A Week of Rejections and Small Disasters, A Pushcart Nom, and Looking for the Beauty of the Everyday in December

Geese with Sun Flare in December – Everyday Beauty Series

A Week of Rejections and Small Disasters

This week’s blog post has two themes: looking for the beauty of the everyday and the weight of small disasters. So, to the left is a picture I took of geese flying with a sun flare (December light here has a unique color – almost peach.)

This week, besides the larger sadness of the burial of my grandmother on Monday, I received seven rejections, our dishwasher leaked and flooded the kitchen overnight, ruining some of the kitchen floor, then our internet went out, then no stores had dishwashers (the repair would have been over $500, so we just decided to get a new one…problem: nothing in stock, and installation would mean waiting til January.) We finally found one store that had a last dishwasher in stock and could drop it off in our garage (no install) and Glenn installed the dishwasher himself. The internet was out, the cable company sent out a tech who helped with the internet but broke off our phone service, so basically I spent 24 hours this week on the cell phone with various customer service people which I don’t recommend during the holidays. It was not a great week, and it ended with a three day migraine.

Greek Strawberry Tree

Looking for the Beauty of the Everyday in December

Since most of us can’t do the usual celebratory things right now due to covid, I made up a photo project this week to see the beauty in the everyday. To the left is a photo of a Greek Strawberry Tree that we saw in a parking lot. Now I want one to plant myself. So, having a week of smaller disasters and the continuing sadness of losing my grandmother to covid, I wanted to find the grace, the things to be thankful for, in a time that feels totally barren, usually. We did get several days of sunshine (even if the sun goes down on my street at 3:30 PM – it matters, in Seattle, how far up you are in how much light you get in a day) which felt like a nice respite. Several mornings I went out on my back porch and just stood in the freezing cold (36 yesterday morning) just to get a few moments of sunshine. It is supposed to help your mood. Here are a few more everyday things I thought were beautiful: a robin, back-to-back woodpeckers, apples at the Tonnemaker farm stand in Woodinville, Mt Baker at sunset.

Viburnum Flowers with Christmas Lights

A Pushcart Nom and an Acceptance

I had a reading this week with a Poemeleon-sponsored anthology called the Plague Papers, which connected ekphrastic poems to the experience of looking at museum art work online. I was surprised to find that they had nominated one of my poems, “Ode to Koons,” for a Pushcart Prize. The reading was really moving, with people connecting this very tough year with particular works of art. I encourage you to check it out, at least a few pieces – you might discover a new artist or poet.

I also got an acceptance from a beautiful new journal called The Chestnut Review, which I encourage you all to check out.

Our main Christmas tree

So that is our “looking on the bright side” of the literary world this week. Of course, anyone would be bummed by seven rejections in a week (I believe most of them came in the Monday after Thanksgiving,) and the expense and annoyance that comes with the failure of a major appliance, the internet and phone at the same time, plus the incessant ring of disaster in our ears of high levels of covid and coronavirus-related deaths in America, and the total failure of our government in the last year to contain it. It’s just that these days most of our coping mechanisms for annoyance sadness, disaster: getting together to celebrate with family, getting a coffee and commiserating with friends, even the simple pleasant act of going to the grocery store or bookstore – are out of reach. So maybe we should all start recording the beauty of everyday things. I’ll leave you with this shot of our Christmas tree, which we have been trying to decorate (in between disasters) all week. Love and light to you this December. Drink something hot – cider and hot chocolate and coffee. Watch a holiday film. Turn off the news for a day. I hope to be back with a better attitude next week.