Things that Amuse. . .

Jeff Bahr has done many helpful things for poets. I first was introduced to him in the late 1990's at The Gazebo Workshop. He's been a helpful reader and critic of my own and many other's work. He has a useful publication rankings system. But his latest endeavor is funny, in that it plays on the strangeness of the life of a writer. Rejection? Yep, so what?

The Futility Review: save on postage, don't submit, they'll reject you anyhow. And in this case, retroactively.



Just so you know, I didn't submit or have my poems appear in the Winter 1999 issue, and I have a journal cover .jpeg to prove it.



Were you rejected too?

A bridge too far?

This is proof that simple is beautiful. (and that funny things do occasionally land in one's inbox.



1.go to www.google.com

2.click on maps

3.click on "get directions"

4.go from "new york" to "paris, france"

5.scroll down in the directions to number 23

oh, fun.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Viscountess Amy the Undefeated of Lower Beanthrop in the Hedge Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

just for fun

Some (serious) silliness

The Other Guys

Just for Fun

As action movies *are* the number one genre in our household. . . (right behind Veggie Tales that is!)

You scored as Maximus. After his family was murdered by the evil emperor Commodus, the great Roman general Maximus went into hiding to avoid Commodus's assassins. He became a gladiator, hoping to dominate the colosseum in order to one day get the chance of killing Commodus. Maximus is valiant, courageous, and dedicated. He wants nothing more than the chance to avenge his family, but his temper often gets the better of him.

Which Action Figure Would You Be? v.2

Thanks to Scoplaw & Steve for the link.

Chain Mail in Reverse

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida/ Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C.

One of the fun things about blogging is that you can take other people's ideas rather like voluntary chain-mail, without the threat of bad luck if you decide to not play along. So, after visiting Suzanne today and adapting because I don't know how to underline, here are the states I've visited in bold, the places I've lived in yellow & where I am now in purple (which if you lived here, would make much more sense. Go Wildcats!)

Mail Call Again!

The Boat of Quiet Hours, The Singing, The Last Uncle.

After the first day of classes, I came home to more books. I could get used to this!
I'm teaching two sections this semester and each of them is smaller than my section last semester, plus the room I'm teaching in is bigger with more chalkboard space. It's the little things really, that make life worth living: a few books, laughing in the office with friends who'd been away over the holiday, not falling in the icy driveway, coming home to the sound of my boys laughing, fighting, and laughing again. The start of the new semester is always filled with promise for me. Maybe it's the new pencils, or the change of scenery; most likely it's the books. Yes, I'm giddy again.

Giddy

The new books are arriving. The first package arrived today with Repair and Breath. Is it possible to read without being influenced? Will I find that I'm cranking out Detroit poems by the end of the semester?

I've lived near Detroit actually. And have interesting memories of going to the Majestic theatre, I believe that was the name; it was a dark, smoky, ratty old theatre. The crowd wore black and leather with studs and everyone smoked clove cigarettes. And driving in Detroit we were always terrified of taking the wrong exit as people were always getting carjacked. Looking back I think: Who would have wanted my old Mercury?

I just spoke to a friend from Michigan last night whose husband works in one of the "state of the art" new Ford plants. It has a "living roof" which helps cut down on pollution, and saves energy. Things are always changing.

Perhaps I will write about Detroit, or Michigan again. It's the time of the year that reminds me of how cold I always was there. Ah! Nostalgia!

What You May or May Not Know

• I prefer silver to gold.
• I prefer coffee to tea, except for in the coldest parts of winter and then I drink tea with evaporated milk.
• I am supposed to like purple, and have been fussed at while walking to my car past the athletic department for not wearing it on a certain Friday before the game. But they won anyway, even if I was wearing black.
• I once was a Huron, and then an Eagle all without changing schools. I did change my major from Theatre to Literature when I realized that I'd taken so many electives in poetry and drama that it made more sense that way.
• I had a two and a half year old and a 9 month baby when I graduated with my B.A., but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. My third son came along later and thinks he is a cowboy, since he was born in Texas.
• I have lived in seven states so far. Each of them has something to recommend it.
• I really haven't met that many famous people, but I did serve soup to Yo Yo Ma once.
• I think to write poetry one must read, and read , and read, and did I mention read?
• I teach poetry to sixth graders and they're a lot quicker to pick up on concepts than I thought they'd be.
• I teach Expository Writing and I like it. This means that there is something practical on my vita, and I should be able to get a job one day while I'm (im)patiently waiting to get a job teaching literature or poetry. I also like getting to know my students and am grateful for the fairly small class size (about 20 students in each section). When I'm not grading papers, I'm studying for my MA in literature. And I love it.
• Ph. D.? M.F.A? Literature? Poetry? All of the Above? I can only wait and see.

Notebook

Since Eduardo (Hello Eduardo!) has asked for notebook pages, I thought I'd play along. I typically write down images, and sometimes interesting titles or phrases. I'm terrible about dating my entries, so here is a random page:

the second story deck
the trees dropping branches
drooping coreopsis
flies on fresh dog shit
a rock fallen from the wall
sunlight on hostas
clenched fists on son
one red jelly bean
purple t-shirt
wind-messed hair
branches slapping into faces

trust the kindness of the muse
grocery shopping--fresh greens

prose & cons

graffiti on trains
spring: vultures everywhere
striders
storm tree riders

trussing shuffle
ladders shutters
wet ground drill cord

***

Another page, dated 8 September 2004, has two drafts of a rough poem: (I won't include the strikethroughs, as I don't know how to format them) But with edits it looks like this:


Passing 1000

Overnight the tally turns over:
an odometer on an old car
on a long road. Briefly
it holds and turns
again. In the rearview:
crosses stand like milemarkers


***

Things Taken for Granted

There are a number of things that I tend to take for granted as life gets busy, including a number of the people in my life. Sometimes the lack of one or another gets me thinking. So I'm grateful for the following just in case I hadn't mentioned so lately:

• My husband who makes fantastic coffee and thinks that morning, before the sun, is the best part of the day. For a million reasons, I'm grateful.
• For my boys who bicker, scream, laugh, run, break things, and always manage to remember to give me a hug and kiss no matter how grumpy I've been.
• For my mother who is always there for both me and the boys. For my sister, and all my family in general.
• For my friends who talk poetry, commiserate about deployments, and in general listen even when I'm complaining. Especially those that challenge me to grow, learn, and be a better person.
• Libraries. I'd like to own one, but the two in this town keep me in reading material day and night. And books: poetry, literature, history, cookbooks, children's books, art books.
• The prairie. No matter how rough I think life is becoming, I can walk out onto the prairie and be reminded of the women who tried to make homes out of sod houses, who live miles from their nearest neighbors, who tried to be satisfied with so very little.
• Back roads, old houses, horses, herds of cattle, geese organizing themselves as they rise from the stubble of cornfields.
• Candles, electricity, the comforting flicker of the fireplace.
• The internet, and all those mysterious folks who keep it up and running so that I can study, chat, search, and enjoy.
• Stained glass at night, the moon, fireworks, fireflies.
• The list is endless really; I live a blessed life.