An old diagram which is a cross section of one moment of cerebral time and self assessment

For the anthology Surreal Estate published by Mercury Press about six years ago, the editor Stuart Ross asked the contributors to write a brief essay about their influences in relationship to surrealism. I created this diagram as my response. I don't know that a current detailing of my influences, or the way I conceive of my work would look anything like this. I think that my work, and more significantly, my approach to it, has changed vastly since then. Also, I conceive of my creative work as being a complex of interrelated strands, whether poetry, fiction, work for kids, music, visuals, nonfiction, teaching, parenthood, or opening the milk bag. Each of these strands, like a rope, is made out of other strands. I want to write more, here (and will) about the notion that there isn't one way to write, that writers don't have, or don't have to have, a single, unitary 'voice' (even if that voice is comprised of multiple disjunctions) or style. I don't have one type of child. Each of my three kids, while having some commonality, is very different. Why wouldn't I conceive of the various kinds of work I do as the same?