Have you read a book lately that was so good you just sat down and started writing about it? I had that happen recently with a book by Dana Levin, Wedding Day. Fantastic stuff, dark, twisted, funny, ultimately asking a lot of questions about American poetry, what it is, why we write it. I have to quote a little bit of it here, from a poem “Ars Poetica:” “Six monarch butterfly cocoons/ clinging to the back of your throat-/ you could feel their gold wings trembling.// You were alarmed. You felt infested./ In the downstairs bathroom of the family home,/ gagging to spit them out-/ and a voice saying Don’t, don’t –“
Anyway, wish I’d come up with that poem. Another don’t-miss poem is “Quelquechose,” which was published in the 2005 Pushcart anthology. My review of Levin’s book will be in the next issue of 88.
I turned in my final homework packet for school, so now I have officially started my six month break from homework. I hope I can keep up my writing without the extra push I’ve gotten accustomed to. I’m also hoping when I go back in January I’ll be completely well, not distracted by the constant tests and dr appts, etc.
I’ve been trying positive visualizations for my health and stuff, and I think it worked – I found out I won a small sweepsteaks for which the prize was a Stila lipgloss set. Not quite the book contest I was hoping for, but close, right? I’ve just got to aim those positive visualizations a little higher next time.