A Tour of Gaileyland, a Reading Video, 2014 Goals, and a Poem on Verse Daily this week
- At December 10, 2013
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
- 1
After months of very little in the way of good poetry news of any sort, I’ve been inundated with news, mostly good news, things I want to be able to stop and be grateful for in the middle of the holiday hustle. (We’ve rearranged furniture, broken a microwave, built cabinets in the laundry room/pantry, got together a variety of Christmas presents, and restocked the upstairs bed and bath with necessities in the last few days…) So here are a few things:
Lesley Wheeler talks a little bit about her adventures in teaching, and I do mean adventures! Lesley had her class at Washington and Lee University produce this web site, Gaileyland, which is a travel-guide-type exploration of my book Becoming the Villainess. Pretty much the most creative and cool example of teaching a book of poetry in a way that won’t put students to sleep. The whole thing is hilarious; I particularly like the restaurant reviews.
In case you are interested, here’s a link to the text and the video from my reading on a 16 degree night for the Redmond Lights Celebration and dedication of the sculpture called “The Erratic” by John Fleming: http://redmondpoetry.blogspot.com/2013/12/video-and-poem-from-redmond-lights.html. It was a fun night despite the bitter cold and a nice way to connect with the community there. I also found I really like doing ekphrastic poetry, so I hope I find a way to keep doing it!
I heard that Verse Daily will be featuring one of my poems, I think on Thursday. So keep an eye out!
After almost six months of just rejections, I’ve had four acceptances in the last week, which just reminds me that the writing life is very bipolar – months of nothing, then a week of good news! That’s the way it is, and why you have to grit your teeth and stick with it through the months of bad news. So you can be extra happy when all your good news comes in.
And I’m happy to say that the re-release in print by Two Sylvias Press of my second book, She Returns to the Floating World, should be out by the end of the month! More news on that when I get it! This version will have internal art by Michaela Eaves, so it’s worth getting just for that!
Oh, and if you’re doing any holiday shopping that includes poetry books, Kelli Agodon has a great list of her favorite poetry books of 2013 here, and I really like the list myself (not just because Unexplained Fevers is on the list, either – this resembles very closely my faves of 2013 as well!) So check that out!
My goals after the holidays include starting to be more determined in writing book reviews that pay (as opposed to the ones I do for free) and doing more freelance magazine writing queries. I used to really enjoy freelance writing, and I want to get back into the swing of that, just maybe slightly different kinds of journalism. I know quite a bit about allergy-friendly menu planning, or finding beauty products without wheat, and maybe that info will be interesting to others? I hope so! I feel better about myself when I’m contributing to the household incoming in whatever ways I can, even though, yes, I’m a poet. So that’s part of my goal-setting for 2014. What about you?
Rachel Dacus
Great news, Jeannine! All of it. I’ll look for your poem on Verse Daily. Best, Rachel