Me-me-me and pandas, & more on titles

Why do all of Eduardo's "me-me-me-and-did-I-mention-me" poets have first names starting with A, hmmm? Well. I'm gonna change this blog starting right now. No more me. Instead, I'm gonna talk about Eduardo! Quick, somebody give me some good gossip about him. Otherwise I'ma make some up. And I bet the real stuff is juicier. ;)

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There's a new baby panda at the San Diego Zoo! It will be two weeks old on Friday. Needless to say, I'm spending way too much time at the pandacam lately. Pandas are about the size of a stick of butter when they're born, and they don't develop the distinctive black-and-white markings until they're a week old or so. The new little guy's markings are clearer every day, and it's becoming quite the fat, squirmy little cublet. Now that Mei Lan in Atlanta is almost a year old, it's nice to have a new bitty little one to watch. (Mei Lan is still cute though!)

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Thanks to all who commented on the recent post about titles. I think it's a fascinating topic. I've occasionally pulled a book off the shelf at the library or bookstore just because of the title, so I guess titles can be important. (Although I can think of terrific books with stinky titles, and so-so books with fabulous titles...) I suppose they're a bit easier when your manuscript has a well-defined theme or story arc to it, though if you have more of a collection of diverse individual poems, the title can be one way of pulling it together.

Mildly amusing: I have two poems called "Breach" but neither one of them is included in the chapbook of the same name. One "Breach" was published a while back, but feels too dated to include in a manuscript now (it's a 9/11 poem, ugh) and the other wasn't written when I submitted the manuscript. I could try to stick it in now, I suppose, but I kind of like the idea of letting it lurk around unseen like a ghost poem. Similarly, the Indigo Girls had an album a few years back called "Come On Now Social," which is a line from a song that didn't make it onto the album at all -- though it eventually showed up on one of Amy Ray's solo albums. The newer "Breach" poem may make it into the book manuscript ... time will tell.

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Oops, I was supposed to be talking about Eduardo! Dang. Next time.