Just got word of this year's Lambda Literary Award winners. In poetry, the awards went to Lemon Hound by Sina Queyras and A History of My Tattoo by Jim Elledge.
Also of note, Alison Bechdel's terrific Fun Home got the award for Lesbian Memoir/Biography. Bechdel's book, a "graphic memoir" (for lack of a better label), really stretches a lot of boundaries; it's brilliantly drawn, and brilliantly written to boot. I read it almost a year ago and it's still lodged inside my brain. The book has won tons of awards, and it definitely deserves 'em.
I haven't read either of the poetry winners (yet) though. I'd love to hear from anyone who has! Are they worth picking up?
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Forty-six
At my mom's for the long weekend, in the town where I went to high school. This town is, I think, permanently stalled somewhere in the late seventies -- and that's not just because that was when I moved away. Swear to god, I opened up the newspaper and saw that one of the big upcoming concerts is the Doobie Brothers, and Styx just played here last week.
Funny, the things that manage not to change.
* * * * *
"I don't fuck much with the past but I fuck plenty with the future" -- Patti Smith
* * * * *
With the Sun sextile Saturn in your Solar Return chart, work you have done begins to pay off this year. You may be recognized or rewarded in some way for the efforts you put forth. Because you project a more responsible and credible “you”, people in authority tend to be more inclined to appreciate you and recognize your work. This is a year when you put your life in order in some significant manner.
...Well, all righty then.
Funny, the things that manage not to change.
* * * * *
"I don't fuck much with the past but I fuck plenty with the future" -- Patti Smith
* * * * *
To best take advantage of the fresh and innocent cosmic forces that are offering themselves up to you, try experiments like the following: eat food you've never tried; listen to new music; climb a hill that has always been in the distance; have a down-to-earth conversation with a person who up till now hasn't been quite real to you; try erotic experiences you've wondered about; scrawl graffiti on a wall that has never been written upon; and push yourself to feel positive emotions that you may sometimes be too lazy or cynical to seek out, like playful reverence, intense curiosity, voracious gratitude, and surprised delight.
With the Sun sextile Saturn in your Solar Return chart, work you have done begins to pay off this year. You may be recognized or rewarded in some way for the efforts you put forth. Because you project a more responsible and credible “you”, people in authority tend to be more inclined to appreciate you and recognize your work. This is a year when you put your life in order in some significant manner.
...Well, all righty then.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Which came first...?
Thanks to a member of my poetry group -- actually, thanks to a student of hers, who raises chickens & found herself overwhelmed with eggs -- I have a dozen super-fresh, non-industrially raised, gorgeous brown eggs in my refrigerator. Actually, I only have ten of them now. I just made myself a couple of scrambled egg "burritos": two scrambled eggs, low-fat cheese, and some fresh green pepper for zest & crunch, all wrapped up in hippie-looking whole-wheat tortillas. Delicious, very satisfying, and reasonably good for me.
I'm trying hard to increase my repertoire of reasonably healthy meals. The goal is not to keel over from a heart attack in my (rapidly approaching) fifties. I think that's a decent goal.
* * * * *
Did you know the National Park Service has an extensive artist-in-residence program? The terms of residency vary among the various parks, some as little as one week and some as long as eleven months -- most are around two to four weeks. Most, though not all, are open to writers. There are some pretty darn cool places you can go.
* * * * *
After the holiday weekend, I want to do some serious work on revision. I also need to get some poems sent out. What are your favorite journals that read during the summer?
I'm trying hard to increase my repertoire of reasonably healthy meals. The goal is not to keel over from a heart attack in my (rapidly approaching) fifties. I think that's a decent goal.
* * * * *
Did you know the National Park Service has an extensive artist-in-residence program? The terms of residency vary among the various parks, some as little as one week and some as long as eleven months -- most are around two to four weeks. Most, though not all, are open to writers. There are some pretty darn cool places you can go.
* * * * *
After the holiday weekend, I want to do some serious work on revision. I also need to get some poems sent out. What are your favorite journals that read during the summer?
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Dog people, listen up!
If you have a dog, you need to read this -- Xylitol, a sweetener used in sugarless gum and other things, is extremely toxic to dogs. As little as a few sticks of Xylitol-sweetened gum can easily kill a dog. Scary! I had no idea.
* * * * *
Funny thing about getting poems published -- sometimes people read them. Even people you don't actually know (scroll down a bit). And they even study them and think about them. For some reason, this blows me away a little bit. (Like -- you mean people read this stuff even if I don't personally shove it in their face? Whoa...)
* * * * *
Anyone have interesting Memorial Day plans? I'm going up to my mom's so she can feed me birthday cake...
* * * * *
Starting to make my Provincetown travel plans. Usually I fly into Boston and take the ferry over to P-town, but this time I'm thinking about flying into Providence, RI and renting a car. The Cape Cod traffic in July may make me regret doing it, but I think it might be fun -- plus then I'd have a car in P-town, which I never have before, and could pop out to Race Point at night if I wanted to. If I fly into PVD, I will probably tack an extra day onto the beginning and end of the trip, try to see a few sights in the vicinity. If anyone has cheap motel recommendations in the Providence area, I'm all ears. Seekonk or Fall River look like good possibilities as well. (I just like saying Seekonk.)
* * * * *
DirecTV is picking up the Tennis Channel. My ass may never leave the couch again.
* * * * *
Funny thing about getting poems published -- sometimes people read them. Even people you don't actually know (scroll down a bit). And they even study them and think about them. For some reason, this blows me away a little bit. (Like -- you mean people read this stuff even if I don't personally shove it in their face? Whoa...)
* * * * *
Anyone have interesting Memorial Day plans? I'm going up to my mom's so she can feed me birthday cake...
* * * * *
Starting to make my Provincetown travel plans. Usually I fly into Boston and take the ferry over to P-town, but this time I'm thinking about flying into Providence, RI and renting a car. The Cape Cod traffic in July may make me regret doing it, but I think it might be fun -- plus then I'd have a car in P-town, which I never have before, and could pop out to Race Point at night if I wanted to. If I fly into PVD, I will probably tack an extra day onto the beginning and end of the trip, try to see a few sights in the vicinity. If anyone has cheap motel recommendations in the Providence area, I'm all ears. Seekonk or Fall River look like good possibilities as well. (I just like saying Seekonk.)
* * * * *
DirecTV is picking up the Tennis Channel. My ass may never leave the couch again.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Fifteen / Forty-five
So I recorded this "DirecTV Exclusive" concert thingie, featuring Heart performing their 1976 album Dreamboat Annie in its entirety -- all of us thirty years older now, of course. Oh my, my, my. As it turns out, I still do have pretty much every note of this album memorized. This music was magic for me when it first came out, when I was fifteen... I don't know what it was about it. There was something about the blend of acoustic and electric guitars, the delicate plucked melodies pushing up against the muscular, driving bass and drums -- and of course the voices of two women singing in harmony, something you didn't hear a whole lot of on the radio back then. For that matter, you didn't hear a whole lot of women singing rock back then, either -- there were folkies, and there were disco divas, but women really rocking? That was something new and awfully exciting. It took me exactly where I wanted to go. Where I needed to go. In a way, I think it helped me figure out how to write, gave me permission to find the power in my own voice.
I loved all of Heart's albums from the mid-seventies through the early eighties: Little Queen, Magazine, Dog & Butterfly, Bebe Le Strange. But Dreamboat Annie was always home for me, in a way. It sounds kind of funny now; I think the music that we love when we're fifteen or sixteen, I think we love it in a different way than the way we love music as adults. There's more at stake, somehow. I don't know.
There were other albums I loved in those years. Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (as well as the duo album Stevie Nicks & Lindsay Buckingham made before they joined Fleetwood Mac, called Buckingham Nicks). Patti Smith's Easter. Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town. Jackson Browne's The Pretender. Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles. I'd hole up in my room all evening burning incense and listening to records (you know, vinyl...) and writing poems. I wrote so many bad poems inspired by all that music! Well, some things never change, heh. :)
It's funny. Listening to this music now, the girl I was then seems so far away from who I am now -- and yet not so far away at all. How I live now, who I am, isn't so very different from who I wanted to be and who I kind of expected to be, whether I admitted it to myself or not. Working in a library, living alone in a little old house with two overly affectionate cats and far too many books, writing poems, making little pilgrimages to the ocean whenever I can? Yeah, fifteen-year-old Anne would have been just fine with that.
Forty-five-year-old Anne is fine with that, too.
What have you revisited? An album, a book, a poem, an old friend? Tell me about it. I'd love to hear.
I loved all of Heart's albums from the mid-seventies through the early eighties: Little Queen, Magazine, Dog & Butterfly, Bebe Le Strange. But Dreamboat Annie was always home for me, in a way. It sounds kind of funny now; I think the music that we love when we're fifteen or sixteen, I think we love it in a different way than the way we love music as adults. There's more at stake, somehow. I don't know.
There were other albums I loved in those years. Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (as well as the duo album Stevie Nicks & Lindsay Buckingham made before they joined Fleetwood Mac, called Buckingham Nicks). Patti Smith's Easter. Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town. Jackson Browne's The Pretender. Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles. I'd hole up in my room all evening burning incense and listening to records (you know, vinyl...) and writing poems. I wrote so many bad poems inspired by all that music! Well, some things never change, heh. :)
It's funny. Listening to this music now, the girl I was then seems so far away from who I am now -- and yet not so far away at all. How I live now, who I am, isn't so very different from who I wanted to be and who I kind of expected to be, whether I admitted it to myself or not. Working in a library, living alone in a little old house with two overly affectionate cats and far too many books, writing poems, making little pilgrimages to the ocean whenever I can? Yeah, fifteen-year-old Anne would have been just fine with that.
Forty-five-year-old Anne is fine with that, too.
What have you revisited? An album, a book, a poem, an old friend? Tell me about it. I'd love to hear.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Personal and local
Personal #1: One of my cats, Honey Bear, is spending the night at the vet's tonight. (He has some occasional, er, digestive issues ... let's just say the poor dear is getting himself roto-rooted.) He should be home tomorrow and back to his old self fairly quickly, but the house is too quiet tonight with only one cat. I am very lucky that my cats go to a vet practice where there are several doctors I trust. I don't know where I'd be without an excellent vet! Send a little "get well soon" thought to my Bear if you have one to spare, hm?
* * * * *
Local: The Indiana University Writers' Conference is coming up. I won't be doing the conference this year, but I do plan to attend some of the evening readings. Here's the schedule, for anyone who might be local enough to make it here and might be inclined to do so. All readings take place at 8:00 pm, in Whittenberger Auditorium (in the Indiana Memorial Union). If you see someone here that I absolutely should not miss, give me a holler!
Sunday, June 10th: Khaled Mattawa & Matthew Klam
Monday, June 11th: Catherine Bowman & Nicholas Dawidoff
Tuesday, June 12th: Crystal Wilkinson & Adam Langer
Wednesday, June 13th: Conference Participant Reading
Thursday, June 14th: Heather McHugh & Lee Martin
* * * * *
Personal #2: Apparently I do, too, have some iota of self-discipline: I am rapidly closing in on a 25-pound weight loss. I still have a ways to go before I get to where I want to be (which is a weight that won't make me dead before my time -- I have no particular desire to be skinny, just want to be healthier), but perhaps I need to remember this when I try to tell myself I'm not sure I have enough self-discipline to do other things. Like, put together a book manuscript. Or get myself into, and through, a low-residency MFA program. Ahem.
* * * * *
Personal #3: I'll be moving to a new space at work within the next couple of weeks. I started in a new position about a year ago, and my new department didn't have space for me, so another department graciously let me use a cubicle in their office suite; but my "real" department is moving to a new floor this month, so I'll be moving in with them. I saw the new space last week. It's very, very, very beige. Should be nice once it gets people, and plants and stuff, in it though. It is pretty funny that a dialup-using semi-Luddite like me is actually a part of the Library Information Technology department, isn't it? Hee!
* * * * *
Local: The Indiana University Writers' Conference is coming up. I won't be doing the conference this year, but I do plan to attend some of the evening readings. Here's the schedule, for anyone who might be local enough to make it here and might be inclined to do so. All readings take place at 8:00 pm, in Whittenberger Auditorium (in the Indiana Memorial Union). If you see someone here that I absolutely should not miss, give me a holler!
Sunday, June 10th: Khaled Mattawa & Matthew Klam
Monday, June 11th: Catherine Bowman & Nicholas Dawidoff
Tuesday, June 12th: Crystal Wilkinson & Adam Langer
Wednesday, June 13th: Conference Participant Reading
Thursday, June 14th: Heather McHugh & Lee Martin
* * * * *
Personal #2: Apparently I do, too, have some iota of self-discipline: I am rapidly closing in on a 25-pound weight loss. I still have a ways to go before I get to where I want to be (which is a weight that won't make me dead before my time -- I have no particular desire to be skinny, just want to be healthier), but perhaps I need to remember this when I try to tell myself I'm not sure I have enough self-discipline to do other things. Like, put together a book manuscript. Or get myself into, and through, a low-residency MFA program. Ahem.
* * * * *
Personal #3: I'll be moving to a new space at work within the next couple of weeks. I started in a new position about a year ago, and my new department didn't have space for me, so another department graciously let me use a cubicle in their office suite; but my "real" department is moving to a new floor this month, so I'll be moving in with them. I saw the new space last week. It's very, very, very beige. Should be nice once it gets people, and plants and stuff, in it though. It is pretty funny that a dialup-using semi-Luddite like me is actually a part of the Library Information Technology department, isn't it? Hee!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Edging back to normal
...whatever "normal" is! *grin*
Now that my mom has been home from the hospital for a few days, and I'm home from taking care of her, it's time for me to rest up a bit and then get back to business. I have two months till my workshop in Provincetown, and especially now that FAWC has given me the Ali scholarship, I feel like I have a responsibility to show up ultra-prepared, with poems to work hard on and a good sense of what I want to learn from the week. I do think I get more from a summer workshop if I prepare for it, plan for it, identify what I'm there for -- though it's also essential to be open to surprise, to learn something you didn't expect to learn.
Speaking of which, did you see this nice article in the New York Times about summer writing workshops? Of the ones they mention, FAWC is the only one I've been to, but they all sound like fun.
Also, I need to get stuff sent out -- I have hardly anything out right now, and hello, you don't get anything published if you don't send anything out. I spent April focusing on drafting new work, so it's time for a little breather to take care of some of the older stuff for a while, kick it out of the house and see if it can fend for itself yet.
* * * * *
Pleased to see that Lucille Clifton got this year's Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
* * * * *
The Indiana Arts Commission has made audio files of this year's Individual Artist Grant panels available for download. You can listen to people talking about me behind my back! Except it wasn't really behind my back, since I was there. Anyway, they're humongous files, so don't try it over dial-up. (Am I the only blogger in the world still using dial-up? What can I say, I get it for free, and on my budget, free is always good....)
* * * * *
It's May. How did it get to be May already? The university had its commencement exercises on Saturday, and although more students enroll in summer sessions than back in my undergrad days, campus is still much much quieter than it is during the year. It's lovely.
Now that my mom has been home from the hospital for a few days, and I'm home from taking care of her, it's time for me to rest up a bit and then get back to business. I have two months till my workshop in Provincetown, and especially now that FAWC has given me the Ali scholarship, I feel like I have a responsibility to show up ultra-prepared, with poems to work hard on and a good sense of what I want to learn from the week. I do think I get more from a summer workshop if I prepare for it, plan for it, identify what I'm there for -- though it's also essential to be open to surprise, to learn something you didn't expect to learn.
Speaking of which, did you see this nice article in the New York Times about summer writing workshops? Of the ones they mention, FAWC is the only one I've been to, but they all sound like fun.
Also, I need to get stuff sent out -- I have hardly anything out right now, and hello, you don't get anything published if you don't send anything out. I spent April focusing on drafting new work, so it's time for a little breather to take care of some of the older stuff for a while, kick it out of the house and see if it can fend for itself yet.
* * * * *
Pleased to see that Lucille Clifton got this year's Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
* * * * *
The Indiana Arts Commission has made audio files of this year's Individual Artist Grant panels available for download. You can listen to people talking about me behind my back! Except it wasn't really behind my back, since I was there. Anyway, they're humongous files, so don't try it over dial-up. (Am I the only blogger in the world still using dial-up? What can I say, I get it for free, and on my budget, free is always good....)
* * * * *
It's May. How did it get to be May already? The university had its commencement exercises on Saturday, and although more students enroll in summer sessions than back in my undergrad days, campus is still much much quieter than it is during the year. It's lovely.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Really happy news
I just got word that I am this year's winner of the Agha Shahid Ali Scholarship in Poetry at the Fine Arts Work Center! This covers the tuition for the workshop I am taking there in July. I'm absolutely thrilled, and so grateful to get such strong encouragement for my work from an organization I think the world of. (Okay, that's not grammatical, but it's late and I've had what we in the poetry business call "an extremely long-ass day.")
When I read the email, I kind of shrieked and scared the cats. I am still bouncing in my chair and giggling a little bit.
Y'all have no idea how badly I needed some good news -- this is just incredibly well-timed. I don't think I could be any happier if I'd won American Idol. :)
When I read the email, I kind of shrieked and scared the cats. I am still bouncing in my chair and giggling a little bit.
Y'all have no idea how badly I needed some good news -- this is just incredibly well-timed. I don't think I could be any happier if I'd won American Idol. :)
Hospital days
Just a quick check-in to say that my mom came through Tuesday's hip replacement surgery nicely. She's had a few glitches along the way (blood pressure going way too low for a while, the usual assortment of what doctors call "discomfort" and everyone else calls "terrible pain," some minor visual hallucinations -- you know, the kind some people take narcotics on purpose to enjoy --, stuff like that). But she's mostly doing well and expects to come home tomorrow. I'll be here a few more days helping out.
Not much poetry -- I thought I'd get some reading done, but have been too wiped out by the end of the day to do much of anything but collapse on the couch and watch American Idol. I have some thoughts & images about the experience of being the family member in the waiting room, which may or may not turn into poem(s); we'll see.
Pretty tired, and before I can sleep, I still need to do a few things around the house to prepare for tomorrow. Things should get easier from here on, though.
Hope everyone out there is well.
Not much poetry -- I thought I'd get some reading done, but have been too wiped out by the end of the day to do much of anything but collapse on the couch and watch American Idol. I have some thoughts & images about the experience of being the family member in the waiting room, which may or may not turn into poem(s); we'll see.
Pretty tired, and before I can sleep, I still need to do a few things around the house to prepare for tomorrow. Things should get easier from here on, though.
Hope everyone out there is well.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
NaPoWriMo fall down go boom
Congratulations to all those who are closing in on that NaPoWriMo finish line! For myself, I've had to admit defeat -- just too much else going on. But I did end up with 21 drafty poems, definitely more than I usually come up with in a month; and it's not out of the question that I might come up with one or two more before May 1st. If I weren't frantically preparing to go out of town, I'd probably still try to make it to thirty over the weekend. Oh well.
I'll be gone for a week or so helping my mom recuperate from hip-replacement surgery, which she is having on Tuesday. I won't be entirely offline, but I probably won't be around as much as usual.
Here's an older poem for you:
Apart
The dying-battery beep reminds me
that we can't talk like this forever.
It's the things we can't help--
the lock that freezes three times every winter,
clocks that spring
forward, dinner burnt, pages
drifting to the floor--
that keep us apart.
I'm always driving west at sunset:
gold slipping nearer the horizon,
the flare of blindness on my windshield,
everywhere I turn, so much unexpected light.
--A.H.
published in Bloom: Celebrating Life in Bloomington, April/May 2007
I'll be gone for a week or so helping my mom recuperate from hip-replacement surgery, which she is having on Tuesday. I won't be entirely offline, but I probably won't be around as much as usual.
Here's an older poem for you:
Apart
The dying-battery beep reminds me
that we can't talk like this forever.
It's the things we can't help--
the lock that freezes three times every winter,
clocks that spring
forward, dinner burnt, pages
drifting to the floor--
that keep us apart.
I'm always driving west at sunset:
gold slipping nearer the horizon,
the flare of blindness on my windshield,
everywhere I turn, so much unexpected light.
--A.H.
published in Bloom: Celebrating Life in Bloomington, April/May 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Natasha Trethewey on PBS NewsHour tonight
Last-minute breaking news! I know many of you are Natasha Trethewey fans. I just got this from PBS -- she will be on their evening news show TONIGHT!:
PRIZE-WINNING POET
April 25, 2007
In our continuing NewsHour Poetry Series, tonight we feature this year's Pulitzer Prize winner in poetry, Natasha Trethewey.
Ms. Trethewey was awarded the Pulitzer for her book, Native Guard, a collection of poems inspired by her southern heritage and personal experiences. The book is her third volume of poetry. Ms. Trethewey teaches creative writing at Emory University. She also appeared in a poetry profile for the NewsHour last spring.
For online coverage of Natasha Trethewey and the rest of the Poetry Series, go to the Online NewsHour at PBS.org.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Segments highlighted on NewsHour Poetry Series Alert are scheduled to air but subject to change.
PRIZE-WINNING POET
April 25, 2007
In our continuing NewsHour Poetry Series, tonight we feature this year's Pulitzer Prize winner in poetry, Natasha Trethewey.
Ms. Trethewey was awarded the Pulitzer for her book, Native Guard, a collection of poems inspired by her southern heritage and personal experiences. The book is her third volume of poetry. Ms. Trethewey teaches creative writing at Emory University. She also appeared in a poetry profile for the NewsHour last spring.
For online coverage of Natasha Trethewey and the rest of the Poetry Series, go to the Online NewsHour at PBS.org.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Segments highlighted on NewsHour Poetry Series Alert are scheduled to air but subject to change.
Quickie
Still behind on EVERYdamnTHING.
Best American Idol recaplet ever. For example: "The giant hairy Rupert Murdoch octopus reinvents monetizing easy-chair altruism for the tenth time; Ryan's classy about it. I think he's trying to make Anderson Cooper notice him." Bwahahahahaha!
I *heart* Television Without Pity.
Best American Idol recaplet ever. For example: "The giant hairy Rupert Murdoch octopus reinvents monetizing easy-chair altruism for the tenth time; Ryan's classy about it. I think he's trying to make Anderson Cooper notice him." Bwahahahahaha!
I *heart* Television Without Pity.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.
I am behind on everything: email (whose bright idea was it to sign up on a couple of high-volume listservs, AND about seventy bajillion different National Poetry Month "get a poem a day in your email!" dealies? I realized today I had so much crap in my inbox that I'd actually missed some real, sent-only-to-me emails. Eek!), house cleaning, reading, writing, submissions, NaPoWriMo (I think I'm two days behind on that now and I may just throw in the towel) ... everything.
Today my poetry group met out at the home of one of our members. Helen lives way out in the country, so we all gathered at Tonia's house and rode out together in Deborah's lovely Prius. On the way out there we saw a large wild turkey flying along beside the road and then it crossed in front of us and landed on the other side of the road. It wasn't flying very high, maybe three or four feet -- turkeys are not particularly aerodynamic. It actually looked rather like a vulture that had swallowed a basketball. I wouldn't have recognized it as a turkey until it landed, if someone hadn't pointed it out to me. And now I'm thinking about that episode of WKRP in Cincinnati where Les Nessman finds out that turkeys can't fly. Well, apparently they can. Sort of.
I've been poking around trying to find out if by chance there might be any poetry readings or anything else vaguely literary going on in South Bend the week I'll be up there for my mom's surgery. So far, no dice. It's probably just as well, as I imagine I'll be booked fairly solid with the caretaking stuff.
I've also been reading Mark Doty's newest memoir, Dog Years, and really loving it. I am a sucker for good animal stories anyway, plus I like Doty's memoirs in general. I'm slowing down as I get close to the end, because I know it's going to get really sad pretty soon.
It's Little 500 Weekend here in Bloomington (aka "The World's Greatest College Weekend" aka "most sane people over the age of 25 or so stay as far away from campus as possible all weekend"). The Little 500 is the bike race made famous in the movie Breaking Away, which I really need to get around to owning. That movie came out just a few months before I arrived here as a dewy-eyed freshman, so I went to see it in the theater all excited that there was a whole movie about the place where I was going to be spending the next four years of my life. Little did I know, then, that I'd be spending at least the next 28 years here. Yes, I have lived here for almost thirty years. God, I'm old.
Today my poetry group met out at the home of one of our members. Helen lives way out in the country, so we all gathered at Tonia's house and rode out together in Deborah's lovely Prius. On the way out there we saw a large wild turkey flying along beside the road and then it crossed in front of us and landed on the other side of the road. It wasn't flying very high, maybe three or four feet -- turkeys are not particularly aerodynamic. It actually looked rather like a vulture that had swallowed a basketball. I wouldn't have recognized it as a turkey until it landed, if someone hadn't pointed it out to me. And now I'm thinking about that episode of WKRP in Cincinnati where Les Nessman finds out that turkeys can't fly. Well, apparently they can. Sort of.
I've been poking around trying to find out if by chance there might be any poetry readings or anything else vaguely literary going on in South Bend the week I'll be up there for my mom's surgery. So far, no dice. It's probably just as well, as I imagine I'll be booked fairly solid with the caretaking stuff.
I've also been reading Mark Doty's newest memoir, Dog Years, and really loving it. I am a sucker for good animal stories anyway, plus I like Doty's memoirs in general. I'm slowing down as I get close to the end, because I know it's going to get really sad pretty soon.
It's Little 500 Weekend here in Bloomington (aka "The World's Greatest College Weekend" aka "most sane people over the age of 25 or so stay as far away from campus as possible all weekend"). The Little 500 is the bike race made famous in the movie Breaking Away, which I really need to get around to owning. That movie came out just a few months before I arrived here as a dewy-eyed freshman, so I went to see it in the theater all excited that there was a whole movie about the place where I was going to be spending the next four years of my life. Little did I know, then, that I'd be spending at least the next 28 years here. Yes, I have lived here for almost thirty years. God, I'm old.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Sherman Alexie, and being That Person
First off, if anyone who was at tonight's Sherman Alexie reading happens to read this, I apologize. Yes, I was That Person at the reading: the one who has a cold, but comes to the reading anyway with a pocket full of cough drops, and makes it through most of the reading but eventually develops a nasty tickle in her throat and starts coughing, and sits there coughing in fits and starts, trying to decide whether it's more disruptive to get up and run out of the room (which would have involved walking in front of half the audience) or to sit there continuing to try and stifle the coughs. I was That Person, someone I have bitched about after many a reading, and I apologize. Sigh.
Cough, cough, cough.
(At least I had my cellphone off, heh.)
The reading, though, was fabulous. He started off by telling us that this would be his first poetry-only reading in several years, then he spent a good ten-fifteen minutes storytelling -- talking about a turbulent flight, retrieving an elderly woman's hat on the street (yes, both of these stories were as funny as you'd expect of him), small moments of grace -- which led into some of his thoughts on the Virginia Tech massacre. He read/spoke for, oh, 40 minutes or so, then took some questions. He can do this ridiculously fast 360 from pee-your-pants-funny standup comic to some really searing, powerful poetry; the reading was definitely a roller coaster ride. During the Q&A he pointed out that all the poems he'd read used rhyme and meter; he said he got fed up with writing in free verse when he realized his poems were just becoming a series of tics, like whenever he got stuck he'd just put in a salmon, like poetic Tourette's or something -- and that working in rhyme and meter has enabled him to work with material he hadn't tackled before. He said he is reading a lot of Richard Wilbur lately.
There was a funny moment during the Q&A when he was talking about MFA programs, and how he kind of envied the MFA students (the MFA program was the primary sponsor of this reading, so there were lots of those folks in the audience); he said that as an undergrad it didn't even occur to him to do an MFA, and anyway his first two books had already been accepted by his senior year -- this caused an audible intake of breath from a number of aforementioned MFA students, which cracked him up and he imitated what must be going through their minds -- "fucker!" -- then mentioned that before he graduated he'd also learned he had an NEA fellowship, so of course there was that $20,000 waiting for him; at that point he just... stood... there, looking at the audience like "yeah, you got a problem with that?" without cracking a grin, as the MFA students just moaned. Then of course he cracked up again. Yeah, he's got a sizable ego, but he also pokes fun at himself a lot. For all I know he could be a real jerk in everyday life, but behind the podium he's one of the more likable readers I've ever heard -- engaging, polished but not too polished, pee-your-pants funny a lot of the time but also deadly serious sometimes, and he seemed to enjoy being up there as much as the audience enjoyed listening.
So, a thoroughly entertaining reading, as I knew it would be. I've been reading him for years and love his work, so I'm glad I finally got to hear him read in person, and get a book signed and stuff.
* * * * *
Missed my second NaPoWriMo poem yesterday, dammit. In my defense, I was coping with a yucky cold and spent several hours completing a big old application for a thing, which included a personal statement -- so at least I was writing something, eh? As penance, I'll post a draft from a few day ago (it will disappear in a day or so):
[and, it's gone.]
Cough, cough, cough.
(At least I had my cellphone off, heh.)
The reading, though, was fabulous. He started off by telling us that this would be his first poetry-only reading in several years, then he spent a good ten-fifteen minutes storytelling -- talking about a turbulent flight, retrieving an elderly woman's hat on the street (yes, both of these stories were as funny as you'd expect of him), small moments of grace -- which led into some of his thoughts on the Virginia Tech massacre. He read/spoke for, oh, 40 minutes or so, then took some questions. He can do this ridiculously fast 360 from pee-your-pants-funny standup comic to some really searing, powerful poetry; the reading was definitely a roller coaster ride. During the Q&A he pointed out that all the poems he'd read used rhyme and meter; he said he got fed up with writing in free verse when he realized his poems were just becoming a series of tics, like whenever he got stuck he'd just put in a salmon, like poetic Tourette's or something -- and that working in rhyme and meter has enabled him to work with material he hadn't tackled before. He said he is reading a lot of Richard Wilbur lately.
There was a funny moment during the Q&A when he was talking about MFA programs, and how he kind of envied the MFA students (the MFA program was the primary sponsor of this reading, so there were lots of those folks in the audience); he said that as an undergrad it didn't even occur to him to do an MFA, and anyway his first two books had already been accepted by his senior year -- this caused an audible intake of breath from a number of aforementioned MFA students, which cracked him up and he imitated what must be going through their minds -- "fucker!" -- then mentioned that before he graduated he'd also learned he had an NEA fellowship, so of course there was that $20,000 waiting for him; at that point he just... stood... there, looking at the audience like "yeah, you got a problem with that?" without cracking a grin, as the MFA students just moaned. Then of course he cracked up again. Yeah, he's got a sizable ego, but he also pokes fun at himself a lot. For all I know he could be a real jerk in everyday life, but behind the podium he's one of the more likable readers I've ever heard -- engaging, polished but not too polished, pee-your-pants funny a lot of the time but also deadly serious sometimes, and he seemed to enjoy being up there as much as the audience enjoyed listening.
So, a thoroughly entertaining reading, as I knew it would be. I've been reading him for years and love his work, so I'm glad I finally got to hear him read in person, and get a book signed and stuff.
* * * * *
Missed my second NaPoWriMo poem yesterday, dammit. In my defense, I was coping with a yucky cold and spent several hours completing a big old application for a thing, which included a personal statement -- so at least I was writing something, eh? As penance, I'll post a draft from a few day ago (it will disappear in a day or so):
[and, it's gone.]
Monday, April 16, 2007
Breaking news: Pulitzer!
Natasha Trethewey has been awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for Native Guard.
In fiction, Cormac McCarthy's The Road is the big winner. And Ornette Coleman got one for music, which is pretty cool.
All of this year's winners in Letters, Drama & Music can be found at the link above.
In fiction, Cormac McCarthy's The Road is the big winner. And Ornette Coleman got one for music, which is pretty cool.
All of this year's winners in Letters, Drama & Music can be found at the link above.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Attention Bloomingtonians
(That's Bloomingtonians of the Hoosier variety, not the ones from Illinois or Minnesota or whatever other Bloomingtons they've got out there.)
Sherman Alexie will be reading on Wednesday, April 18th at 8:00 pm at the John Waldron Arts Center. It's free, and supposedly there's some kind of a reception afterwards although I don't have the details.
I don't know whether he will be reading fiction (he has a new novel that's either just out or coming out very soon) or poetry or what, but I'm sure he will be entertaining whatever he does. Alexie has been one of my favorite writers for quite a while now, but I've never heard him read before and I am looking forward to it like crazy.
* * * * *
Those of you currently getting socked-in by the big nor'easter, I hope you are somewhere warm and safe and dry tonight! Looks pretty nasty out there.
Sherman Alexie will be reading on Wednesday, April 18th at 8:00 pm at the John Waldron Arts Center. It's free, and supposedly there's some kind of a reception afterwards although I don't have the details.
I don't know whether he will be reading fiction (he has a new novel that's either just out or coming out very soon) or poetry or what, but I'm sure he will be entertaining whatever he does. Alexie has been one of my favorite writers for quite a while now, but I've never heard him read before and I am looking forward to it like crazy.
* * * * *
Those of you currently getting socked-in by the big nor'easter, I hope you are somewhere warm and safe and dry tonight! Looks pretty nasty out there.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Look what I found
My first NaPoWriMo "miss": I didn't write anything yesterday. In my defense, I was tired and coming down with a cold. Today I will write two drafts to make up for it.
Here's the first:
(A found poem)
Source text
[Someone came along and sprayed this blog with Draft-B-Gone!]
Here's the first:
(A found poem)
Source text
[Someone came along and sprayed this blog with Draft-B-Gone!]
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Bloom (the Bloomington one)
So the article on the Bloomington poetry scene is in the new issue of Bloom: Celebrating Life in Bloomington (not to be confused with the other, more literary Bloom). It's not, after all, the cover story -- the cover story is "Bloomington is a Dog's Town," with a picture of a Great Pyrenees. Cute puppydog vs. buncha surly poets: can't say as how I'd argue with that decision. *grin*
Anyhow, it's a nice little article, featuring brief interviews with & poems by Tony Brewer, Catherine Bowman, Roger Mitchell, Patricia Coleman, Jenny Kander, and myself. I am going to try to pick up a few extras (the place where I picked mine up today only had four copies sitting there, and I didn't want to clean them out entirely). It's distributed free here in town, so if anyone would be interested in having a copy, I'd be happy to just send it; if you want to send me a buck or two to help with postage (it's a big, glossy, 112-page magazine), or a spare copy of a poetry journal in exchange, that would be lovely. I'm not sure how many extras I will be able to snag, so I'll make it first come, first served. Email me with your mailing address.
(Shana Ritter, who wrote the article, has always gotten confused about which northern Indiana town I grew up in; in this article she claims that I am from Fort Wayne, which is not true. I have never set foot in the undoubtedly-lovely *cough* thriving metropolis of Fort Wayne. Just for the record.)
* * * * *
Did you see the Seattle Times feature on local poets? Did you listen to the audio clips of Peter Pereira reading his poems "Anagrammer" and "Dream of the Cancer Cure"? Did it occur to you, as it did to me, that NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday should do a feature on Peter's anagram poetry to go along with the weekly Will Shortz puzzle thing? If so, or if you're saying "wow, that didn't occur to me, but now that you mention it, that is a brilliant idea!", you too can contact NPR to suggest the story idea. Just, you know, a suggestion. :)
* * * * *
Still on track with NaPoWriMo, though the past few days haven't yielded anything that feels much like a keeper. I may post more snippets eventually, though. I do like one of my titles: "History & Theory of Basements." The poem basically sucks, but I like the title.
Anyhow, it's a nice little article, featuring brief interviews with & poems by Tony Brewer, Catherine Bowman, Roger Mitchell, Patricia Coleman, Jenny Kander, and myself. I am going to try to pick up a few extras (the place where I picked mine up today only had four copies sitting there, and I didn't want to clean them out entirely). It's distributed free here in town, so if anyone would be interested in having a copy, I'd be happy to just send it; if you want to send me a buck or two to help with postage (it's a big, glossy, 112-page magazine), or a spare copy of a poetry journal in exchange, that would be lovely. I'm not sure how many extras I will be able to snag, so I'll make it first come, first served. Email me with your mailing address.
(Shana Ritter, who wrote the article, has always gotten confused about which northern Indiana town I grew up in; in this article she claims that I am from Fort Wayne, which is not true. I have never set foot in the undoubtedly-lovely *cough* thriving metropolis of Fort Wayne. Just for the record.)
* * * * *
Did you see the Seattle Times feature on local poets? Did you listen to the audio clips of Peter Pereira reading his poems "Anagrammer" and "Dream of the Cancer Cure"? Did it occur to you, as it did to me, that NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday should do a feature on Peter's anagram poetry to go along with the weekly Will Shortz puzzle thing? If so, or if you're saying "wow, that didn't occur to me, but now that you mention it, that is a brilliant idea!", you too can contact NPR to suggest the story idea. Just, you know, a suggestion. :)
* * * * *
Still on track with NaPoWriMo, though the past few days haven't yielded anything that feels much like a keeper. I may post more snippets eventually, though. I do like one of my titles: "History & Theory of Basements." The poem basically sucks, but I like the title.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Farewell to Vonnegut
“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’ ”
----Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007. So it goes.
----Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007. So it goes.
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