60º ~ blustery wind, some sun, the sweetgum tree has begun to leaf, my ruby-crowned kinglet continues to visit the tree/bush outside my window

Having caught up on even more sleep and office work, I spent some time this morning revising recent work and then reading blogs. Here are three fabulous links.

1. Leslie Pietrzyk, who blogs at Work-in-Progress, provides some helpful tips for surviving AWP.

2. Blogalicious, Diane Lockward’s blog, contains some great information for anyone who wants to host a reading and some key reminders for the reader and the audience as well.

3. Finally, Kristin Berkey-Abbott celebrates Flannery O’Connor’s Birthday with a post that ends on this haunting question: “I’d like to claim a bit of doomedness–not because I want to be gloomy, but because for all of us, our time here is so short, and we will never create all that we could. If we started each day with that knowledge, how would we spend our time differently?”

If any of you are engaging in the NaPoMo poem-a-day challenge…my hat is off to you. Good luck!

Don’t forget to sign up for a chance to win free books below.

49º ~1 part sun to 2 parts cloud

Today’s title does not refer to a literal hangover, but a figurative one. Here’s a brief recap of the last week: Thursday: frantic teaching (last classes before Spring Break) & frantic catching up with loose ends at the office, arrive home to begin dismantling house for extreme makeover on Friday. Friday: with my office condensed to a 2′ x 4′ table in the living room and furniture pushed to the center of all rooms, we had all 19 of our windows replaced with stimulus-credit approved, energy-efficient windows. The guys who performed the installations were great, skilled and polite and intent on cleaning up after themselves. Friday evening into Saturday…putting the house back together and preparing for the arrival of my parents and the simultaneous drive to Memphis for The Pinch release party reading. Saturday evening: passed my parents headed to Little Rock on I-40 at the 168 mile marker while I was headed to Memphis. Bless the husband for entertaining them for me. Then, a glorious night in Memphis with the folks from The Pinch. Great readings all around, although I had to leave early due to the family. Sunday & Monday: visit with parents and perform more household projects. Mom loves projects. We shopped for window shades/blinds and were partially successful. Came home and installed two blinds, then cleaned 5 ceiling fans and hung some curtains. Fixed my desk (more on that later) and finally got some warm sunshine & we were able to sit on the deck some. Tuesday…saw parents off at 5:15 a.m. and then continued to try to catch up with the piles of paper that had accumulated (including one poetry rejection…bleh). Collapsed at 2:00 and slept until 4:00. Today…rested and somewhat put together. Back to poetry.

In the blog world, if you haven’t read Susan Rich’s post on the art of revision, go here. Thanks to Susan for this great picture of President Obama’s revisions. I second and third Susan’s thoughts on revision. It is a crucial element to writing, and although we all practice that element in different ways, our work would not stand up, for the most part, without it. I am addicted to finding le mot juste, as the French would say. It sounds more exotic in a foreign tongue. In reality, it’s the sweaty part of creating poety.

Also in the blog world, there’s a great post over at Red Hen Press on why we ban funky fonts. I’m now in love with Papyrus, but I’ll reserve it for my own use and not impose it on any unsuspecting editors out there.

In the meantime, two personal surprises that have happened amid the crush of activity: Kaite Hillenbrand, the poetry editor at Connotation Press who recently accepted four of my poems all together, emailed me with three interview questions. The interview will run alongside the poems themselves, and this is just one of the reasons I’m a fan of online publications. I love print publications as well, but they often don’t have the page space to add things like this. What surprised me about Hillenbrand’s questions was how insightful they were. These were not single sentence questions but three paragraphs exploring nuances within my work. I was amazed and humbled that she took so much time with my work. Her questions allowed me to explore connections in my work of which sometimes even I am unaware. Many thanks.

On that note, if you ever read something of mine and are curious about it, please email a question and I’ll be glad to respond!

My other surprise was a thank you gift from Lyndsey Daniel and her students. I wrote about visiting Lyndsey’s class a few posts back. The students sent me a journal, which is cool, but what is super cool is that they each wrote a comment on the inside cover. Sweet and awesome. Also, I have copies of their evaluations, and some of them had questions we didn’t have time to cover. Watch for a future post with answers to those questions.

Now, one last home improvement project for the break. I’m taking everything off the shelves in my office and re-organizing. yay!

conditions continue the same

FYI: I’m not going to be able to post for a week due to the pre-Spring Break rush at school, followed by a home improvement project, and a visit from the parents (YAY!).

I will respond to comments and emails, but I won’t have time to write for the blog (wah).

See you on the flip side!

61º ~ cloud cover, forecast calls for storms, welcome spring’s unsettled skies

I love Mary Chapin Carpenter, and today’s title might only make sense if you know her song “The Bug.” The chorus begins, “Sometimes you’re the windshield; sometimes you’re the bug.” Today, I’m definitely feeling like the windshield, which is a nice change after spending several weeks as the bug.

Yesterday afternoon, I had the great pleasure to guest lecture at the University of Arkansas Community College – Morrilton. Friend and fellow U of Arkansas grad, Lyndsey Daniel, invited me to appear in her Intro to Poetry class. These are my favorite types of appearances as a poet: smaller group, time to talk with the audience, less formal, &etc. I had a fabulous time, and I hope the students did as well. They were bright and engaged and asked all kinds of fantastic questions. Many, many thanks to the students who purchased copies of Blood Almanac. I know how precious money can be to students, and I’m honored that you chose to part with yours for a copy of my book. Many thanks to Lyndsey as well for making it all possible.

Other great windshield news: I spent the weekend sending poems out into the world, and I was rewarded by an awesome acceptance from Connotation Press. Kaite Hillenbrand, the poetry editor, emailed to let me know that the editors chose to accept all four poems that I submitted, and again, I’m humbled by such generosity and support. If you haven’t checked out this online journal yet, now’s the time to do so. I chose to submit to Connotation Press after a Facebook friend posted about her publication there awhile back. What intrigued me about the journal is its focus on bringing together many art forms. Their Mission Statement says it all:
“Connotation Press: An Online Artifact exists to publish and promote the finest art and artists available, and to provide a place for a wide variety of art to flourish. From the printed to the spoken word, from the auditory to the visual arts, from the tactile to the cerebral our primary purpose is to provide the best possible showcase venue for the arts and artists that we publish, and to do everything in our power to attract and keep the largest audience possible to experience them. For too long the arts have been segregated: poetry magazines, fiction magazines, photography magazines, and while we respect these single-focus outlets, we believe there should be a place where all art can coexist. Connotation Press: An Online Artifact is that place.”

In the shower this morning, I was thinking about this gift of having all four poems accepted by one journal and I wondered briefly if this was happening more (I had three in a row like this last Spring) because online journals have more “pages” with fewer expenses. So, I looked up my history of having multiple poems accepted. Turns out, it’s fifty/fifty. Not sure what any of that means, but I hope the editors know what an extra boost to the confidence it is when more than one poem is accepted at a time.

I’m forever indebted (and hopelessly devoted) to all those who read and publish poetry in a world that often places little outward value on the arts.

57 ~ stormy skies

The above title is not a typo. This morning I had no poetry time due to an appointment with the eye doctor and got to read the eye chart. No major changes, although bifocals aren’t that far around the corner. I learned that I have eye strain from overusing the computer. I admit that I’ve increased my time in front of the screen two- or three-fold this semester for a number of reasons: more online teaching, grading papers online (trying to go paperless), more poetry time, more blog reading, more Facebook, &etc. The doctor was quite helpful and I now have a plan that involves taking breaks and closing my eyes (a prescription for napping!), as well as using over the counter “natural” tears to help my eyes stay healthy.

Until Wednesday…

48º ~ full sun, the forecast calls for a high of 64º

Thanks to Facebook, I’ve reconnected with a good friend of mine from high school, who also went into English and teaches at the college level. Today, I read his amazing post about growing up in Waterloo, and the blue collar implications of that. He describes how the Rath Packing Plant is a personal icon of his, and it is certainly important to me as well, although I was more in touch with the rural side of things, growing up on the edge of a cornfield and having family that still farmed during the horrible 80’s.

My favorite quote from this blog post addresses how we Midwesterners with working-class roots sometimes feel in academia:
I also think growing up in Waterloo gave me a certain blue collar mindset that usually serves me well but also creates crankiness since I work in academia, a place where sometimes being straightforward and at times blunt and also prone to being intolerant of bullshit are not prized characteristics.

Exactly! After a reading one time, an audience member commented to me about how much Midwestern straightforwardness there was in the poems, but then how they’d zing through with something amazing amid the bluntness. I loved that.

Oh, and my friend blogs with a pseudonym, so I’m honoring his anonymity.

conditions unchanged

This week I received my contributor’s copy of The American Poetry Journal, Number 9, which features three of my poems. Many, many thanks to J.P. Dancing Bear for taking three poems at once and for producing such a fine journal. As a double surprise, APJ is now co-publishing with The National Poetry Review. While all of the editorial work remains separate, the journals are now published together. Hold the book one way, and you have the cover and content of APJ; flip it over & turn it around, and you have the cover and content of NPR. Cool.

Also, if you live near the Memphis area, check out this announcement. I’ll be reading on March 20th at the release party of the upcoming issue of The Pinch.