Umán 009 — July 2023

Uman means “change.” It is a monthly newsletter I send every first week of the month, documenting what it means to pursue philosophy, contemplation, and writing independently as a way of life. It used to be a separate newsletter. But I’ve integrated it into The Long Walk.

A walk on the afternoon of [[2023-07-12|July 12]] made me realize that [[my note-writing practice|my note-writing practice]] was too important to exchange for some time to make money in the morning. This realization led me to review my writing life in general, including my systems and routines and evaluate them against my creative goals. I wanted to check whether my current writing practice is leading me toward my goals. The result was a better articulation of [[my poetics|my poetics]]. While going through this process I remembered that what I truly wanted to write is [[lyrical philosophy|lyrical philosophy]]—words that combine the beauty of the poem and the depth of philosophical inquiry. Thus, I articulated [[how to practice and write lyrical philosophy|how to practice and write lyrical philosophy]].

So, this July, I got some more writing done. While making significant progress in the current website design and development projects I’m doing for two clients, both of which are ready to launch, I was also able to produce some work.

Some of my favorite writings this month include the walk poem drafts:

• [[walk poem 1|Walk Poem 1]]
• [[walk poem 2|Walk Poem 2]]

I wrote these poems initially as fragments of observations during two afternoon walks. My rule was to write a brief note on whatever piqued my interest or whatever thought calls on the walk and to separate lines per street where they occurred. Thus the number of stanzas equal the number of streets walked.

One Sunday morning, another poem came to me: [[those stairs at bakakeng|Those Stairs at Bakakeng]].

Aside from these, I enjoyed writing these notes:

• [[suicide|suicide]]
• [[some experiences resist articulation|some experiences resist articulation]]
• [[public life is necessary|public life is necessary]]

Lastly, I added my essay [[a never-ending walk|A Never-ending Walk]] in [[my forest garden of the mind|my forest garden of the mind]] and shared it in the [[newsletters]].

The best books I read this month were:

• [[isang taong maghapon by paolo tiausas|Isang Taong Maghapon by Paolo Tiausas]]
• [[inahan sa sugilanon far|Inahan sa Sugilanon by Louise Far]]

I also re-read [[the collapse of what separates us serrano|The Collapse of What Separates Us by Vincenz Serrano]] to study the poems closely. I’ll be sharing my notes on the site soon.

An essay I really loved reading this month was [[melt the snowflake at once by david rothenberg|Melt the Snowflake at Once! by David Rothenberg]].

How about you? How was your July?

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