44º ~ Dear Siberia, please recall this “arctic air” as it is far, far from home ~ after strong storms, many trees are close to bare with the sweetgum holding on for all its worth

Dear Reader,
I feel the stirring of words in the pit of me. Oh be joyful, but quietly, lest they run for cover again. Here are some reasons for the stirring.

Hayden’s Ferry Review will publish two fever poems in the new issue (Issue 53), due out in December. The editors emailed a bunch of contributors about a special subscription project. This issue contains some work submitted around the theme of “Departure,” although I believe I submitted the fever poems under the unthemed guidelines. In any case, the editors asked contributors to participate in a special subscription drive (which isn’t being offered quite yet) that would include new subscribers receiving a paper airplane with something from a contributor.  The picture above might explain it better.

While I could have simply copied out the poems that are in the issue, I opted to try and generate something new. The result is a poem written under a time constraint, but it is something I think works, so I’m happy with it.

~~~~~

Reading journals. To try and get more poetry in my daily life, I’ve been trying to read the poems in journals as they arrive, and here are a few standouts.

from Gulf Coast 26.1 (Winter/Spring 2014)
“Fugue for the Sky Burial of Your Father” by M. K. Foster (winner of the 2013 Gulf Coast Poetry Prize)
“You Cannot Go to the God You Love With Your Two Legs” by Patrick Rosal
“Reprieve as Unlikely Baltimore” by Matthew Pennock
“I am not Gertrude Stein” by friend and fellow U of Arkansas alum, Stacy Kidd
“After Warhol’s Rorschach, 1984″ by friend Adam Vines
“Of the Swan” by Jericho Brown (who will be reading for the Big Rock in February!!!!)

from North American Review 298.2 (Spring 2013)
“Bad May” by Andrew Payton (winner of the 2013 James Hearst Poetry Prize)
“A Phone Line to Seven Generations” by Mark Wagenaar
“A Letter to the Coroner in the Voice of Marian Parker” by Jennifer Militello
“I Swam Where Johnny was Tarzan” by Heather Sellers

from Cave Wall 12
“Seen from Above” by Jennifer K. Sweeney
“What was Promised Me” by Cecilia Woloch
“Keepsakes from the Daily Route” by friend and fellow U of Arkansas alum, Alison Pelegrin
“First Shift” by Heather Cousins
“Morning Train” by Kathryn Stripling Byer

~~~~~

Reading, slowly, Stay, Illusion by Lucie Brock-Broido. If you read me frequently, you know how much I admire Brock-Broido’s work. Let’s face it, I lap it up. I ended up buying this book as an ebook to see how publishers and programs were handling poetry. Brock-Broido tends to the long line and irregular indents, so I knew it would be a challenge. Sure enough, on my iPad, it is a disaster unless I choose “scrolling view” which destroys the sense of pages in a book. However, happily, on my MacBook Air, it does just fine, and I’m even learning to use the highlight and note function. It certainly isn’t the same as cradling a paper copy in my hands, but I do want to give the new technology a chance as I can see the great benefit of being able to access the book from anywhere, rather than having to wait until I get home.  (Yes, I’m a greedy-gut that way!)

~~~~~

Reading, reading, reading submissions for Heron Tree. If you haven’t submitted, we accept submissions through December 1. Remember, we read blind, so I won’t know it’s your work, but I hope y’all will send us your best poems!

51º ~ finally, something akin to fall weather has arrived ~ leaves still green, watching for the first hints of color

While I knew The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths had made it back to Jacar Press from the printer, I didn’t know it would land in mailboxes yesterday.  That is, until Facebook page lit up with folks sending word of the surprise arrival.  What a wonderful way to end another grueling week!

PR/Marketing break: To order copies, click here. Then, scroll through the menu to find The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths.

I’m overjoyed to know this long process has finally reached fruition, and by “long” I don’t mean anything having to do with the actual production and publication.  I found out that the book had won the Jacar Press Full Length Book Contest in the last week of August; seven weeks later, the book existed in physical form. Wowza! By long I mean the years and years and years of writing, revising, and sending out, much of which is chronicled in the archives of this blog.

All my thanks, sincerely, to everyone who has been part of the journey, both family and friends.  Your support during the lows and the highs and everywhere in between is priceless.  And now, we celebrate!

Angie Macri provides me a cameo with Buzz!

Marie Gauthier, selfie with TGBoPM

Amy Baldwin couldn’t wait to get inside; that’s her front step under the book.

Poet-friend and Blogger-extraordinaire, Kristin Berkey-Abbott beat everyone to the punch and has already blogged about receiving her copy.    

69º ~ a beautiful fall rain storm tapering off, weak sunlight filtering through, leaves dripping

A two-week illness prevented me from posting these photos earlier, but I do want to thank M. Mack and the other fine folks with Gazing Grain Press and The Fall for the Book Festival for inviting me to read as runner up in the 2013 feminist chapbook competition.  It was a spectacular event, and I was blown away by winner Meg Day and her chapbook, We Can’t Read This.

M. Mack

Meg Day and Me

Bobblehead Lincoln

The conference was in Fairfax, VA, which meant flying through DCA. With a US History teacher for a spouse, I’m always on the alert for presidential doo-dads.

64º ~ joy, joy, joy, the heat has broken and we have two delicious days ahead ~ then, because the weather is a cruel dictator, the heat and humidity will return all through next week ~ living for today!

Friends in Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland, I’ll be in your area on Sunday, September 22, to read at the Fall for the Book Conference.  As the runner-up to Gazing Grain Press’ 2013 feminist chapbook contest, I’m slated to read at their party for Meg Day, the winner.  Cathy Park Hong selected Meg Day’s chapbook, We Can’t Read This, as the winner of the contest, and I’m so excited to hear Meg read.  We will be at the Sherwood Center from 4:30 – 6:00.  And, hey, Dave Barry follows us!

As the chapbook I submitted contained poems from my forthcoming book, The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths, that’s what I’ll be reading.  It’s going to be an extra delight to read these poems for the first time as part of a collection with a home.

This conference runs from Sunday through the following Friday, and I’m super jealous of all the amazing talent I’ll miss and happy to be included!

66º ~ bright sun on the horizon, not a cloud, a few days of peace and then the heat and humidity return…ah summer, don’t you know when you’re done?

Apologies for the lateness of this post. Life is overwhelming (but for all the right reasons!) at the moment.  And the winner of the free copy of Blood Almanac is

MICHAEL LEVAN!!!!

Michael, I’ll be in touch for your mailing address. Thanks to all for reading the blog and helping me celebrate the good new for The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths.

We are flying through the production schedule and already have cover art, blurbs, barcode/ISBN, and layout.  I’ve proofed the interior, and we are on our way.

If you work at a journal that will seriously consider doing a review of the book, please send me an email (sandy dot 40 dot longhorn AT gmail dot com) so I can arrange a review copy.  If you work at a journal that receives tens of hundreds of review copies with little chance of reviewing this particular book, please take into consideration that a small press has a small margin when deciding whether to contact me.

Here’s the beautiful cover, with art by Marilyn Ormsbee Strother.  This piece was painted around Urbana, Illinois, which explains why it leapt into my heart the minute I saw it!

Yes, Stuart Dischell calls my poem “sly.”  “Sly” I can’t get over it.  I had never thought of them this way before, but I see it now, and I love it!

94 degrees ~ heat index = 100 degrees, cold front coming through Monday into Tuesday, until then, the A/C runs continuously

It’s here, it’s here, it’s here!  The first print edition of Heron Tree is now available at Lulu. Volume One collects all of the poems which will have been
featured on the website from January 2013 through September 2013. To celebrate our first print edition, we are offering it at cost to everyone: $4.38 plus shipping.

Note: Resolution in Lulu’s preview is low and not reflective of the volume as printed.

Now, help us gather the poems for Volume Two.  Our new reading period opens today!  You can read the complete guidelines here. If you did submit last year, please take a look because we’ve changed a few guidelines for this next round. We are ready and eager to read your poems, so send on!

74º ~ but at least the dew point is staying low for the moment, the obnoxious, heavy air should arrive in time for the long weekend, Labor Day in the Mid-South, wahoo?

Hello, poet friends!  Here’s a gentle reminder, nudge to get those poems ready to go.  Heron Tree will start accepting new submissions as of September 1. You can read all of our guidelines here, but for those who submitted last year, notice that there are a few changes. Since we read blind, we are now asking all submitters to strip their names from the poems themselves. Just include the list of poems you are submitting in your cover letter, which should be the body of your email. Also, please don’t put anything in the headers/footers of your documents. Thanks!

We read in batches as the poems accumulate in the submissions inbox, and we notify as we go. I’m looking forward to another round of reading, discussing, and accepting!

Also, watch for news soon about the availability of our first print anthology of the poems published online!