A New Poem in Baltimore Review, Field Guide on a Grim Times Reading List, More Pink Typewriters and Birds, and Weathering May Gloom

Pink Typewriter Paris Vignette

A New Poem in The Baltimore Review and Still in Lockdown in Washington State

It’s the end of the third week of May, and while many states are opening up, my area in Washington State is still mostly in lockdown. This really doesn’t change anything for the likes of me, someone who’s high-risk and immune-compromised, honestly, but I can feel others getting impatient. We still don’t have enough: tests, PPEs, viable treatments. If you feel stressed, remember we’re living through something unfamiliar, unprecedented in either ours or our parents’ time. It’s like the Great Depression plus tuberculosis, with a number of dead in such a short time it rivals a fairly big war. People say, “When are we going back to normal?” and I think to myself, the answer is maybe never. Maybe we won’t go back to crowded concerts or lots of packed-in-sardine-can planes, maybe the sky and water will be cleaner, maybe we won’t shake hands anymore or ever dole out casual hugs to people we don’t know well. Maybe more companies will let their employees work from home and voters will decide universal health is maybe kind of important. Maybe hospitals and retirement homes will be redesigned with more privacy, better ventilation, more sunlight. And we went from “normal” to isolated and scared, dealing with scarcity in all kinds of things (thermometers? vitamin C?) in a matter of days and weeks. We lost 100,000 people,  just in America, in about three months. Of course you don’t feel normal, of course you feel scared and stressed. It would be remarkable if you did not. Don’t worry. I’ve got bird and flower pictures, as well as recommended reading for grim times, farther down the post.

In good news, The Baltimore Review published a new poem of mine, “Planting Camellias as Act of Resistance,” in their latest issue. It’s a wonderful lit mag to check out. And here’s a sneak peek at my poem:

From The Baltimore Review

Three Ways of Looking at a Red-Winged Blackbird

I’ve always liked red-winged blackbirds, and lately they have decided to visit my back deck. Here are three shots, two of which show exactly how much beautiful color they have.

Writer with pink typewriter and pink peonies

Reading for Grim Times

I was honored to have my book Field Guide to the End of the World included in this reading list for grim times, which includes Margaret Atwood, Emily St John, and Traci Brimhall. I’d recommend the entire list. Station Eleven, in particular, shows a clear path for how art can exist after a terrible plague. Of course, her plague is a bit more supernatural than ours but otherwise, it’s a great fable about artists in apocalypse.

And here’s a picture of me with my new vintage pink typewriter. Look how soothing that pink light is – and that’s not a filter, there was an incredible peach afternoon light. It’s been mostly raining this week, but this was a moment of sun.

Rufous Hummingbird

Wishing you health and safety for your week ahead. I hope you spend Memorial Day in the sunshine with your loved ones, and I hope those of you that work in health care stay safe.