October – Trip to Skagit, Application Anxieties and the Mid-Career Writer, Reading Early Cyberpunk

Roozengaarde’s Dahlias and Sky

October Trip to Skagit Valley

We had one day of warm sun and seventy-degree weather so we took a quick day trip up to Skagit Valley, where we stopped into the Northwest Museum of Art, Roozengaarde’s gardens to pick up our daffodil and tulip bulbs, and Gordon’s Pumpkin Farm, where, fun fact, a small black kitten walked up to me and meowed while I was looking at pumpkins, which seems like the most Halloween thing ever. We also saw eagles, herons, a seal, pelicans we mistook for snow geese, basically all the wildlife you could hope to see in October.

Pumpkins at Gordon’s Pumpkin Farm

I immediately feel physically better when I go up to Skagit Valley – less traffic? Cleaner air? Friendlier people? Abundant wildlife? Whatever it is, it just feels as if I literally breathe easier an hour north. I also found a dress with a book print that’s perfect for readings. It’s the little things.

Anyway, if you get a sunny day in fall in the Pacific Northwest, it’s worth the side trip to Skagit Valley. It’s no substitute for my missed trip to San Juan Island, but it did put me in better spirits.

At McMurtrey’s Farm with dahlias during sunbreak

Application Anxieties and Reading Early Cyberpunk

When I got back, I had more mental energy and took on two tasks I’d been putting off – applying to residencies and fellowships. I also looked around at who to send my current book-in-progress to, thinking about where I am in my writing life (what do I actually want at this point? What am I aiming for? Are people reading poetry right now?) As a midlife, mid-career writer, it seems like a good time to take a moment and think about the habits and goals I’ve become accustomed to since starting to write and submit in my teens. Am I trying to support myself with my writing (and if so, how do I do that better than I’m doing it now?) Am I trying to reach the right audiences? How do I determine whether I say yes or no to an assignment or request? How do I find the right publisher (because it would be nice to find the right publisher that I could stay with the rest of my writing career?) Here’s more pics from local pumpkin farms:

Harvest Supermoon

Our J. Bookwalter’s book club is reading a book that just came out in English translation (but the stories were written and published in the seventies and eighties in Japan,) Terminal Boredom by Izumi Suzuki. It made me think about Philip K. Dick’s sixties-era Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep in that it plumbs strangely prescient subject matter – population collapse vs overpopulation, teens obsessed with screens to the point of violence, and a very 2020’s kind of detachment and way of examining gender and class. It also has things in common with Yoko Ogawa, a Japanese writer I very much admire, and Osamu Dazai’s whose ironic detachment in his many books the 1930s set a standard for Japanese literature. It’s interesting to think what people in the past thought the future would be like – and how much they got right or wrong. I’ve been investigating Solarpunk over the past year, partially because I believe if you can’t imagine a better future, you won’t get one, and the relentless oppressiveness of recent dystopian writings, I’m trying to think of how to write a way to a better future for people and nature. I’m trying to be brave and face some things – like disability and chronic illness – more directly in my writing, and in doing that, to maybe make things better (?)

Happy Fall! Pumpkin Season Arrives Along with Early Sunsets, Supermoons, Health Stuff and Missed Opportunities

Sign at JB’s Pumpkin Farm in Woodinville

Happy Fall! October and Pumpkin Season Arrives with Earlier Dark, Supermoons…

Welcome to October! I’m writing this with blue sky outside my window, though it will soon be dark. Pumpkin Season has officially arrived—we’ve put out our October lights, and our porch is covered in a variety of pumpkins from our several local farms.

Tiny squirrel

You may have seen from last week’s post that I’d been in the hospital, and then spent a whole week sick, which has me so backed up on work and e-mails (more about this later), plus I missed going to my writing residency (which could not be rescheduled). So, boo! Not the end of the world, but a little discouraging. (More about this later.) Also, my garden has been invaded by a tiny kind of squirrel. This guy at left is barely as big as my hand, but very unafraid and digs up my planter boxes for fun.

Me at McMurtrey’s Pumpkin Farm

Nevertheless, because in October you can’t take sunshine for granted, I tried to get out on the warmer days to check on my garden and the local pumpkin farms. The flowers—sunflowers and dahlias—are still blooming as the pumpkins keep showing up in various colors and sizes. We had a lot of rain this week, reminding us we are in the rainy season, but we had some nice breaks of sunshine too.

I’m trying to get outside and do a little activity every day, but the virus made my MS act up and I’m still feeling the aftereffects. As for the residency, well, my plan was to hole up and write, but I’m trying to do some writing and submitting anyway this week.

Health Challenges and Missed Opportunities: A Story about Trying to Live a Larger Life (in a Disabled and Chronically Ill Body)

After I lost two friends this year, I made a vow to try to live a bigger life—I feared the pandemic had made me shrink not just my daily routines but my goals and dreams too, that my circles had shrunk and shrunk. The impact of that has maybe made my health a little worse—you may have noticed I’ve been struggling since August first with one thing, then another, and bam, I wound up in the hospital last week with life-threatening stuff. If I ignore my body and try to push through, I inevitably pay a price—but I said yes to maybe too much and as a result had to miss several things—readings with friends, a residency, celebrations—I had really looked forward to and had to dial down all my activities for at least two weeks. Living with MS AND a primary immune system problem AND a bleeding disorder—all things that prove challenging on their own—can be like playing a video game where, when you beat or evade one boss, you just end up downed by another you weren’t even looking for. As a result, I am reevaluating how much I say yes to, and the life goals that are really worth fighting for. Is it worth it to say yes to travel if I’m sick for weeks afterwards, or socializing if I pick up a virus every time I go in public? I don’t want to live in fear, but I also don’t want to be stupid. I am just a writer, which is not a super high-risk job, but I still have to be careful what I say yes and no to. I’m still trying to figure out a balance in the health vs everything else in my life. As we get into the wetter, colder months, or “the big dark” as they say out here, I’m going to try to dial down a bit, spend some more time reading and writing, not pushing my body quite as hard. I have already ordered pens – don’t new pens feel more necessary in fall?

The Harvest Supermoon is tomorrow night. I wish you all balance AND peace as we switch seasons.

A Tribute to Martha Silano Up at the Poetry Foundation

Martha and I with pumpkin display in 2022

A Tribute to Martha Silano at the Poetry Foundation

Hello friends! I would have posted this earlier but had a bit of a health challenge and ended up in the hospital and then have been catching up on rest.

But I wrote a tribute to my long-time poet friend, Martha Silano, that went up on the Poetry Foundation web site (and was in the newsletter), and I was very happy and hope this helps people remember her and her writing. Marty passed away of ALS in May of this year. Her last book, Terminal Surreal, just came out from Acre Books. I hope you will look up her work as it is very worth reading.

Here’s a link to the article: An Oracular Voice: Remembering Martha Silano | The Poetry Foundation

And here is a sample from the article:

Sharing cocktails outdoors during 2023

The last time I saw Marty—Martha Silano—in person, it was fall during a week of wildfire smoke and we decided to visit a local sunflower farm in my neighborhood of Woodinville, Washington. We got lucky—the haze lifted for a few hours, the air quality wasn’t too terrible, and the temperatures had dropped enough for us to be comfortable outside. We met at my house for a quick catch-up chat, snacks, and wine, and I noticed that she hadn’t eaten or drunk very much. I think the beginnings of her swallowing problems—her first ALS symptom—were already happening, though she didn’t complain about a thing that day. I have a picture of us smiling among red and yellow sunflowers, the sky blue but slightly hazy above us. She told me how glad she was to be able to get out into nature again, without the pervasive wildfire smoke. Soon afterward, she was diagnosed with ALS and such outings would become impossible. I am so glad to have the memory of that day, now.”

I wish you all a healthy and happy week and be sure to find a way to tell your friends how much they mean to you.

Happy Fall! Solarpunk Poetry, Judging Poetry Contests, Pumpkin Patches, Adventure and Hummingbirds

Me with pumpkin display after Solarpunk Poetry Talk

Happy Fall! Pumpkin Patches, Solarpunk Poetry, Judging Poetry Contests

Ah, the beginning of fall. The pumpkin patches are opening, the last of our flowers blooming. This week we had a ninety-degree day and a couple of days of wildfire smoke, so we aren’t feeling that welcome fall chill just yet.

Yesterday was the Writer’s Digest Virtual Poetry Conference, so I got to see my friend Mary Biddinger’s talk on prose poetry and flash fiction in the morning, then showered, dressed and did my own talk on Solarpunk poetry, which is a type of science fiction poetry that looks to a more hopeful future for ecology, equity, and humanity. Then I turned around and ran out of the house to make it to opening day of the Woodinville Pumpkin Farm at JB Family Growers. (Yes, it’s a lavender farm AND a pumpkin farm!) The sun was shining in a blue sky, although there was still a level of smoke that made me a little verklempt. It was so nice to roam around the beautiful sunflower maze, the broad pumpkin patch, and the towering corn maze. Are you feeling Fall yet?

Sunflower maze with sun flare, JB Growers Pumpkin Farm

I really overscheduled myself this September, so yes, I am still working on judging the SFPA’s poetry contest—now I’m just writing some comments to the winners. I read over 600 poems (often not on their own page, or in the same font, so that was fun!) and chose nine winners in Dwarf, Short, and Long categories. It reminded me that often judges aren’t looking to rule you out, they’re looking to rule you in. At least that’s how I do it. When you submit a poem to any contest, make sure it’s unique and that it stands out. This year, for instance, there were a lot of both Mars Rover and dragon poems, not bad subjects, but it makes it harder for me to discern the best of the lot. A French formal poem on colonialism in space? Yes, that caught my eye. I was also surprised by an overall lack of imagery—has imagery gone out of fashion again? Anyway, the contest winners will be announced soon enough.

Anna’s hummingbird and cherry blossom

Hummingbirds and Travel Plans

In case you thought I’d lost interest in photographing birds, I have not, and here is some proof. I’m even thinking of getting a new lens for my camera (they are super expensive, so I have to wait to buy them one at a time).

I also have some travel plans—going to a writing residency on one of the San Juan Islands in a few days, so trying to get ready for that. I also was offered the amazing opportunity to stay in Paris at a friend’s apartment for five months—but five months was tricky because the visa is harder to get than a three-month visa, and Glenn wouldn’t be legally allowed to work from remote. But it was awfully tempting! It made me think—do we shrink our lives too much out of fear? What if we could be living a more adventurous, larger life?

What is stopping us? Our network of doctors, friends and family, or our comfortable routines? Our cats? I am not going to stop thinking about doing a longer-term Paris stay now that I have it in mind, maybe just for one or two months the first time instead of five. I’d love to go at Christmas, or around my birthday. Dream dream dream!

Peppers at Tonnemaker’s Farm Stand

I’m also going to my friend Catherine Broadwall’s launch of Water Spell, her fairy-tale, pop-culture memoir of divorce, on the 25th at J. Bookwalter’s winery in Woodinville, and I’ll be helping open her reading (along with poets Kristine Iredale and Erika Wright). So, consider coming out for some wine and some poetry and poetic memoir. I believe there’s an open mic too?

I’ll be working on my book manuscript on the writing residency and conjuring up some new poems. I’m bringing some reading material too, as it will probably be raining for a good deal of the trip (end of September tends to herald the beginning of the rain season, which lasts through June). I’m hoping to see whales and foxes, but I’m really going to try to concentrate on the writing part.

Wishing you all adventurous Fall plans, and an excuse to pull away, have some alone time, and write!

A Tough Week with Bright Spots: Celebrating Poets, Fall Feels and Surprise Cherry Blossoms

Glenn and I with gourds at Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm

A Tough Week with Bright Spots: Celebrating Poets, Fall Feels and Surprise Blossoms

A good week to avoid social media. Also, I’m considering becoming a youth influencer for things like empathy, love of science, poetry, and feminism. Any podcasts hiring? (And I want to say more, but you know what? I’m not.)

Fall has finally arrived here and you can see evidence in the pictures – the time of flower blooms is waning, and the time of pumpkins is here. Glenn and I visited Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm (picture evidence below) for amazing corn, apples, some cool gourds, and our first porch pumpkins. Spending time outside with blue skies and fall in the air has given me all the fall feels, though we can’t yet wear our sweaters (supposed to be in the eighties in a few days.) I’m almost done judging the SFPA poetry prize, and then I’ll be doing a live tutorial on Solarpunk poetry at the Writer’s Digest Conference on September 20th. Busy month, right?

Erika Wright, me, Catherine Broadwall

Celebrating Local Poets

The reality of life for poets can be tough, and our time together brief, so celebrating the wins of your friends is important and deserves time and space. So I got together with a few young local poets who are burning it up – Catherine Broadwall’s new memoir, Water Spell, is being launched at J. Bookwalter’s the 25th and me, Erika and Kristine Iredale will be opening for her, so come on out. That talented girl also just signed for a new poetry book with local press Girl Noise Press, so double the congrats.

Surprise: Cherry Blossoms?

In the middle of the week, I was feeling pretty heavy, so it was a good surprise to see my Rainier cherry tree break into blossom, and the little hummingbirds can not leave it alone.

I’m ready for some rejuvenation, the hope in falling leaves of new birth, the unexpected flowering.