I haven't seen anything on the blogosphere about Richard Eberhart's death. (I feel a bit sheepish about this, but I didn't realize he was still alive! He was 101, after all.)
Got my copy of the Indigo Girls' new album, Rarities, today. It's a bunch of odd cover songs, juvenilia, live tracks, and stuff that didn't make it to a normal album for one reason or another. Included: their cover of the Clash's "Clampdown," Tom Morello's remix of "Shed Your Skin," the Michael Stipe collaboration "I'll Give You My Skin" (originally recorded for a PETA benefit album), a stunning rendition of Sibelius' "Finlandia" featuring Girlyman on harmony vocals, and an Emily song that never made it to CD but has been one of my favorites ever since I first heard it (via bootlegs), "Winthrop." And other stuff. Official release date is tomorrow.
Three people told me today that they heard me on the radio yesterday. That's about how many I usually hear from. One was actually someone I didn't pester about it ahead of time, though, and in fact someone who probably hasn't seen much (if any) of my work, so for him to say I was "doing some interesting stuff" meant a lot. The nice thing about a five minute radio show is that maybe it catches people who are not normally "poetry people" off guard, and they don't change the station because it's only five minutes and they may as well wait it out, and then maybe they actually like the poetry or something.
I've got the first issues of two very interesting new litmags on my "to read asap" pile: Rock & Sling (thanks to Peter for making me aware of this one), which is quite intriguing despite the fact that it's Christian-focused and I'm, well, not; and Ecotone, out of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, which focuses on work with a "sense of place" and specifically work that explores the transitional zones between places/ecosystems/states of being -- an "ecotone" is just such a transitional zone, ecologically speaking. Rock & Sling is beautifully, even lavishly, printed and includes fine work by such writers as Ellen Bass, Rebecca Loudon, Peter Pereira, and Jeanne Murray Walker as well as of course the Li-Young Lee interview that caught my attention on their website. Ecotone has an interview and some new work by Mark Doty, as well as work by Cynthia Huntington, Philip Levine, Paul Lisicky, Timothy Liu, and others. I have several poems that I think would fit into Ecotone nicely, although (at least) one of them needs drastic revision, and I might even be able to muster up something for Rock & Sling.
I'm holding off on submissions until after Provincetown, though. I'm hoping the revision bug hits me big out there and I really hate it when I send something out and then turn around & revise it and find myself hoping they reject it because the revision is so much better and I never know how to approach an editor with "uh, gee, thanks, but ... can you publish this version instead?" (I suspect that's pretty bad form and annoying to boot.) Anyway, it's exciting to have two brand-new journals that are both so promising.
Thunderheads building up tremendously to the southwest -- big, tall, billowy things. The National Weather Service has put us under a severe thunderstorm watch till 11 pm, but for now it's just enormous clouds which should make for a spectacular sunset in a half-hour or so. Outside, thunderheads gathering for a storm; inside, I'm listening to "Winthrop," with the recurring line "for everyone there is someone never coming back."
For everyone there is someone never coming back.
I guess that about sums it up.
8 comments:
For everyone there is someone never coming back.
That's the saddest fucking thing I've ever read. I'm going to go cry, now.
Rebecca - isn't it, though? I have a bootleg where Emily Saliers introduces the song by saying something like "Okay, this is the saddest song ever, y'all." The funny thing, though, is that I first heard it when I was recovering from a nasty breakup, and what stuck out for me wasn't the "never coming back" part -- it was the "for everyone" part, and the thought that everyone goes through loss and most people survive it was so comforting for me. Maybe I'm just weird. Okay, I know I'm weird.
The lyrics are here but in most of the versions I've heard I know she sings the line the way I quoted it at least once.
no idea if this is related, but we've had HUGE storms here for the past three days--i think it's the tailend of a hurricane on the coast, maybe it actually made its way there???
anyways, those journals sound cool. even one in my neighborhood. i'll have to check them out. thanx!
Anne, I am sure you were wonderful on the radio, but I could not pick it up. I did try. We have had major storms for the last 3 days here in Ky, so maybe that did interfere with the reception. Can you still find it by any type of voice file? Please let me know. Thanks.
Jenni, our rain yesterday was from the remnants of Tropical Storm Arlene, so maybe that's what you've got now! I think the storms we're about to get tonight are just good old Midwestern summer storms though.
Pamela, thanks for asking! But, I don't think that they archive it anywhere, at least not online. No biggie. I actually think the second program I recorded was better, and that will air on July 10. I'm always surprised that anyone catches these shows at all -- goodness knows I hardly ever remember to turn on the radio or tune in online at 11:45 on a Sunday morning, even though the host & most of the guests are friends of mine.
Woody, between you and Rebecca I'm either gonna start getting kickbacks for therapists (maybe I should put a Paypal button on my blog) or else someone's gonna sue me for mental anguish. Jeez. :)
"For everyone there is someone never coming back." Poignant and lovely, to me.
I couldn't hear your radio reading way out west here; if there is a web archive of it, please let me know.
Peter, sorry, I don't think they have it archived! (They probably have it on CD over at the station, but nowhere you or I could grab it from.) And although the station does "broadcast" online, there doesn't seem to be any way for me to record it from that on my laptop. Oh well! I'll be on again in July. You didn't miss that much. :)
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