A Week of Podcasts, First Time Cover Artists, Being Under the Weather, and Real Spring Begins

Our first butterfly sighting – a Red Admiral on our lilacs – actually two!

A Week of Podcasts

I’ve been a bit under the weather this week – with unpleasant bug of the sinus/stomach sort, not the coronavirus (or monkeypox, thank goodness) but just enough to keep me mostly in bed. On the plus side, I got to photograph a few birds (see below) and the first butterflies of spring in my very own garden.

In writing news, I had a big week otherwise – my first podcast appearance in a while with Writer’s Digest, talking about worldbuilding in poetry, and a little about promoting books for poets. You can click the link to watch the podcast.

The weather went from absolutely grim – cold rain and clouds – to blue skies and finally, finally warmer weather – today went up to 66 degrees! I am hoping it helps me get better faster – it certainly raised my spirits.

Sylvia with my first photo cover artist credit, on Ordinary Splendor, a poetry book from MoonPath Press

  My Very First Cover Artist Photo Credit

I was very excited that the author Judith Waller Carroll’s sent me a copy of her book Ordinary Splendor from Lana Ayers’s MoonPath Press, which I have the honor of having a cover artist credit on. My photograph of a fox from San Juan Island last year was used as the cover art for the book, and I couldn’t be happier.

Sylvia fluffing up on my cover photo

I feel like a real photographer now, not just a five-year amateur. I took some real photography classes in high school, but it’s been just the last five years that I spent the time and effort to use a good camera and try to learn the tricks of digital photography beyond my iPhone.

Meanwhile, I’m working with BOA’s designer to figure out what we want on the cover of Flare, Corona. I wish I had a good vision for exactly what belongs on the cover. But that’s why we have collaborations!

Glenn and I at Carillon Point yesterday

Real Spring Begins (?!?)

It is almost the end of May, and it seems that spring is finally here. The temperature is above 65° and the sun is out. The butterflies, grosbeaks and goldfinches are all signs, as are more summer blooms – wisteria, lilacs, with roses, lavender and peonies are on the way. But has it been a colder and wetter wait than we usually have? Absolutely! Have I kept saying “it’s spring” only to retreat inside from the cold miserable wet weather? Yes!  But next weekend is Memorial Day weekend, so surely we’re safe to put away our winter clothing and plant our sweetpeas and basil in the hopes they won’t die this time?

Yesterday though I wasn’t feeling 100 percent yet, we stopped by Kirkland to pick up some flowers and cherries (local asparagus was already obtained by Glenn at the Farmer’s market in the morning, but cherries right now come from California and require a grocery trip) and walked along the water a bit. The Woodmark Hotel, where I first stayed twenty years ago when interviewing for my Microsoft job, has been undergoing quite a bit of demolition (out came the decades-old rose garden that grew in the front of the hotel, where the weddings usually took place – now all is mud and dirt). It’s sad to see so many things we love changing – lately trees on our street have been torn down and turned into sawdust for inexplicable reasons (no HOA report about why). Progress, progress, often making the landscape less friendly (and less plant-filled).

Anyway, soon as my brain recovers from this week of antibiotics and cold medicine, I have my book’s final edits and a review to work on. Then, later this week, some crowns—remember all those root canals? Yes, they were expensive, but nothing compared to getting the crowns on top. Urgh! I need a poetry grant just to pay for my health care and dental work these days!

Anyway, enjoy these pictures of flowers and butterflies. I hope your spring will be beautiful, safe, and healthy!

On Writer’s Digest’s Podcast to Talk About Worldbuilding in Poetry Today!

Worldbuilding in Poetry on The Writer’s Digest Podcast

Reader, I don’t do podcasts very often, but when Robert Lee Brewer asked me to come talk about worldbuilding in poetry, I jumped at the chance, because I think it’s a fascinating subject! The interview with me starts at about minute 38. Thanks to Robert, Writer’s Digest and you for watching!

Changing Horizons, Considering New Hometowns: La Conner Edition, Moving Forward with Flare, Corona, and More Birds and Blooms from Woodinville

Apple tree with tulips, La Conner

Changing Your Horizon – Considering New Hometowns, La Conner Edition

How often do you consider changing your horizon? Since travel has been off the table for many of us during the pandemic, the way to change one’s horizons is considering a new hometown. For us, we’ve been thinking about moving to a smaller town – La Conner, Washington is this week’s pick.

We scheduled a time to look at a house whose best feature was its outdoor space – lots of landscaping flowers, lots of birds, and a backyard that looked onto protected land. Sitting out in those gardens – with a view of the water – was heaven. Talk about the temptation to impulse buy! But this is a house, and a big time town change, so we can’t just sign on the dotted line because the flowers and birds were showing off. There was also a guitar festival going on – and there is a local poetry festival that happens every two years – I mean, artistic and culture scores are pretty off-the-charts for a small town. Plenty of art galleries, a Northwest Art Museum, and cute shops and restaurants along the water, the Swinomish Channel. Woodinville, known for its wineries and restaurants, is no slouch in the food and wine departments, but lacks that grass-roots deep community caring about music, visual art, and literature.

Glenn and I with orange and red tulips, La Conner

We actually made a stop at the Roozengaarde Gardens, where, surprising us, some late tulips were still blooming – we even brought some bouquets home with us. We also made the effort to find and shop at the local bookstore – Seaport Books – which had a great poetry section – I bought Canadian painter Emily Carr’s collected poems, for instance – what a cool find! We looked around neighborhoods. We checked crime rates and charted paths to the local grocery and hospitals. La Conner is for sure beautiful, the people are small-town friendly, and you’re only an hour and change back to Seattle (no ferry ride, just bridges). Fidaglo, Fir, and Camano Islands are also great small-town communities near La Conner.  So it’s a tempting thought to relocate. Woodinville is closer and more convenient to the cities of Bellevue and Seattle, and we love a lot of things about our house and our neighborhood. But a lot of my local doctors are quitting, and many of my friends who lived here have moved away, and some of the rural attractions (a horse farm on the neighborhood, a lavender farm, and now, the dreaded move of old Molbak’s to new corporate housing) have been lost, so a lot of the attachment factors that brought us here have changed. Moving can inspire change in ourselves, our outlooks, and definitely our community.

Solar flare, corona

Moving Forward with Flare, Corona

So I received my editorial feedback from Peter Conners at BOA Editions, and am getting to work on – scary – final edits so it can be sent to typesetting. This means fixing up the acknowledgements (and trying to nudge journals that have had poems from the book for a year or so), looking and asking for blurbs, and thinking about cover art (shutterstock photo at left is a literal photo of a flare and a corona).

After the final manuscript is sent in, in truth, the real work of promoting the book sets in. Scheduling my first readings, a book launch party, and starting to try to get in the reviewer queues in next.

Speaking of solar and lunar events, tonight is the Super Flower Blood Moon. Remember the solar eclipse on my birthday? This is the matching lunar event.

Me with lilacs

More Birds and Blooms from Woodinville

Now, to this house and Woodinville’s credit, one of the things that has kept me sane during the pandemic are the beautiful surroundings. The birds that came to my feeders, trees, and planters. The landscaping around the Sammamish River and the beautiful wineries. There’s a view of the mountains from my street, and I look out from my bedroom on treetops. Cannot take any of that for granted. There’s enough space for all my books (the house we looked at didn’t have quite as much space for bookshelves. Downsize my books???)

We’ve been here for five years – when I signed the lease, I had just been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, we didn’t have Sylvia yet, there was a horse farm on the street instead of condo construction. We had different neighbors (one of whom passed away in interim years). Changes happen whether you want them to or now. People change jobs, or the jobs themselves change, friendships wax and wane, professionals we count on quit or move as well. Businesses change hands – here, Woodinville staples Chateau Ste Michelle and Molbak’s both sold to larger corporate interests. Which never, sadly, makes for positive changes.

Crabapple Blossoms with mountains

So it’s a good time to reassess – our values, our desires for the next five years, and even, for me, a physical reality – I have MS, and my current home is two stories, which isn’t ideal for down the road.  I want to think about being part of a community – if not here, or in Seattle, then where? I spent years living around Seattle’s smaller neighborhoods – as far out as Port Townsend and Bainbridge, in larger family-friendly communities (now overpacked) like Issaquah, in Redmond and Bellevue (which are now priced outrageously high).

A move might not be ideal today or tomorrow…but it might be in the cards in the next year or so.

A Root Canal Birthday Week, Work on My Upcoming Book, and Talking about Timing and Poetry Submissions

Red-Winged Blackbird, Singing

Dreary Root Canal Birthday Week, Working on My Next Book and Timing in the Poetry World

So, on my birthday, I developed a dental abscess and a fever, and after frantic calls to the dentist I got some antibiotics and an appointment for a root canal, only my third. Please remember I cannot have Novocain, Advil, anything in the morphine family, or aspirin, because of allergic reactions (Novocain, morphine family) or bleeding complications (Advil and aspirin). So, Tylenol it was. The only positive was that I was three pounds thinner on my birthday than usual, because I couldn’t eat much, LOL!

So, on top of this, it was a double-root root canal, which was a fairly painful experience, and I had a mutation in the tooth that made it look fractured (but it wasn’t, thank goodness). I’ve been recovering slowly this week, and the weather – gray, fifteen degrees colder than normal, and rainy – has not encouraged cheerful thoughts.

Goldfinch in cherry tree

And did I mention that the Supreme Court had a leak that they were going to overtone Roe v. Wade – a precedent set in my birthday year, 1973? (Happy Mother’s Day, BTW – which was originally a feminist anti-war holiday created by a childless woman, Anna Jarvis, as a protest – was co-opted by the government, look it up – and guess what, the government gets to decide if you are a mother or not now! This is why it’s so important for women to vote for their own best interests – there are always people (ahem, mostly men) who feel it’s their business to take away our choices.)

So, it was hard to get going this week. On the plus side, this blog post will feature some beautiful shots of birds and flowers, who continued to dazzle even in the cold rain of May. And I had a wonderful stack of reading material to enjoy as I recovered.

Bi-color lilacs

Work Starting on my Upcoming Book: Flare, Corona

One thing that took my mind off of the abscess/root canal business was that my author questionnaire for BOA was due on my birthday, and then the finished draft of my manuscript of Flare, Corona was turned in a half-hour before my root canal a few days later. (I knew I wouldn’t be up to much the rest of that day, because they give me some anesthesia – Versed – for the root canal that doesn’t take away pain but does make your memories fuzzy and makes you very sleepy the rest of the 24-hour period. Also keeps you from flinching as much when they’re trying to drill your teeth.)

I’d been working on the book since its acceptance, so there wasn’t much left to do: shifted some poems around, updated the acknowledgements, added a couple of newer poems, and had my mom proofread for obvious grammar/spelling issues, and sent it off to my editor at BOA. Now I just have to wait for edits – exciting! You may think: “Jeannine, isn’t it awfully early to be thinking about your book which is slated for release in spring/summer 23?” But no, it’s really not! My next steps include finding good cover art and starting to collect blurbs!

Pileated Woodpecker in Flight

Timing, Literary Magazines Under Pressure, and Poetry Submissions

I thought I’d talk a little here about timing and poetry submissions. This has been a tough time for many literary publishers during the pandemic – many large and small closing for good, many others under pressure and understaffed. I have been submitting poetry on and off since I was 19, so I have experienced a lot of strange things as far as timing of responses, but this last two and a half years have maybe been the worst in terms of timing that I’ve ever experienced. I received a rejection – on my birthday, no less – from a top-tier lit mag after a year and three months. A day later, I received an acceptance from another journal after a full two years. So, if you are newer to the poetry game, or you only submit a couple of times a year, and you are experiencing weirdly long and erratic response times, that is part of the new normal. My suspicion is the volunteer army that helps lit mags run has been impacted by the pandemic more than most. So, what I’m saying is, don’t stress out if it has been a while and all you’ve heard is crickets. It’s the pandemic, it’s not you.

Closeup of pink crabapple blossoms

This is also a good time to see, if you have a little extra money even with all the inflation going on, if you can help support your favorite lit mags with a donation or a subscription. It was just National Poetry Month, but I bet most places didn’t get the usual business they expected. And let’s be extra kind to each other when we can – not stressing over weird rejection language (that’s been a thing on Twitter) or even weird acceptance language – and remember we’ve all been in a really hard place for the last two years. Bookstores and book sellers, publishers, editors, and literary magazine staff – this has not been an easier time for them than it has been for writers and artists. So yes, also a good time to order a book directly from an author or publisher, or some art from your favorite artist whose art shows – usually the main way to sell art is through galleries – may have been postponed or cancelled the last few years. Artists and writers are struggling too. What I’m saying is, let’s show a little support, kindness and patience for each other.

Three Poems in Laurel Review, Birthday Visit to Open Books, Last April Flowers, and Welcome to May

Late Cherry Blossom Bower

Welcome to May! Birthdays and Magic…

It’s a two blog-post week! Well, this week we said goodbye to National Poetry Month and welcomed (a hopefully warmer, sunnier) May.  It was a Black/Lilith Moon last night (very witchy,) a partial solar eclipse for my birthday, and we’re supposed to have a meteor shower this upcoming week. We also celebrated my 49th (!) birthday, and this weekend we had our share of fun and stress – from a dental emergency (going in tomorrow, thanks) and a beloved 20-year immunologist retiring, to an overnight trip to local hotel Willows Lodge and a trip to the new location of Open Books, the all-poetry bookstore. After a month that felt like it was full of mostly rejections, a bouquet of poems appeared on my birthday week – including three in the Laurel Review.

Laurel Review cover art

Poems in the Laurel Review

I’m so happy to have three poems in The Laurel Review, which is full of wonderful work, including poems by Martha Silano and Mary Biddinger (see my review of her latest book in the last post). So check out the whole issue.

Here’s a sneak peek at one of the poems, “Hello I Am the Four Horsemen:”

Glenn and I in the Willows Lodge Garden

Birthday Celebration: Willows Lodge, Gardens, and Visit to Open Books

Since it’s still pandemic-ish, no birthday party this year, but Glenn organized a surprise overnight trip to Willows Lodge, and we also strolled around Woodinville’s beautiful gardens in blooms. See? There’s not just wine, there are beautiful gardens connected to a lot of those wineries. I usually have black forest cake (gluten free, but always my favorite) for my birthday, but Glenn made black forest cheesecake instead – and it was amazing. Where he gets fresh cherries this time of year – it’s magic!

This was also the day I found out my 20-year-immunologist – whose care has probably saved my life countless times when I was having unexplained anaphylaxis – is retiring. I also had a minor dental emergency (helped by my kind dentist giving me a call and antibiotics – I’m seeing him tomorrow!) And I’m prepping for a thyroid ultrasound to check out something there. So a little stress along with the fun. Isn’t that always the way.

Me in front of the new location of Open Books

Open Books Birthday

It’s a tradition for me to visit Open Books on my birthday, and I was able to celebrate this tradition again this year. It was wonderful to say hi in person and browse through a ton of new poetry books. It has a very different feel than the Wallingford location but it was a separate location for classes and has a very old-Seattle feel. I got a first edition of Carolyn Kizer’s Knock Upon Silence and new books by Victoria Chang, Rae Armentrout and Daisy Fried as well as a few poets as yet unknown to me, as well as an Open Books Tote bag (so cute! and remember AWP Seattle is coming up soon!)

Open Books Haul, plus a few lit mags

So poetry, flowers, and black forest cheesecake: a good birthday, despite the medical and dental stressors. I am wishing you a wonderful – and hopefully, warm and sunny – May!

New Poem in Jet Fuel Review; Reading Report: Mary Biddinger, and Sun, Spring and Apple Blossoms Pre-Birthday

Jet Fuel Review cover art by Karyna McGlynn

New Poem in Jet Fuel Review Spring Issue

It’s almost my birthday, and all of the sudden, poems everywhere! So happy to have a new poem, “In a Plague Year, I Find Foxes” in the new Spring 2022 issue of Jet Fuel Review. I’m especially happy to be in the issue because there are also poems by friends like Martha Silano and Leah Umansky and the cover art is by poet/artist Karyna McGlynn. A sneak peek of the poem below, but go read the whole issue:

Some sunshine in Kirkland

Apple Blossoms, Sunshine

We were lucky enough to have a few sunbreaks this last week, which we tried to take advantage of, gardening, watching the unfolding of spring flowers. We took a long walk one afternoon along Lake Washington in Kirkland. I saw a heron cross our horizon from the bedroom window one day, and an immature eagle the next.

I am so proud of the trees I planted during the pandemic; two of these new trees, a late-blooming pink cherry and a Pink Lady apple tree, are doing particularly well. I thought I’d post some apple blossom pictures to cheer you up. Nothing screams “spring is really here” – despite some colder days and rain – like apple blossoms. And the loud robin overpowering the other birds with his song.

Sylvia poses in an Easter basket with Department of Elegy

Reading Report: Mary Biddinger’s Department of Elegy

I wanted to do a quick reading report on Mary Biddinger’s newest book from Black Lawrence Press, Department of Elegy, a wonderfully nostalgic/anti-nostalgic, goth, reminiscence on a Gen-X childhood and young adulthood punctuated by midwestern vacant lot landscapes and marvelously bad decisions. I am loving it – it might be my favorite book of hers yet, so if you are on the fence, get it.

And just to punctuate this, here are some of my favorite lines from the book, from the poem “Bitch Wire:”

“Like many, I poured my best years into

a springform pan, but they were stupid years.”

I laughed out loud at this, and since I also spent a lot of my teen/young adult years making good and bad decisions in the Midwest, I felt like this book was something I could really identify with. Also, once again, kick-ass cover art.

National Poetry Month, MRIs and Upcoming Birthdays and Publications, and Signs of Spring

Happy goldfinch

Happy Last Week of National Poetry Month

Hope you had a wonderful celebration last weekend – we got to have dinner with two out-of-town nephews plus my little brother and his wife, and we got to take our nephews to wine and whiskey tastings, so it was a lot of fun.

And it’s the last week of National Poetry Month. What are you doing to celebrate? Buying literary magazine subscriptions and poetry books? I’ve been trying – somewhat shakily – to write a poem a day, and catch up on my poetry reading and buying. I attended a virtual reading of Kelli Russell Agodon’s, which was fun. I also have a birthday coming up the last day of April and a publication in Jet Fuel Review (I’ll put a link up when it’s up!)

Me, post-MRI with late cherry blossoms

MRIs and Things

Unfortunately, the Monday after our celebratory Easter weekend, I was due for a long-postponed brain and spine scan. I always feel a little wonky after brain MRIs – sinus infection? magnetic allergies? – and so I was a little down and out this last week. I also found out some good news (no new brain or spine lesions) but also a little bad news – a thyroid node pressing on my jugular vein and carotid artery I need to have an ultrasound on, and terrible degenerative disc disease in the neck, which I guess is why my neck hurts all the time – as well as a pinched nerve. That’s how it always is, right? As we get older – a little good news – my MS hasn’t gotten any worse – with a little bad news – age related arthritis in the neck, something I need further testing on the thyroid (which, let’s face it, my thyroid has been wonky since I was a teen.) The funniest part of the test was the front desk person, as she was handing me my MRI on disc, said to me “Your hair is the same color as the cherry blossoms – you have to take a picture with them!” So I did.

Early Lilacs

Signs of Spring – Finally!

It’s been a very gloomy cold April so far, so having a few nice days here in the last week of so of April has been really nice. We saw some early lilacs, the last cherry blossoms are falling, and the trees are starting to have leaves again. We haven’t seen our baby rabbits or baby geese yet, but we did see our first goldfinch (see above) and another beautiful pair of Wood Ducks! I also took a picture of the fox statue hiding in Redmond with some blooming rhodies.

Anyway, I hope to spend the rest of April doing more cheerful things (in between doctor’s appointments, naturally) like enjoying some poetry (I just got Mary Biddinger’s new book, Department of Elegy, and Lesley Wheeler’s book of essays on poetry, Poetry’s Possible Worlds), getting out in nature when it’s nice. Remember it’s a good time to support poets, publishers, lit mags and indie bookstores that you love – so if you have a little money, maybe put it towards some poetry! I know they could all use it after the past couple of years.

Anyway, happy April and happy rest-of-National Poetry Month to you!

Advice for the New(ish) Writer (Plus Pictures of Birds and Flowers, Because Spring)

Eastery/Springy art by Dewi Plass

Advice for New(ish) Writers

Haven’t written a post like this in a while. Wishing you a wonderful Easter, Passover, Ramadan, or Eostre, or just a happy spring. I always write a poem around Easter for some reason; the fact that it’s a time of rebirth, resurrection, first flowers, and maybe because it’s my birthday month.  I had a great holiday weekend entertaining my nephews but now I am ready for some downtime. In between advice to new(ish) writers, there will be pictures of ospreys and cherry blossoms

1. Being a writer requires a team. Find your team.

You hear a lot about writers being introverts, about writers being loners, about creation requiring solitude.

Osprey in Kirkland

And those things can be true. But being a writer long-term requires a support team, whether that’s your family, your spouse, your writing group, fellow students from your writing program, your next-door neighbor, or someone who you’ve only corresponded with and never met in person. Because whether you’re down and dealing with rejection, or elated and dealing with some long-awaited success, you want someone one your side, to keep you from being driven to the extreme highs and lows that are involved in being a writer long-term. After reading a heck of a lot of diaries, letters, and accounts of successful women writers, I notice one thing: to succeed, it took more than just one woman alone – it took other people to champion, to encourage, to promote, to keep them going. Even Emily Dickinson – held up as the solitary genius icon – had multiple women (along with her brother and the editor of the Atlantic – who rejected her work 90 times while she was alive, so mixed feelings?) – who cared about carrying on her legacy after she died.

Closeup on late cherry blossoms

2. Feed your Creativity.

Whatever this means to you – time in nature, time around visual art, music, or reading books completely unrelated to what you’re writing. Take a class; go to a writer’s conference or festival. Keep your brain alert to messages from the universe. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been inspired by things I wouldn’t have thought at the time were important – a song lyric, an episode of a television show, a scientific concept, a bad sci-fi plot, a painting I glimpsed for a minute in a window of an art gallery. I know this has been hard during the pandemic. And spend time with people who inspire you and make your brain race (see above.)

3. Be persistent.

I am old enough to have seen lots of terrific writers fail not because they were not talented but because they stopped writing or stopped sending out their writing. They got discouraged. They got interested in something else. They got busy or had other priorities. That’s not the end of the world. But just when you think you’re at the end of your ability to tolerate rejection or discouragement, that’s when you’ll win the prize or get the acceptance that will keep you going. Again, this is why having teammates to cheer you on – it’s just as important in writing as it is in basketball. We all need a little encouragement to keep doing anything hard for the long term. The first acceptance or first book are great – but you will need to keep writing after those things. Writing is as much a practice as a sport – and hitting those foul shots in the NBA is not an accident – it’s because those players have practiced foul shots for hours, for years, in front of their audience and in front of their homes. Keep practicing your writing, trying new forms, and hang around with people who are also excited about writing.

Multiple cherry branches

4. Curiosity and Kindness Count

Stay curious – it will continue to pay off. Learn a new language, or a new instrument, read new literary journals and poets you’ve never heard of. Read fiction and non-fiction on subjects you don’t really know anything about.  Education? Travel? Close examination of the natural world? Yes! The point is, never stop being curious about your world – that is what will drive your writing long term.

Be kind when you can be. Volunteer with younger writers; review someone’s book; do someone a favor who can’t do you a favor back. There can be a lot of competition and not enough kindness in the art world, the poetry world, the work world in general. Believe me, your small and large acts of kindness will reverberate more than you know. A note to someone to say what their work meant to you – or how much you loved their class in eighth grade – or thank them for support during a hard time – that sort of thing matters.

Tulips and narcissus

5. Last Notes: Answering Questions

Do you need an MFA? Do you need to attend AWP every year? Do you need to do a nation-wide reading tour? Do you need to be on Twitter 24/7?

Volunteering for a literary magazine or publisher would probably help give you more perspective on publishing in literary magazines, and help you see things from the editors’ points of view. As someone who has an MA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing, and after interviewing many writer friends who do and do not have MFAs, I can confidently say: going to an MFA program may connect you with lifelong friends or mentors, or give you publishing opportunities, but it may not – so the best way to decide if you want an MFA is to decide if you want to dedicate the time and money to your writing, because that’s the only guaranteed thing you get from any MFA program. I would say all writer’s conferences and festivals are more than anything an opportunity to make friends – friends that might last your whole writing life. The same with a reading tour – it’s an opportunity to connect with others, but it’s not the only way. Social media, like AWP, isn’t a necessity, but can be seen as just another way to connect, and believe it or not, be kind. Doing a few book reviews 1. help you read more carefully and 2. show you how much work people are putting in when they write your book reviews as well as 3. help you connect with the larger literary community.

The reality is, you don’t need an MFA or to go to AWP to be a writer. A good writer’s group can be better than a traditional MFA program. You have to decide what makes you healthy and happy as a writer. So no magic keys – just whatever helps you find your team, engages your creativity, and helps you be curious and kind.

Any more questions I can address? Put them in the comments!

Happy Poetry Month! Tulip Festivals, Poetry Podcasts, a Poem in Diode, Snow Geese – and Illness (Plus Broken Teeth) – and The Importance of a Change in Scenery

Glenn and I catch a moment of sun – or at least daffodils in a rainbreak – at Skagit Valley’s Tulip Festival

Happy Poetry Month! Moody Weather, Illness, Snow Geese, And a Poem in Diode…

First of all, it’s National Poetry Month, so it’s about time I post a poem, right? Thanks to Diode for publishing my poem “Witchcraft” in their 15^th Anniversary issue, which also has poems by friends Martha Silano and Alison Pelegrin, so check out the whole thing.

(Sneak Peek below of my poem – click to enlarge:)

Bald Eagle, Skagit, in rain

Second, I spent most of this week with the lovely combination of a head cold (not covid -we checked) and a pretty serious stomach infection, so I was mostly down for the count. We’ve had a colder, wetter April than usual here – I’m so ready for some sunshine and a little bit of above-forties temperatures. PS We got snow and hail today. High of 48. Normal average temperature this month? 70 degrees. Ha ha ha.

Third, though I was very worried my head cold would make my video podcast with Robert Brewer from Writer’s Digest a little weird, but I took some cold medicine and I think it went okay. (Also, I blame cold medicine if I say anything weird.) The podcast will go up in late May, but here’s a still from the podcast. Thanks to Robert and Writer’s Digest! I’ll post the link when it’s live.

Snow Geese in flight, mountains background

A Bit of a Depressing Week and a Change of Scenery

I’ve been depressed on top of being sick this week – had a head cold on top of a fairly intense stomach infection that required big time antibiotics. Maybe because of the cold, bleak weather, the unrelenting bad news of the world, maybe because I got a very sad rejection from the Guggenheim, maybe because I couldn’t get out and see my friends’ readings on the most beautiful day of the week because I was in bed sick, and maybe because I broke a tooth (again!) and the antibiotics they put me on have a side effect of “suicidal thoughts and depression.” (True story! If you feel depressed, check your medications for side effects to see if that could be the reason.)

So Glenn decided to take me on a quick trip to see the Tulip Festival Saturday, even though it’s mostly daffodils and not tulip fields yet. See picture at beginning of post. We also did not dress appropriately for the weather! At least I had on snow boots to protect against the mud (not pictured.)

Snow Goose Crowd Closeup

It was weird weather – bright sunshine, then hail, then overcast, then snow, then rain, then clear again – but we did see some snow geese which have usually already migrated by now. A small miraculous thing.

Sometimes a change in scenery can help the spirit. It can’t make me have a normal immune system, or keep my teeth from breaking, or stop wars or pandemics, or even keep it from snowing in April, but I have so many medical appointments coming up, it was nice to have some brief sunshine and cheer. (Even though there was hail and snow and a broken tooth.)

Glenn and I with yellow and pink tulips

Allowing Yourself A Little Brightness in a Time of Storm/Stress/Mourning/Illness

Since I haven’t been able to travel much for the whole of the pandemic due to being immune compromised – starting on our third year now – I doubly appreciate being able to drive without too much trouble to such beautiful scenery. I have to get this broken tooth checked out, I’m due for two separate MRIs, I have like eleven blood draws I need to schedule, and it’s easy to let that kind of stuff take over your life when you’re chronically ill and have MS and other multiple physical problems, plus aging. Literally the time and energy it takes to stay alive feels overwhelming.

How do we make space for brightness, for the possibility of joy, when we are worried about a war across the world, or about waiting for test results, or a root canal? How do we make space for poetry? I’ve been trying to write a poem a day this week, but haven’t felt super inspired. So when I couldn’t write, I tried to do a submission, or read some poetry instead.

Daffodils and Tulips

When life keeps handing you problems, pain, rejection, and challenge, prayer/meditation/spending time in nature/purposefully changing your scene can seem stupid, like a waste of time, but these things can also remind us that life isn’t all suffering and pain, give us a much-needed sense of perspective, wonder, gratitude. In my opinion, hospitals should have mandatory garden/kitten/meditation time for recovery, which seem almost as important as giving our bodies antibiotics to fight an infection – we need a little spiritual/emotional help to encourage healing too. A sensitive, empathetic mind that focuses not only on their own pain but everyone else’s too needs to spend equal time around beauty, peace, happiness. The news does not report on this, but look – snow geese have recovered from almost extinction to the largest population on record, and even in the wind, hail, rain, and snow, there are moments when the world stops her sulk and storm and gives us sunshine and flowers.

Next week, I plan on a post with advice for the beginning writer – the last time I did one of those posts was some years ago – especially for National Poetry Month!

Happy April – National Poetry Month (and My Birthday Month,) and Seeking Inspiration

More art from Dewi Plass

Happy April – National Poetry Month (and My Birthday Month)

How is it April 2022 already? The cherry blossoms and early magnolias are blooming, the tulips are about to come out, and I’m about to turn another year older. I hope you love this piece of art by Dewi Plass, which features hummingbirds, a moth, and a fox. After seeing her art in Roq La Rue, I ordered a few art cards from her web site, and they did not disappoint.

I just finished writing up a review – my first in a while – of Dana Levin’s Now Do You Know Where We Are from Copper Canyon Press, and I’m hoping to read some more new work this month, as so many good books debut.

I’m also about a year out from the debut of my next book, Flare, Corona, with BOA Editions. Now that I have an author photo sorted, I’m turning to other things, like finding cover art and blurbs.

I’ve been taking a peek inside a few local galleries to see if there’s anything thematic that might work, but while I haven’t seen anything perfect for my book yet, it’s been great to see art in person again. I’ve also noticed some weird local art popping up – in Kirkland, wondering through one of the little streets with three cupcake bakeries, I saw this cat skateboarding and this glass and metal piece that reminded me of DNA. Here also is my own shot of a typewriter with fallen cherry blossoms.

Jeannine with pink Star Magnolias, Kirkland

Seeking Inspiration in Kirkland and in Connecting with Friends

I’m trying to write a poem a day, since I haven’t been writing as much lately, and seeking inspiration inside the world that’s still in a pandemic and a war. So I wanted to connect with some friends via phone and explore neighboring Kirkland, which has a beautiful waterfront with Lake Washington, and seems buzzing and friendly, at least when the sun shines.

I’m not healthy enough to travel or get in big crowds yet but I am, as you may see, making an attempt to get back into the world while covid levels here are low enough. As the UK and Asia struggle with another surge, I’m sure one is coming this way too, but for now, I’m getting out when it’s sunny (even when it’s not warm) and enjoying the flowers. I’ve enjoyed talking to friends this week about AWP as well as their travels and travel plans. Being immune compromised, I can’t be quite as adventurous, but I’m glad to get the news of the outside world, adventure by proxy. Meanwhile, I’m exploring different neighborhoods, capturing signs of spring.

Tulip Magnolias

Almost April

So, in family lore, I was supposed to be born in May, but I actually arrived on the last day of April – and was almost named “April.” I wrote a poem about it that was published in Tinderbox Poetry Journal. So I’ll leave you this week with a poem…Happy April!