Everywhere I go, Margaret Atwood has already been…
Here I am thinking I’m all original and what not with my villainess obsession (See here for reminder of what I’m referring to) – and I randomly picked up a book at the library to read at my residency, Atwood’s hodgepodge book of essays Writing with Intent – and what do I see but a whole chapter called “Spotty Handed Villainesses” – talking about why it’s not anti-feminist to create non-100-percent-sugar-and-spice female characters, the importance of strong female villains, etc. Hrmph. Then, yesterday, I bought her new collection The Tent – and, after spending ten years writing poems (some of which will appear in the aforementioned book, Becoming the Villainess) about the rather obscure (I thought) myth of Procne and Philomel, what should I find but an Atwood retelling of the Procne/Philomel story called “The Nightingale.”
Speaking of sci-fi mistresses of goodness, I got the pleasure of seeing Ursula LeGuin at the residency, where she proceeded to rant about the lack of teachers teaching literary fantasy and sci-fi books, which she feels have been unfairly ghettoized.
And, while I was gone, I received contributor copies of the wonderful anthology of the erotic, The Bedside Guide to the No Tell Motel, which not only looks great but is a lot of fun to read, and the new issue of American Poetry Journal, which has one of my favorite poems (don’t we all have personal favorites among our poems?) called “The Conversation” – about a female comic book superhero breaking up with her boyfriend. Anyway, run out and get both immediately.
I also noticed that sadly, none of the poet candidates for the Nat’l Book Critics Circle were women. Sigh.

Back from the storm-squalled Oregon Coast and so many panels, craft talks, and readings that, sadly, I’m dying for television, some good coffee, and a little down time. This morning after a shower in my own bathroom (ah, heaven) I raced out, hair still all wet, for a walk beside the flooded river near my house in the brief January sunlight we in Seattle are suddenly experiencing – after about 26 or 27 days of rain, you know, you start to go a little stir crazy. I consider myself an extrovert but after 10 days of spending 12 or more hours a day with groups of people I am craving silence, solitude. Even the dogs barking was too much company. I’m looking forward to catching up on blogs today and tomorrow, and not looking forward to catching up on overdue work. One note from the residency: Madeleine DeFrees, who is, I believe, 87 and an ex-nun, is a surprisingly fun person. If you get a chance to talk to her, do it!
I noticed that while I was gone, I was tapped for some meme by Kelli, so here it is for you meme fans:
4 Jobs You’ve Had: Makeup Artist; botanical genetics lab research assistant; manager of web designers and programmers; food writer
4 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over: Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind (see earlier post re: Miyazaki,) the first Star Wars, Grosse Pointe Blank, Joe Versus the Volcano
4 Places You’ve Lived: LA; Richmond, VA; Knoxville; Cincinnati
4 TV Shows You Love to Watch: Buffy; Alias; Lost; Futurama
4 Places You’ve Been on Vacation: Montreal; Paris; Big Sur; Vancouver Island
4 Websites You Visit Daily: aintitcool.com, MSN, Seattle Times, and someone’s blog from list at left
4 Favorite Foods: Lobster, St. Andre cheese, good dark chocolate, woodfired pizza with figs and prosciutto. And twinkies, damn it.
4 Places You’d Rather Be: Montreal, Hawaii, Barbados, Colorado
4 Albums You Can’t Live Without: Whatever, Aimee Mann; Oh, Inverted World!, The Shins; Rufus Wainwright; The OC Soundtrack volume 1

Well, my darlings, one post before I’m off to my residency until the 17th. I’ve been in a flurry – trying to recover from a nasty case of bronchitis, get some work done before I leave (grant application, interview, essay, and review) and get packed.
In good news, Turner Classic Movies is running a Miyazaki marathon in January:
Jan. 5 Spirited Away (2001) 8 p.m. Princess Mononoke (1997) 10:15 p.m.
Jan. 12 Nausicaa of the Valley (1984)) 8 p.m. Castle in the Sky (1986) 10 p.m.
Jan. 19 My Neighbor Totoro (1988) 8 p.m. Porco Rosso (1992) 9:30 p.m. Whisper of the Heart (1995) 11:15 p.m
Jan. 26 Only Yesterday (1991) 8 p.m. Pom Poko (1994) 10:15 p.m.
If you do not watch Nausicaa, or record it, you are missing out. One of Miyazaki’s first and best efforts, this eco-drama is beautiful and moving. With a kick-ass female heroine, I might point out.
And, Futurama may be geting new episodes!
So my geek heart is happy.
And, my poem “After Ten Years Together, We Sneak Off to Make Out in a Friend’s Closet,” is living in sin with a bunch of other poems in Rebecca Livington’s anthology, The Bedside Guide to the No Tell Motel.
The new issue of Diner contains wonderful poems by poet pals Kelli Agodon, Ronda Broatch, and Rebecca Loudon, as well as my review of Kate Gale’s Mating Season.
Also, congrats to Jenifer Lawrence, whose poetry book will be published by Blue Begonia Press, and Steve Schroeder, who just won the Laureate Prize from National Poetry Review.
Now, it’s off to rainy Seaside, Oregon, where I’ve heard the waves are 20 feet high, for ten-days of all-literary-all-the-time crazy time.

Well, enough health nonsense. Happy New Year’s, Everybody!
Back to poetry stuff…
Got the proofs of my book. My little book is now 85 pages!! Now to the proofreading…
And, in other news, the new literary magazine from my school’s MFA program, Pacific University, is officially open for business. Here’s the web site: http://silkroad.pacificu.edu/
Right now, I’m the senior poetry editor or some such thing. They are looking for a wide variety of writings on place and the environment, personal geography, etc…read the mission statement for more clarification on that. Check out the submission guidelines – you can even submit by e-mail!

Thanks for everyone and their good thoughts. Your comments and e-mails meant a lot to me for the couple of nervous days.
After my meeting with the hema/oncologist, she thought it was unlikely I had something dangerous like lymphoma or leukemia, so hooray. Instead she is testing me for the much less scary mastocytosis. Which is mostly treatable with inocuous things like antihistimines. So no more cancer fears. What a nice present for the New Year! Woo hoo!
On the funnier side of things, one of the tests she did in the office was to thump around on my left side (to feel for spleen enlargement.) Then, she had another doctor come in and thump around. Then, they both thumped around. For ten minutes, I was a human drum. If I’d known I would have worn thicker clothes!
All righty everyone, I need to send out a submission packet and I have no idea where to send. Someone tell me!
And Happy Pre-New Year To All! I’m buying frosty chocolate milkshakes for everyone!

In the continuing saga…
More words you don’t want to hear come out of a doctor’s mouth: “I think maybe you should talk with an oncologist about that.”
And confirmation from an oncologist: “Yes, I think you should schedule an appointment.”

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Kwanzaa and Solstice, and all the holidays of the season…
Last night I watched Santa circle round the space needle via the best product of the American military defense system, the Norad Santa Tracker – http://www.noradsanta.org/en/tracking.php
These things make me happy.
No more shopping, no more frantic running around. Tonight we’re checking out the Chronicles of Narnia (thanks to Rebecca L. for the suggestion and thanks Deb for the link to the related rap!) I have a sheaf of lit mags to read and new books to finish. Rmph – that’s the sound of me sinking into the couch…Anyway, wishing you blessings, hot chocolate and cider, and a chance to relax with leftovers.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!
A good time to reflect on things I am thankful for. Grateful for a quiet Christmas celebration with just me and my husband, our tiny living Christmas tree, for rainbows and odd dark clouds with sun shining against them yesterday, for having parents and a grandmother I felt safe sending the link to my new poems on Wicked Alice, knowing that they will understand and not be afraid of poems like “Ode to Fellatio,” grateful that I am finally well enough to go back to school, grateful for the book coming out next year, grateful to poets who have written the books I loved this year, grateful to friends who have listened to me whine and worry, grateful to friends who share their poems with me, grateful for my two lounging cats. Grateful to write, and that sometimes people even read what I write. Grateful for mail in the mailbox, good or bad. Grateful for South Park Christmas shows last night, and for Anne McAffery’s Dragonsong series on tape, which I’ve been listening to. Grateful for new CDs of Johnny Cash and The Shins.
“It’s been a long December and there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last…” We listen to this Counting Crows song at the end of every year. Sometimes more goes wrong than we know. Sometimes things go right. Often at the same time. This has been one of those years.
This weekend we are going to sneak out and see some movies. I’m woefully behind on catching movies. What should we see first?

Back in the cold, rainy, dark Northwest, from my sojourn into the sunny and darn cold, snowy Midwest. Why don’t I or any of my family live in say, Hawaii or Arizona? Seriously people. Christmas is so much Christmass-ier with a warm sandy beach.
The most interesting new news in my inbox during my time away? I’m now booked to read poetry and speak on panels at a sci-fi convention in Washington in February called RadCon. My book’s artist, Michaela, got me into it. Who knows – maybe I will find the lost demographic of sci-fi-comic-book-poetry geeks. At least it’ll be a different kind of audience. And I can collect more cool sci-fi art for my office walls.
Plenty of fascinating blogging on the whys and wherefores of journal publication going on while I was gone at Seth’s blog, Eduardo’s, A.D.’s, and Kristy’s, among others…but since I’m getting ready to go back to my low-residency MFA program after a semester off, and am feeling all trepidatious about that – with a year and 10K to go – and since I’ve been getting e-mails from potential low-res MFA students asking what it’s all about, I thought I’d blog about that.
Why attend an MFA program, especially one you have to pay for? Well, I’m married and can’t move right now, and don’t want to attend the local university, so I was stuck with the (usually expensive – from 3-6 K per semester, including food and housing) low-residency option. Also, I had already done a regular, paid-for-by-the-university, on-campus MA program at University of Cincinnati. I mean, I like my life right now, I just wanted to add more poetry to it, so the low-residency option was the right one for me at the time. I applied to several low-res programs, and took the one closest to me, rather than the one that offered, say, the most scholarship money or had the best literary magazine – a decision which, at the time, was done because of my health – I needed to stay close to doctors that knew me. It ended up being a good decision, I think – the convenience of not having to shlep stuff on a plane across country twice a year AND the program I chose having an excellent faculty (if some wobbly administration over the last year) are two reasons why.
So what good has the MFA program done? Can an MFA program make you a better poet? More connected? More published?
I can say that for me, yes, the MFA program (mainly because of one-on-one work with two great poets) did make me a better writer. That’s obviously subjective. But, non-subjectively, I have written twice as many poems every semester I was in school compared to the same time periods I was not in school. Also, non-subjectively, I had about twice the acceptance rate from journals per semester since I started going to school. As per the journal publication discussions at the aforementioned blogs, that increase doesn’t neccessarily mean an increase in quality, but perhaps an increase in awareness of how other people read my work – maybe.
Since I started the MFA program, I also had a chapbook published, and a book manuscript accepted for publication. But those things aren’t guaranteed – I think I’m the only poetry student in my program that happened to so far. Did those things happen because I’m in an MFA program? I was submitting to chapbook and book publishers before I started the MFA, so maybe it was coincidence. Hard to say. Did the MFA program make me think harder and more critically about my manuscript? Absolutely yes, but I still felt I needed to seek advice from people outside the program to come up with the final versions of the chapbook and book.
Community – yes, the MFA program does provide community – in the case of my program, the two ten day residencies plus e-mail list contact with faculty and students. I’ve met great poets, got to hang out at some fun parties, and made some friends. But I would say the community it provided has been of equal or less importance to that of say, attending local readings, workshops and lectures, going to conferences, or, say, blogging.
Maybe the MFA gives people more confidence about their work. It’s one thing for my circle of friends at the local workshop to say nice things about a poem, and another thing for a couple of nationally renowned poets to say the same. (No offense to my local workshop friends, who are all destined to be nationally renowned, of course 😉 But I did feel that what I was writing was okay to write, and that I should write more of that, and even take more risks in what I was doing, push the envelope further. Useful stuff? You bet. Does this happen in every MFA program? I don’t know. Some friends in other low-res programs (and even my own) had the opposite happen with their advisors – they were actively discouraged – so that can happen too. A good fit between advisor/mentor and student is really important. And I’m not sure I would have known, without meeting them, which poets would make the best mentors for me. It’s not necessarily the poets you might think.
The workshops at the MFA program are hit or miss, like many workshops – sometimes you get great and useful feedback, sometimes absolute zero. Very dependent on your group and workshop leader. The readings are fun, the lectures occassionally dull but usually very helpful, the socializing (2 am cajunized tater tot marathons, anyone? Fireside singing of old Tom Petty songs?) exhausting but usually what I’m gladdest I spent time doing. Ten days of eight AM to 2 AM scheduling is hard physically. Bring vitamins and then, more vitamins.
For me, doing the MFA was a way to keep myself from throwing myself back into full-time work and ignoring my creative writing (pretty much a pattern of mine – I even worked full-time at a nine-to-five at AT&T during my MA program, NOT something I’d recommend) and to give myself a chance to see if I could succeed at this poetry thing. This may sound crazy, but I think until you put yourself into a position where you are reading and writing and thinking about poetry every single day, you aren’t really giving yourself the best chance to succeed. So I said, for two years, I’m going to do that. If it all came to nothing, I could always go back to what I’d done before, or maybe the same thing but spending more time reading and writing. Nothing to lose except time off the career ladder and some money.
Anyway, now I’m off to buy a Charlie Brown-sized Christmas tree, cards, and perhaps some celebratory cookies. Anyone have any good New Year’s resolutions set out yet? Mine is to spend less time in doctor’s offices, and more time doing fun stuff.

Hey all, just getting ready to leave town and spend a crazy week in Cincinnati with my large family and the in-laws, so all is disarray and stress (did I remember to pack blank? Where’s my blank? Who’s picking us up at blank?)
but check out Jennifer Thorton’s blog for a rundown of a seminar on publishing by Jeffrey Levine we were lucky enough to attend…
and remember, give poetry for the holidays 🙂
Love, peace, and wishing you all a happy and stressless holiday celebration!