After an outpouring of kindness to me during the last few days, I am grateful for so many thoughtful and encouraging friends and acquaintances and yesterday I got even notes in the mail and a kitty-grieving care package containing chocolates and kitty socks and a very touching pencil portrait of my cat by my friend’s daughter. Thanks everyone, your well-wishes have really helped.
It also helped to be really busy this weekend with poetry-related and non-poetry related stuff – In Posse Review – who recently published an issue with some great Seattle poets – including friends like Peter Pereira 😉 – had a party at this cool coffee-and-wine bar place – I didn’t have any poetry in there but I showed up because I interviewed poet Brian Turner (of Here, Bullet) for the issue. It was nice to chat with a bunch of local poets and hang out and socialize – nothing like a party to take your mind off what’s bothering you – and afterwards, we visited the nearby Scarecrow Video – a place famous for its huge selection of movies of all kinds – and found not only rare Miyazaki videos and DVDs but a whole wall labeled POETRY – with video tapes and DVDs of things like readings and interviews by Merwin and Gluck and Jorie Graham and videos about poetry, slam poetry readings, who knew these things existed? I checked out the Gluck and Lucille Clifton videos and also Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service, which was definitely more child-oriented even than Spirited Away. Then today I met with a few other poet friends for enjoyable poetry chat and then visited the Animé Store in Bellevue, where I bought nothing but admired the idea of a store devoted to anime – it even has themed snacks, which I was too chicken to try. Yesterday I got word of the first proof copy of my book – which had some things wrong on the cover – so I also had that to stress about, a good distraction from dead-cat thoughts.

Thanks everyone for your well-wishes. We did end up having another vet do a cat-autopsy, and found that my kitty had a genetic progressive heart condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy that caused her heart walls to thicken over time, so that a seemingly healthy cat can just drop dead at any time, and the only way to diagnose it is with a doppler EKG. Although the pain meds may have been too much for her and slowed her already-overworked heart to the breaking point. I keep thinking, if only…A lot of purebred cats have this condition, apparently, though our little mutt kitty was not purebred. She sure was cute and sweet though. I just wish I had been able to say goodbye. Bye little black kitty, who was nicknamed “Gamorg” after the wolf-amimate-creature in the Neverending Story because of her long, long fangs. I was thinking it was about this time last year that I almost died during surgery because of an undiagnosed (and, also, rare) bleeding disorder. I was so mad at my surgeon/doctor then, but now I have forgiven her. Everyone makes mistakes, and doctors can’t assume everyone they work on is going to be the exception. Maybe over time I will get over my anger at the vet…Sorry to fill the blog with cat pictures. Soon, I’m sure, I’ll be back to talking poetry…

My black kitty, who I loved very much although she was always a little iffy with visitors, died this morning after a routine procedure at the vet. I don’t know what to do with the body, or whether to have an autopsy. Should I still pay the vet that killed my cat? She was only seven. Today is a crying day.

Back from RadCon, and thankful to be back in the chilly but heavily treed part of my state…
So, an interesting weekend in the desert half of Washington State, where the landscape (dramatic bare red hills, very little vegetation except…wow, tumbleweeds!) seems appropriate for a Martian convention. So cold outside in that part of WA that it literally hurt to walk outside. The best part was meeting some wonderful sci-fi writers and artists. The worst part – our room had no hot water in the mornings. Not a fun way to start the day, and all the other rooms were booked. Ah, conventions. The hotel did have a surprisingly nice little wine bar with things like duck salad on the menu (yum!) – not what you’d expect from a little no-Starbucks town. The panels were a lot of fun, and the reading went okay (although an impromptu reading at one of the artists’ panels – when they were doing collaborative sketching – was more fun.) I have to admit that, though I consider myself fairly geeky, that I was a bit afraid of, for instance, attendees in vampire teeth and/or sketchy costumes. Also, wayyy too many conversations with drunk people. And now I know more than I wanted to about “furry fan fiction.”
My intrepid companions on this surreal journey included my cover artist, Michaela Eaves, my friend from Portland Rusty, and the stalwart husband. They were great company on the three-and-a-half hour drive up and back.
Now I have to start thinking about AWP. I’ve been told it’s possible that there might be copies of my book up there that my publisher, Tom from Steel Toe Books, might be bringing. So, I’m excited about that, and meeting my blogger friends. And I haven’t been to Texas since I was about ten.
And, I’ve been trying to teach myself some Japanese, including the kanji, as I’ve been researching Japanese pop culture and fairy tales for this new manuscript I’m working on. I’ve learned the following words: older brother, older sister, younger brother, cherry blossoms, city, bamboo, and love. I can barely really call it a manuscript; it’s really only twenty finished poems and then ten more unfinished. It may not be the easiest language to teach yourself – my brother took Japanese at college for three years, and says it’s still challenging for him to read it. I’ve been checking Manga out of the library too. It’s really fascinating how connected American and Japanese pop culture are, and yet how they come from totally different traditions. Yup, I’m in some kind of fevered writing-research mode for sure. I did finish a new poem over the weekend, although not sure it’s good.
Came home to a couple of signature-less rejections. And I’m starting to freak out that although I mailed my NEA application on January 31st, certified mail, return receipt requested, and usps tracking SAYS it was delivered to “someone” on February 6th, I haven’t received any return receipt. Or the SASP. Should I resend? But the NEA guidelines say they automatically reject multiple submissions. Fret, fret.
Thanks to everyone who offered to help with the reviews! If you want to be on my list of reviewers, or have any suggestions of where to send the book for review, please drop me a line if you haven’t already 🙂

Embarrassment of poetry riches in the mail in the last few days…
Charles Jensen sent me a copy of Red Mountain Review, which besides containing his impressive chapbook of intense, persuasive poems, also had a poem by Janet Knox (one of my workshop peeps,) an old classmate of mine from the U of Cincinnati, Jim Murphy, fellow Blogger Alison Pelegrin…I mean, how fun is that? It’s a great looking journal, by the way, for those of you that don’t have it yet…
Also, received Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s beautiful broadsides of the twisted but delicious poem “Small Murders” – how can you not love that? It also has a picture of Aimee on it. If there is ever a fashion-doll created for poets, they should use her as a model. With accessories!
Speaking of fashion and accessories, page 62 of the March Glamour (on shelves now!) there are two poems, one from Louise Glück’s upcoming book, Averno, which I am very much looking forward to. Poetry in fashion magazines? How do I get some of that action? Better than the NY Times…
Found out I may be helping to judge a small chapbook contest. I’m excited to do it. The press is one that does really great work.
Time is getting close on the book. Must find reviewers. I think I have five and I should have more like ten or fifteen at least. If you’d like to be on my list of peeps to receive copies of the book for review, let me know, and if you have any suggestions of good places to send my book for review, let me know that too. It’s knuckle-chewing work, I tell you. I know you’re going to get sick of me talking about it, so just give me a hand-signal or something when I go on too long…
Also, picked out poems for the reading on Saturday at Radcon. Twenty minutes worth, though I’m signed up for thirty, because thirty minutes can seem really long. Also considering doing research on the panel topics, “Mythology in sci-fi” and “Writing for gamers,” though I think I know something about both topics.
Sent a brand new chapbook of animé/Japanese fairy tale poems to Tupelo’s chapbook contest. I wasn’t even thinking of doing another chapbook, but I’ve been spitting out all these poems that kind of have the same theme, so I thought, why not? Nothing ventured…

Sorry I haven’t been blogging – it was a crazy week, grandmothers on both sides in the hospital, a couple of UW dr. appts, lots of poetry events, and lots of paperwork and assignments to get done. (21 page essay for MFA program, I’m looking at you.) I barely had time to breathe, and then, on top of that, the husband whisked me away for a too-short romantic getaway – which was very restorative. I didn’t blog, I didn’t read, I just relaxed and hung out with the husband. The sunny weather was very cooperative for long walks by the water and general canoodling. When I got back, wham, e-mails, phone calls, regular mail, tax documents, work, work work…When I first quit my full-time job to do freelance work, poetry, and school, I thought wow – how lazy I’m being, compared to my previous life. Now I feel that I am just as busy, maybe busier, than before – but the pay and the type of work are different.
I’ve been writing and writing feverishly lately, new poems, all based on Japanese fairy tales and animé. (New poems based on fairy tales called “The Crane Wife” and “White Bird Sister” – if you know where to find good English translations of these stories please let me know!) I can’t get the energy up to send stuff out, but I’m writing like a fiend. I think because Becoming the Villainess is coming out so soon – sooner than we thought, maybe in March in time for AWP – having the book coming up makes me wary, and I want to make sure I’m still writing, not just focused on putting together a mailing list and readings and the sort of “commercial” work you have to do for a poetry book with a small press (most of which I really haven’t done yet.) I mean, all the time it takes to pick out poems, pick out an appropriate journal that’s actually open to new work at this exact time of year, get the stamps (out of stamps) and the envelopes and the address labels. God bless the lit mags with e-mail submissions, I’d be lost without them.
Speaking of e-mail submissions: On top of everything else, I’ve got the poems coming into Silk Road to contend with. Some, a minority, are terrible, those are easy to make decisions about, but a lot are well-crafted but don’t really grab me– those are tough – and then a lot more take some thinking and decision-making. I have noticed the general trend is that I’m getting lots more poems from women. So come on guys, what’s up, send me some poems! Remember hospital rooms and video game landscapes count as poems of “place.” If you send, remember to cc me and don’t put your poems in an attachment, include them in the body of the e-mail. I’m trying to get the submissions guidelines updated, but that always takes forever when the web site’s in the hands of some university volunteer.
This upcoming weekend, starting on Friday, I’m going to be a guest of a Sci-Fi Convention called RadCon in Pasco, Washington. I have a reading at 8 PM on Saturday the 18th, in case you’re in the area. Mostly I’m curious to see the sci-fi crowd’s reaction to poetry – will they love it, hate it? We make assumptions that non-poets don’t like poetry. But I don’t know that it’s true. Mostly I’m reading stuff concerning the female comic book superhero and my new animé poems. Anyway, put on that superhero costume and show up – we’ll have fun!

A wind storm blew out a transformer next to our house last night. I was looking out the window at around midnight, watching the wind, and all of the sudden, a bright blue light and an eerie hum for two minutes, then nothing. I thought for a second we might be abducted by aliens. However, it turned out to be the tranformer for half of our neighborhood. So far we still have power, so I’m going to take advantage of it to blog!
I had some good news this week (as well as four rejections – editors must be busy this time of year!) The first was that I have selected to read and teach at the Skagit River Poetry Festival this May, in beautiful La Conner, Washington. I’ll be reading, doing a workshop and a panel, and possibly something else – I’ll post when I have more details. But I’m very excited. I went to the last festival two years ago, and not only is the town super-charming, but the festival was well-attended by an enthusiastic audience, the poets were great (this is where I first met Dorianne Laux, resplendent in her South Park t-shirt) and the restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts fantastic. Though the town is famous for its tulips, I believe the iris fields may be in bloom.
The other was an acceptance to a Canadian journal that I sent work to strictly because of its name – Grimm Magazine. Sure enough, the poem they took was fairy-tale related. Coincidence?
Let me also announce that anyone thinking of submitting to Silk Road’s first issue should do so soon. Final decisions will be made in mid-April. Submission guidelines here – note that if you send via e-mail, which I suggest, to put your poems in the e-mail, not attachments. As a virus-stalker, I loathe attachments. Also note, don’t be limited by the whole “poem of place” thing. I intepret that phrase extremely loosely.
Also, I want to announce, for those in the Seattle area, a fund-raising event for The Seattle Review:
Sunday, February 19 at 2 p.m.
Town Hall, 8th and Seneca, Seattle
Award-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa in a benefit/celebration reading of his own work for the publication of the new anthology, Page to Page: Retrospectives of Writers from the Seattle Review, edited by Colleen J. McElroy. Tickets $20 (includes post-reading reception), available in advance at Elliott Bay starting Jan. 15, or at the door. Proceeds benefit The Seattle Review. Contact 206.624.6600.
I will not be there, since I will be in Pasco, Washington, trying my sci-fi convention/poetry hybrid experiment. But Yusef is a wonderful reader, and I used to volunteer with the Seattle Review, so get on out!
A note on my rejections: hmmm. I consider myself a sort of grrl-power feminist poet type. However, feminist journals seem not to agree. My biggest smackdowns tend to be the feminist journals. What’s up with that?

I wanted to shine a spotlight on a great new site created for “sharing and discovering opportunities for first books of poetry” called Imprimatur- a wonderful new resource for people who are in the process of having a first book of poems published or would like to. It was created by our own Ivy Alvarez – here’s the link: http://ivyai.wordpress.com/
It has everything from tips on negotiating contracts to publicity information and prizes. I know I would have loved to have had a resource like that when I first started doing book research.
Also, the lovely and talented blogger Rachel Dacus has guest-edited an issue of kaleidowhirl, which contains poems by me, fellow blogger Kelli Agodon, and fellow-Steel Toe Books author and biochemist Jennifer Gresham.

Had a lovely day across the Sound with my island-and-peninsula poetry workshop, and since I hadn’t seen my island-and-peninsula poet friends since before Christmas, it was great to catch up. I brought one of my new weird prose poems about animé (um, sort of an obsessive series of poems on Miyazaki’s work…) I’m having a lot of fun writing about this subject. Anyway, I even got to see the sun briefly (a rarity here) and got to split some appetizers with the lovely and talented Kelli afterwards. Ooh, and my friend Annette lent me some old episodes of MST3K. Gamera is really neat! He is full of turtle meat! Good times.
I haven’t been sending out much work lately. I’m kind of letting the poems roll back in slowly. I did get a nice acceptance letter from the kind editor of the beautifully-produced Evansville Review (especially nice because they are publishing my book’s title poem! Yay!) along with a couple of rejections and the myriad tax info (w2s, 1099s, etc…ah the fun of freelancing at tax time…)
And I turned in the final, final proof of the book manuscript today too – a thousand nitpicky little things, like spaces around em-dashes and missing punctuation, that kind of thing.
Now to turn to the very scary NEA application…and return to my essay for school…which is still nine pages of incoherent thought…must read more of Jung on persona and archetype, analyze Gluck’s Meadowlands, and talk about why persona poems allow women to more freely express their shadow selves. Or something like that.
(For Deb Ager: I couldn’t get my blogger comments to let me post for some reason, so let me say it here: Happy New Year to you too! And you are welcome for scones anytime!)

First of all, a shout-out to my little brother, who turns 30 today – Happy Birthday Pumpkin!

Sorry I haven’t been blogging much – all of my accumulated words are going into the first draft of the dreaded “Essay,” pretty much the only requirement of my MFA program’s third semester. It’s on “Why We Wear Masks: Contemporary Women Poets and the Persona Poem.” Right now it’s nine pages of incoherent thoughts pasted together. Yesterday I used three dictionaries, the MLA handbook, a primer on Jung, and seven web sites, all to write about a paragraph on what persona means. I’ve also been trying to write up two poetry book reviews, long overdue, finally finish commenting on a friend’s manuscript, catch up on e-mail (and Hotmail has been having some glitches, I lost some mail – so if I haven’t responded to any one of your urgent messages please re-send! This includes people who sent over the web form from this site) recover from my ten-day-absence (and the thirty-day absence of sun, blessedly broken by yesterday’s amazing, if cold, day-long sunfest.)
More on Atwood – I didn’t notice this at first, but one of the reasons I think I enjoyed her novel “Blind Assassin” so much is that the main story is a re-telling of the Procne and Philomel story, from Procne’s point of view. Agree? Disagree? Let me know!
I’ve written three poems since I’ve been back, all on the themes of Japanese fairy tales and animé. Hmph. This doesn’t belong with the other poems I’ve been writing at all. One is very formal and structured, and the other two are prose poems, which I have just barely started to write as a form. I think I was influenced by reading Sandra Alcosser and Kristy Bowen, who both have some kickass prose poems.
I’m having some poet friends over tonight so must concentrate soon on cleaning. I am generally a creature of some chaos, and straightening up is often a Herculean task. I may have convinced the husband to make his famous scones for tonight. (Using Tom Douglas’ secret cherry-almond scone recipe – the best in Seattle!)