had clear cut goals and have accomplished them, just maybe not in the time they'd thought. I am just really appreciative that I remain, albeit loosely, in contact with these same great minds that encouraged/challenged/lived with me. I am grateful to those who have joined me along the way, without knowing my Loyola days, and read my work.
What I crave is that space where you sit and listen. You hear the voice, take notes, and injest another's creativity. WIthout it, we do not thrive as writers, not matter how we may camouflage it. We can live our lives as normally as we pretend, bustling through Target and Walgreen's with kids in toe, adhering to the parts of the dreams we had but may not love. Some people need the impersonality of social media. I am grateful that FB allows me to be rather personal with a few of my most inspiring friends, again and again.
WIll I apply for the MF at UNCG? Who knows.