Two Sylvias' Weekly Muse: July 9, 2023.

Issue 63

(We are resending out the Muse this morning! It was sent at it’s usual time, but several people are writing to us that they did not receive it, so apologies if you have received it twice!)

Hello Poets and Writers!

We came across an interesting method for exploring “place” in creative writing—the creation of a “deep map.” Coined by author William Least Heat-Moon, a “deep map” focuses on a particular landscape or piece of land and examines it from all perspectives, much more broadly and deeply than a traditional “map” used for navigation. In his novel, PrairyErth, Heat-Moon writes about a specific area of grassland in an unpopulated area of Kansas (this location is almost exactly in the center of the continental US). Heat-Moon spends time at this locale as he walks the land repeatedly, taking note of every detail—plants, soil, rocks, insects, birds, animals, weather, etc. He studies current US Geological Survey maps, looks up the ancient geological history of the place, studies the First …