Writing Primer
(with thanks to katherine center, and to
karen keough who says, always leave a painting partly unfinished)
i have not set out seeking
information
or instruction, have not
been searching google,
do not have it in mind
to sign up for a class,
and the room where i sit
is in no way
at all
a classroom.
i’m just staring into space,
pencil in hand,
spiral notebook waiting
for the possible start
of a poem. yet,
when i least expect it
edification
bursts into the room
nonetheless,
plunks down in a chair
beside me,
leans over,
grabs the pencil
right out of my hand,
starts scribbling words
along the edge
of the blank page
in front of me,
underlines the first two,
and goes on to provide
a definition before
leaning back with
a distinct look
of satisfaction.
to wit—
information gap
a writing term
for how to create curiosity
in the audience
by leaving out
crucial information.
don’tcha just want to know
what i’m leaving out here?
—dotty seiter
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3 x 3″; watercolor and ink on paper
card #30 in a series of color swatches
2025
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Notes about poem and art:
• “Writing Primer” taps into the joy and wonder I find in life-long learning, the little pings I feel in my brain when synapses fire.
to reach the point where I could post Milksilk took a fair amount of patience as I first had to wait for seed season, then had to locate milkweed pods, next had to paint my swatches, finally had to undertake the many and considerable challenges of capturing a pleasing photograph of those pesky parachute-wannabes. I’ll leave out all but one anecdote from that long photo-shoot story, which is this: picture my having painstakingly set up swatch, pod, and floss in my improvised photography ‘studio’ (think bed with large sheet of white watercolor paper on it, overhead reading lights switched on, iPhone in hand); then picture Dave’s walking into what he thought was a bedroom and tossing a piece of clothing onto the foot of the bed.
dottyseiter: now playing 
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