Some of my favorite poetry lines about April, courtesy of Edna St. Vincent:
“It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.”
Thanks for all your birthday wishes! It was even a teensy bit sunny today, but still not warm. And we saw majestic bald eagles, little deer in our yards, hummingbirds and goldfinches. Banner wildlife, Washington State, if not banner weather…
And C. Dale, I did love Virgin Airlines – especially on the way home, when we got bumped up to first class!
On the last day of April, here are the last two drafts on NaPoWriMo, or the April of 1001 poems…(Be careful. These poem drafts will self-destruct.)
Poof!
*
Poof!
Home to 48 degrees and the gray rain again….
But before we left sunny CA, we had the chance to visit Monterey Aquarium with the many species of river otter, spend some time climbing the soft-sand-and-jagged-rock beaches at Pacific Grove, where we witnessed a sea lion playing with its newborn baby, watch surfers, visit a mall and eat artichoke pizza (with really fresh artichokes,) buy strawberries for a dollar at a roadside stand and eat them right there. I also had lunch with a friend in San Jose. San Jose is kind of what Phoenix would be like if you dropped it in between San Francisco and Monterey – a flat, strip-mally, dry, warm city – functional, but not beautiful. Well, with less grackles than Phoenix (I do love those grackles!) I much preferred the part of Silicon Valley with hills and greenery – Redwood City, where Oracle lives, and Mountain View. And of course Pacific Grove, about an hour south of San Jose, with its quirky little bookstores and restaurants and Monarch Butterfly sanctuaries, seemed a lot like Port Townsend, with better weather and more dramatic beaches. I’m really sorry I missed the chance to go North of San Fran to Marin County, where I was supposed to visit this March but my health got in the way. I’ve heard lots of good things.
I like Seattle, but I have to say I was feeling whoever wrote this for the Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2004371152_moeletter27.html
I’ve never moved away from a place simply for health reasons, but I might have to start this year. Hey, who knew living with so much drizzle could be bad for someone with mold allergies and asthma? I felt so much better after a few days in the sunshine and warmth. Plus, it turns out not sitting at my computer all day makes me feel a lot better.
Turning 35 tomorrow: where to go next, what to do next. What to do until the sun comes back to the Northwest?
Notes from California:
A sunny 80 degrees in San Francisco, got to visit the friendly swans at the Palace of Fine Arts, and walk around the Presidio and the Golden Gate Park’s Fort Point. Calla lilies and pink ice plants in bloom, and not a single cloud in the sky! Also, delicious kinds of food of all sorts. But who can eat when it’s so nice outside?
Friday night we went to visit City Lights bookstore, sandwiched between multiple neon strip clubs, and the fabled upstairs poetry room. Glenn was fascinated with a book on Sylvia Plath’s art work, and I finally got to see some of Ron Silliman’s books. His work (at least the books that were there – “N/O” and “Age of Huts”) read a lot more like someone’s journal notes than I expected from all his talk about the avant-garde and Language poetry. Hm! Beautiful cover of “Age of Huts.” I also found some books I hadn’t seen before, books by Amy Gerstler and Julianna Baggott, both of whom wrote collections with a lot of persona poems. Overall, I’m still an Open Books girl, I think.
The art galleries in San Francisco were fabulous. I discovered a new favorite artist – kind of in the same surreal mood as Yumiko Kayukawa, but without the manga/80’s-ad flavor. More in the eerily beautiful vein of a fairy tale illustration gone slightly awry. Here’s a link to Rene Lynch’s amazing Secret Life of the Forest…girls with swallows in their hair, a girl looking at the observer with an owl hanging overhead, girls running from wolves in the woods. Would someone like to buy me one of these? Swoon!
Off to Monterey tomorrow…spending the night in sunny suburbia, maybe checking out some neighborhoods in the Silicon Valley outskirts on the way. Passed enough company headquarters to make my former-techie heart pound. Yoohoo, Yahoo! How much is the median rent in Los Gatos? Watsonville? Pacific Grove?
I feel positively C. Dale Young-esque! I’m sneaking off to California for a few days with G to relax – and possibly check out some neighborhoods for rentals…and I’m even taking Virgin America Airlines! He is such a good advertisement for them. Plus, the tickets were super cheap.
Yes, I think I need a break from backhoes, rain, and temperatures below 50 degrees for a few days…I’m packing skirts and sandals, which I haven’t been able to wear in the Seattle area yet.
Anyway, you guys be good til I get back!
Happy Earth Day! And happy backhoe accident/morning explosions!
The bad news:
The contruction workers who’ve been tearing up the lot next to our rental house back-hoed our power, phone, and cable lines at 9 AM this morning, making our morning more exciting, causing several explosions on our front porch, and also burning the metal junction box – which got so hot that it welded shut. Calls to: landlord, rental agency, power company, phone company, electrician. Maybe fixed by tomorrow? No heat, no hot water, no light, no phone, no internet. And six hundred people digging up our rental yard to re-lay power lines.
The good news: Thank goodness for the Centrum residency cabin! So Glenn was able to come over and shower, eat a hot lunch at Centrum, save all of our frozen food in the residency cabin mini-freezer. We even found the internet at the Commons (thanks Peter!) The poor kitties may be a little cold, but at least Glenn has an escape from a potentially very disturbing day. The only downside? Because they are removing some creosote material from the Fort Warden beaches, there are closed parts and helicopters removing creosote-laden beach logs.
Note to self: Residencies can be very practical, as well as creatively helpful. Just mind those helicopters!
Other note: I have been painting a watercolor a day. I am not a very good artist.
- At April 20, 2008
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In haibun today, snow in April
- 2
There is a snowstorm outside. With sleet. Seriously. Someone order me a desert.
And, a poem of mine is up on Haibun Today, um, today!
Hello! I’m writing from the first day of my residency at Centrum in Port Townsend, a little cabin – all mine – overlooking the white stone cliffs and beaches around Fort Warden. My cabin has three bedrooms and a baby grand piano. No internet though, so blog posts may be fewer and farther between. I have already played the piano (in tune!) and I plan to sleep in all four of the beds. I feel so jacked up and excited. I brought my sketch pads and stuff too, I haven’t done any visual artist-type stuff in a long time and spend so much time being in-control, analytical girl that will be nice to be more laid-back and focusing on the, you know, creative bohemian self. I was thinking about the fact that I pretty much actively suppress my inner poet (you know, the dreamy, sensitive version of me, not the kick-ass, gets stuff done, doesn’t take crap version that spent time in the business world) almost all the time. Discipline, I think to myself as I write queries, work to finish articles before deadline, negotiate payments, send out submissions…I rarely give myself permission to do what I want during the day. I have a lot of rules for myself: work first, then blogging and internet surfing, no television during the day, healthy snacks instead of junk food. Some exercise every day (although right now most of my exercise time is being spent at physical therapy.) These are all probably requirements of being able to work from home. But I need some time to indulge, to be unstructured, to dream. This residency may be a key to that. And, right now, I have to go shopping for snacks and drinks. I’m afraid this creative outlet may also channel my inner six-year-old’s eating habits.
The right response to why poems don’t rhyme, etc: a funny little piece over at Slate responding to “non-poetry-people” questions about poetry: http://www.slate.com/id/2189318/
(Addendum: My husband the engineer’s comment on the article: Doesn’t Pinsky know any contemporary poetry? Way to reach out and introduce new poets to the masses, man!)
And, the Poetry Foundation features Colleen McElroy, a mentor and friend of mine who also happens to be a terrific poet and fierce storyteller. She really encouraged me when I first came to Seattle, and has continued to be a feminist (and a humanist) heroine.
Here’s to a more right-brained Jeannine, who will be more creatively productive (plus write some reviews and other admin work…) I’m crossing my fingers. Or, maybe I’ll just watch the blustery clouds and the deer and play the piano.
A better day today. I woke up and looked out the kitchen window, and there were three deer with their legs folded up, sleeping in my yard, a mom and two half-yearlings. And then there were hummingbirds, a couple of stellar jays – it was like waking up in a Disney cartoon! How can you be grumpy with that? Even on another miserably cold April (!!) day…
Finally got to see Juno, which I really liked. It was nice to actually enjoy a film, as opposed to suffering through it. Honestly, how many good, fun movies has Hollywood made in the last couple of years? I’m counting them on one hand – Little Miss Sunshine, Stranger Than Fiction…okay, I’m out…
Oh, and if you’ve been sending me e-mail at my hotmail account, and haven’t heard back, that’s probably because hotmail has been randomly blocking people, I just found out – so write again or use the form at my web site and I’ll either try to unblock you or give you a supersecret alternate e-mail address to use.
I’m turning 35 in two weeks. Cannot believe how old I am now. 30 didn’t hurt me, but 35? Ouch.
Since I sometimes get e-mails about freelancing, I thought it would be good to post a link to Salon’s “Tips for Freelancers” – supposedly tax tips, but other useful tips as well. Check out the letters, which contain more tips from readers.
It’s NaPoWriMo day 1001. Or at least that’s how it feels.
Yes, watching Kurosowa’s “The Hidden Fortress” and George Lucas’ “Star Wars: A New Hope,” in the same night, was surprisingly fun. And why, you ask, was I available to watch such a marathon? Well, my stupid problems (neck, joint, immune system/connective tissue, etc) were flaring up again, so I was basically stuck flat on my back. After a punishing session with a physical therapist and a chiropractor today, I don’t feel any better. So I was feeling kind of grumpy, healthwise, today, and wrote a grumpy, self-pitying, health-problem-based poem-a-day poem. It’s really just a remix of the themes in this poem. I told Kelli I wasn’t posting my drafts because I wasn’t happy with them, but she told me to post them anyway, so here goes:
They Told Me I Was Special
Poof!
I was supposed to go to a reading on Wednesday for the Wompo Anthology, but as per doctor’s orders, I will be resting my pretty head (neck) instead of partying with my girl-poet friends. Boo.
Endicott Studio’s Journal of Mythic Arts features five Red Riding Hood poems today, including Anne Sexton’s, Carol Ann Duffy’s, and mine! Check out their Sunday poems!