A teensy bit of news…
http://www.winningwriters.com/new/wn_new.php
Check out August 2nd’s news! I totally missed it until today. Thanks Winning Writers!
Parents went home today. We had a great visit, including my first ever whale watching tour. There were lots of orcas, and a minke whale, and then they took us to an island covered with seals and baby seals, and nine bald eagles. When the boat drifted, the seals started swimming towards us. I just wanted to jump out of the boat and swim with the seals back to their little island and stay there, a la “The Secret of Roan Inish.” I know, not practical. Pictures to come!
Well, it’s August first and I still don’t have anywhere to live come end of September. We’re planning a trip out to Phoenix soon to take a look at possible places. But it’s all very nerve-wracking. Especially for a person like me who likes to be all settled. But the docs are saying it’s the best thing I could do for my allergies and asthma problems, so it’s a health-motivated thing. The allergies out here are pretty brutal. I’d like to feel healthy again! Soon! Anyone with a nice house to rent in say, the North Scottsdale area should contact me right away 🙂
Speaking of nerves and doctors…I’ve been feeling sickly for the last month or so…fatigue, sore throat, etc. I also had a numb hand (which I mistakenly attributed to carpal tunnel.) Well, went to the doc, and after some blood tests it turns out I have a serious vitamin B-12 deficiency that was causing a lot of my fatigue/sore throat/numb hand stuff, as well as a generally crappy immune system. Huh. Apparently, when you don’t have enough b-12 it can cause numbness and tingling. Yikes! And some common drugs leach b-12 from the system. So, if you’re feeling tired and numb, go out and get yourself some b-12 stat! I’m taking 1000mcgs lozenges under the tongue each day (apparently we don’t absorb b-vitamins in the stomach very well, hence the shots and lozenges and other delivery systems.) This has been Jeannine’s monthly public health announcement.
Also, a little good news: my interview with Matthea Harvey for the Poetry Foundation (Post-apocalypse, Poetry, and Robots) a little while ago will be sent by the PF into syndication this fall. So it may pop up in a newspaper near you!
And I promise to get back to doing mini-reviews and poetry-talk soon…This week I’m entertaining my parents in this small town by the sea. We’re taking a four-hour whale-watching tour (I’ve never done anything like it, but I have seen whales twice while living here – once on a ferry, and once while vacationing on San Juan Island.) Should be fun! And windy.
- At July 28, 2008
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In art updates, baby otter, Laurie McClave
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Yes, I know, what you really wanted after that last post was some visual aid: what exactly do those baby otters look like?
But first, I have to tell you about my new artist discovery. What would you do without me to tell you about cool hip women artists who do surreal art about fairy tales and such? So, I went into a little shop, and was all excited to buy a cute coffee cup with a work by Chiho Aoshima on it. (See the “Drop Dead Cute” collections for more of her work; she’s super cool.) Anyway, the owner of the little shop told me about an art exhibition across the street, in, of all places, a sub shop! So I checked it out and it was edgy, disturbing, very Villainess-y. I loved it! The artist is local; here’s some of her work if you want to take a look:
http://lauriemcclave.com/McClave.aspx
Plus, she put poems next to her art! I love that stuff! Collaboration between artists and poets!
Okay, on to the baby otter – this is one of a mother baby and otter taking a sand bath! Click to enlarge and see their scrunched up faces…
Yes, sometimes I really love this little town. Today I met with some awesome local high schoolers at the Port Townsend library to talk about comics and poetry, they were terrific, and I could have stayed another hour. So bright, such good writers, so enthusiastic! One of my favorite things was how we were talking about cliches, and they were like, “Oh, like Stephanie Meyer (the author of that terrible teenage vampire series Twilight.)” I mean, they already know the difference between good speculative writing (Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link, etc) and bad. Impressive! I think I’m going to make some lit mag donations to the library too, so the high school kids will be able to see what’s going on in contemporary poetry.
And then afterwards took a walk on Fort Warden’s pier and saw a mother otter with two babies, then another otter with two more babies, and then it was indistinguishable piles of otter cuteness! The other day I had to turn someone in to the ranger station for letting his (off-leash, which is against the law on the state park’s beaches because of pupping seals and sea otters) horrible big dog attack an otter and her baby. There are huge signs everywhere, by the way, that say to keep your dog on a leash and not to harrass the wildlife. Well, turns out that letting your dog attack otter pups is a federal offense. I spoke to the (horrible, wifebeater-wearing) man first, before setting the rangers on him, and he was all “Well, the dog never catches ’em.” Then I became the avenging goddess of otters. I was so happy to see all the babies alive and well today. So much for evil tourists and their ill-behaved dogs!
And I ran into Marvin Bell yesterday at the post office. Whenever I talk to Marvin I remember how much fun poetry can be.
Some notes:
Friday I’m doing a talk at the local library (an august old building in Port Townsend) for the “youth writing group” on comic books, poetry, and persona. Good times! I’m really looking forward to it. It turns out I really like working with high school kids.
Today I was really excited to get contributor copies of the Spring 2008 5 AM. 5 AM is always compulsively readable and I am honored to be a part of it. The poem in there is completely autobiographical, which is a rarity for me. I’m kind of happy it’s not online, because it’s so personal, but the poem also fits in well tone and subject-matter-wise with the rest of the issue, which means some editors are working hard to make that happen!
Steel Toe Books announces two new books chosen from June’s open submissions: http://www.wku.edu/~tom.hunley/steeltoebooks/news.htm
The choreography on So You Think You Can Dance this season is so lame compared to the last two seasons. no? Still my favorite summertime show. I So Wish I Could Dance. That’s my version.
Now I can focus on…moving? Eek!
So, I am feeling much better (thanks to a few doses of antibiotic) and the Port Townsend Writers conference is officially over, so I can get back to regular life. Regular life, right now, equals figuring out:
1. Where to move (city) – looking for hot, dry climates for my asthma. I have to take this breathing stuff seriously for a little while until my lungs get back into working shape.
2. Where to move (neighborhood) – checking Craigslist for rents, etc. If anyone one has any recommendations for neighborhoods around Scottsdale/Phoenix (the most likely city contender at this time) I am all ears.
3. Looking for possible work in the area (also appreciate any tips in that arena…)
4. Getting rid of some stuff from the house so we can move only what we have to (like turtles with our house on our backs)
5. Organizing garage sale (??)
6. Getting ready for family visits from my parents and then my little brother and his wife.
7. Where to maybe send some work out? Waiting for various checks I am owed? Nervously whittling on my two manuscripts or trying to work out some new poems?
8. Wonder why I am having pain in my neck?
Poetry is a weird ride. Sometimes I feel like, yes, I am making a difference, writing poems is really worth it when someone reads them and gets them and maybe it helps them a little bit. Then other times I feel like I am working on some antiquated art form no one cares about and certainly no one wants to pay for so why am I doing it?
The last day of the Port Townsend writer’s conference, and only a little the worse for wear…
The teaching part went pretty well, I sold some books, bought some books, and went to a lot of readings and classes in seven days. The best part of the conference was catching up with friends and getting a few inspirations to write. The weather was pretty if a little chilly (highs in the sixties) and I saw my baby otters again down on the Fort Warden beach. Also, yesterday we had two beserk white kittens on our lawn (which I had to carry back to their home – is carrying kittens not the best chore ever?) and a mother deer and two fawns in the back yard all morning. Apparently July is baby animal month here!
Just to show how small the poetry world is, ran into a friend of Charles Jensen at the literary magazine panel (Stephanie, the editor of Blood Orange review, was talking about how great Charles and LocusPoint were.) The other editor I really enjoyed meeting was Willow Springs editor Sam Ligon. All the Willow Springs folks have been wonderful to deal with, actually. We had a very good discussion about lit mag distribution and then about hybrid forms (he was teaching a class on the short-short story at the same time I was teaching my thing on haibun.)
I wish I was a little physically sturdier these days (managed to come down with another antibiotic-requiring throat infection, and then throw my neck out sneezing ?!?) so I could do even more socializing, but had to kind of chill out on activities in the last two days to recover. Tonight Kim Addonizio reads and there is a little reception afterwards to say goodbye. Should be fun!
Where to find me this week…
Well, if you haven’t been reading the sidebar of my blog, then you don’t know (what? you don’t read my blog sidebars, full of their wonderful links to other blogs and web sites and useful information?!) that…
I’ll be teaching two afternoons this week (Tuesday and Thursday) at Port Townsend’s Centrum Writers Conference on haibun and haiku. Other guest-afternoon teachers include Peter Pereira (great, right?) and the night readings will feature such poets as Anne Waldman and Kim Addonizio. So show up, bring your own popcorn, listen to some writing, watch some otters. All good times.
In other news, while shopping for G’s birthday present (shoes! nice ones!) I ran really hard into a high, sharp-cornered table at Nordstrom, which for some reason was blocking the path (oh, right, there was a sale, so all sides were filled with people.) I hit it so hard it knocked the breath right out of me and made me see stars. Since I have a bleeding disorder (a genetic PAI-1 deficiency, I promise I had it before it was trendy for poets to have blood disorders) this should make for exciting bruise patterns on my right side. First: honestly, what did I ever do to that table? And two, was I always this clumsy? I should really only be allowed to play with children’s scissors and round plastic furniture. Well, that’s it: no string bikinis for me this week!
In still other news: Arizona or San Diego?
I’ve been busy preparing for my class for next week’s Port Townsend Writer’s Conference. It’s on haiku and haibun, so I’m getting exercises together, finding examples and definitions, etc. I’m really loving Sam Hamill’s translation of Basho’s Narrow Road to the Interior. Basho is all poetry-biz gossip and allusion to classic Japanese literature in his haibun – surprising, right? – and Sam’s language captures his tone very well, I think.
I did have a fun break on the 4th – husband G and I got to have brunch with one of my favorite inspirations, poet Denise Duhamel and her husband Nick Carbo, who were in Seattle for like half a day, and then go to local poetry bookstore Open Books, where we met up with fellow Pacific U MFA alum Jennifer Whetham. Denise is just as animated and sweet as her poems might indicate. Then G and I watched some fireworks, just like old times.
In the next week, we have our fourteenth (!!) anniversary, G’s 37th birthday, and of course, the aforementioned PT Writer’s Conference. Too much stuff going on at once!
In good news, we saw a mother sea otter with two babies yesterday, and a multitude of seals. We keep showing up at the beach at 9 PM, and the aquatic mammals keep putting on a show! Better than those expensive aquariums by far 🙂 And I think Port Townsend’s deer are multiplying…
I’ve finally written some new poems in a series I’ve been thinking about for a while now, tentatively called “The Robot Scientist’s Daughter.” Not sure if they’re supposed to be part of one of the books I’m working on, or their own thing. Either way, after a bit of a dry writing spell, yay!
Jeannine Hall Gailey served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington and the author of Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, Unexplained Fevers, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, and winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and SFPA’s Elgin Award, Field Guide to the End of the World. Her latest, Flare, Corona from BOA Editions, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. She’s also the author of PR for Poets, a Guidebook to Publicity and Marketing. Her work has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poetry, and JAMA.
