Jeanne Lupton – Clara Hsu

What I Got at 55

Has time fled? Well, not quite. There were times when I thought it had stopped, that life would be the same every day. Those were the hard times.

I like motion. I like how time works on me.

It is fine to plod along. We all do that to some degree, dragging our tails behind. Some days are more gloomy than others, but it’s OK as long as I have faith that they will pass.

Jeanne Lupton and I talk about tragedy and comedy. Tragedy is egocentric, focusing on the misery of oneself. Whereas comedy allows us to see situations in a larger context. We have to be able to laugh, most importantly, at ourselves. For me, it does take some fifty odd years to get it.

My Writing Buddy

Having a writing buddy is to have someone hold me accountable to my work. Jeanne Lupton and I have been meeting every Monday morning since 2009. Mostly at Mission Pie in San Francisco, sometimes at Leila’s Cafe in Berkeley, we take our meeting seriously and rarely have we missed a week. When I was working on the second draft of my memoir I promised to show her a chapter a week. I was eternally struggling with grammar and syntax. Jeanne patiently corrected and explained to me my mistakes. It was her steadfastness, expectation and our discipline that made me finish the book in a timely manner.

Writing is a solitary undertaking but sharing is an integral part of the process. When I look back, we have worked through a variety of works: my book, Jeanne’s draft on her poetic memoir, poems, stories and her incisive tankas. What can be accomplished over a cup of tea is truly amazing.

Poetria Inception

With the moon eclipsing, the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano in Chile erupting, and the earth still tremulous under Japan’s soil, three women sat in the warmth of a kitchen in San Francisco divining a new beginning. Jeanne Lupton, Kellyann Conway and I met each other at the fateful Sacred Grounds Cafe. I love Jeanne’s revealing tankas and Kellyann’s intuitive verse and they in turn like my penetrating style. Coming together to co-create seems natural and timely.

In Patti Smith’s memoir “Just Kids”, she talked about an unrealized vision of Jimi Hendrix, of musicians from all disciplines and cultures playing in a circle until there is harmony. Poetria will realize this vision with words.