Midwinter Sun, Four New Poems up at Live Encounters, Money and Poetry, and Plath’s New Book

Glenn and I near a creek in Woodinville

A Hint of Spring Sun

Greetings from Seattle! We had a little peek of sunshine today, so even though I’m still fighting off this virus from hell, I got out a little bit and saw the sun! We had deer visitors, the birds have been chirping like it’s springtime (even though it’s still a little chilly outside.) So if anyone tells you it rains all the time in Seattle, well, I post these pictures as proof that is not technically true.

Nature Poems up at Live Encounter

Sneak Peek at two of my poems up at Live Encounter

I love taking pictures of nature, as you may know if you follow this blog, but I don’t often write about it. That’s why these four poems, up at Live Encounter, may surprise you: “Halloween, 2018,” “Charmed,” “November Dark,” and “Lost Flowers.” These are the sorts of poems I write that never end up in books – orphaned, one-offs, or just not themed in a way that lends itself to a certain collection. Do you have poems like this?

Nature Pics: Baby Hummingbird, Super Wolf Moon Eclipse, Deer Gangs

Speaking of which, here are some nature pics: a gang of deer, a baby hummingbird, and a few pics of the Super Wolf Moon eclipse (I didn’t sleep right for three days afterwards, FYI,)

Reading the new Sylvia Plath Story

Sylvia with her namesake’s book – four paws up!

Delighted to receive my copy of “Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom,” a new short story published by Faber & Faber that Sylvia Plath wrote when she was 20 years old, and Mademoiselle rejected. She didn’t work on the story again for two years, and when she did, she diminished the mystery and darkness of it. A reminder that we, as writers, often let editors guide what and how we write way too often – and just because something is rejected, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. She was just way ahead of her time. This story seems today, Murakami-esque, in the school of magical realism or symbolism – some resemblances to the story of Snowpiercer, in fact – at the time, it must have been very surprising reading indeed. I wish she had been encouraged to write more short fiction – this piece shows she had a real talent for it. One more lesson from Sylvia: don’t let editors discourage you from writing something different, or something people haven’t seen before. Or, in modern parlance, F&ck the haters.

A Little Midwinter Panic (Health, Money and Poetry)

I’m already indulging in a little midwinter panic – first, AWP Portland (will I be healthy? Will I get sick while I’m there? What in the heck is the hotel going to be like – will it be accessible? Will the conference be more accessible than last time? Will I be able to meet with everyone I want to, or get all the books and lit mags I want home?) Also, health stuff – will I ever get better from this virus (as I speak, on a new inhaler and antibiotic and still running 100 degree fever and coughing like the dickens). I have to go get my thyroid checked out and some more cancer tests at the endocrinologist on Monday. And then I had this dream about the afterlife and how I told the afterlife people I shouldn’t have spent so much of my life trying to be a poet, that I should have aimed higher and tried to be a rock star instead. So obviously mid-life crisis-ing – this often coincides with about the time I do my yearly taxes, which shows my yearly writing expenditures vs income. This may be the first year I actually made more from royalties than I made from freelance writing – which was still not very much.

I also posted a link to this article on Vox about money and a life in the arts. I’ll try to post a little more about my thoughts on poetry, money, and Plath a little later in the week, but to put it shortly: yes, a life in the arts is almost impossible without marrying money or having family money, no, most people won’t be able to pay off their MFA student loans writing (or even teaching, as I discovered to my dismay as an adjunct.) If publishers want “diverse” voices – women, writers of color, disabled writers – as much as they say they do, they should offer to waive those exorbitant submission fees, or they are literally ruling out the people they say they want to publish – and they should publish those “diverse” voices more often, rather than straight white men who happen to come from money (a dismaying majority, still.)  Sylvia letters reveal a great deal of anxiety about money, starting when she was fairly young – always worried she didn’t have enough of it, always looking for a side hustle though she was desperate for time just to write – having two young children and a terrible husband didn’t help that, of course. I would even say that Ted running off with their entire bank account and leaving Sylvia to support their two children alone may even have contributed to Sylvia’s death. So money is serious, and anyone who gives people advice about becoming a poet or artist or whatever ought to be frank about what is involved, and the hardships moneywise people will face. I still remember the advice I tried to give the students in the MFA program I taught in – I didn’t come from money, and many of those MFA students certainly financially struggling and from working-class backgrounds – and I was often distraught when I had to tell them the truth – how little I made from teaching (less than minimum wage,) how that was often the case for women who are most often assigned adjunct teaching roles and very rarely make tenure, how little I make from writing, despite some serious hustle on my part, how technical writing paid my bills for years until I became too sick to do it full-time, and that is why I had the time to become a poet, but how I would probably still be working for the man if I had the health for it (ironically, mostly because working for the man provides the best health care.) I am still paying my student loans off. I do not make enough to pay them off as a writer – I have to rely on my husband’s help. That’s not cool, but it is the reality. I wonder often if I’m doing the right thing (see: afterlife dream) putting so much effort and time into poetry when it seems to give so little back – and I still wonder if the MFA was a silly expenditure for me. I wish more poets – and other people in the arts – were more up front about how the got where they are, how they afford their life, and how much their students can expect to do with their MFA once they get it. The truth about money – it’s part of politics, even poetry politics, and the more we keep it a secret, the more power it has over us.

Anyway, read the article for yourself and let me know your thoughts! Or just stress out about AWP 🙂

New Poem in Star*Line, Supermoon Eclipses, A Little Seattle Color, and Surviving January by Reading Writers’ Words on Writing

Sylvia and Shakespeare taking care of my books

Down Time: Reading Writers’ Words About Writing

Good morning! At left you can see what I’ve been doing with my time – mostly sick in bed, surrounded by books and cats. Last night I finished Ursula Le Guin’s Words Are My Matter, from Small Beer Press. My favorite bits from the writing of her last decade were an essay called “Disappearing Grandmothers,” a diary of her time at our local Writer’s Retreat Hedgebook on Whidbey Island, “Learning to Write Science Fiction from Virginia Woolf” (whose letters I have been reading,) and some of her reviews, including Philip K. Dick. Quick quote from “Disappearing Grandmothers:”
“We really can’t go on letting good writers be disappeared and buried because they weren’t men, while writers who should be left to rot in peace are endlessly resurrected, the zombies of criticism and curriculum, because they weren’t women.”
I get the feeling I would really have gotten along with Ursula. And her commentary on Virginia Woolf made me realize why I’d been picking up her writings again – she really did have a way of approaching old subject matter in a singular way. I’m learning a lot from reading non-living writers, and coincidentally, a friend just sent me a collection by Mary Oliver, who recently passed away. Of course, we should appreciate and cheer our living writers, both friends and heroes, too! But it does feel fascinating to be reading letters from Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, and essays by Ursula Le Guin – like the most terrific conversation with women writers across time.

A New Poem in Star*Line

Thanks to Star*Line (this issue was edited by Vince Gotera) for publishing my poem “Self-Portrait as Pretty Monster.” If you join the SFPA you get a subscription to Star*Line for free. Here’s a sneak peek:

 

A Little Seattle Color and January Wildlife

Lest you think from my ramblings that in Seattle our January is always a dull grey and the rain never ceases, a rare sunny day when I was able to get out and do a little nature photography (and pose with an antique red truck – what a cheerful color!) Hummingbirds are regular visitors thanks to our feeders and deer love to eat the new grass that grows this time of year. In our neighborhood, you can usually find an array on antique cars or car shows on any sunny day. And I love all kinds of flowers, but this time of year, coral roses seem especially vibrant and cheering. Glenn’s been making a new quick-jam that I got out of a magazine called cranberry-pear butter (we make it in the instant pot, not a slow cooker, much faster) and not only is it beautiful, it’s delicious (the ginger really makes it pop and feel winter-appropriate!) Great on greek yogurt, a scone or a slice of pear-cranberry-ginger cake.

Supermoon Eclipse of 2019

Tomorrow night is the only full lunar eclipse of 2019 – and usually the night sky here is very cloudy – or it’s raining – this time of year. I hope you are able to watch it (around 6:30 Pacific, 9:30 Eastern) but I always feel a tinge of foreboding around supermoons in general and supermoon eclipses in particular. The red color of a lunar eclipse is so eerie. I do not consider myself superstitious and particularly astrologically-wise but moon cycles really get to me, and I think they affect something not just in the earth (tides, etc) but something in the human body. I wrote a poem about how eclipses are supposed to take away the veil between dimensions and worlds, between the subconscious and conscious. Lunacy and all that. Perhaps this year the supermoon will bring us good changes this year, which I think we could use with all the lunacy in the world right now. Here’s wishing good health and new poems to you and to me!

New Review of Who is Mary Sue in The Rumpus, New Poem in Scryptic, Poems set to Jazz, and the January Doldrums

Purple January Sunrise

January Doldrums, with Sunrise

How has your January been so far? I came down with a very-long lasting cold/virus and sprained my ankle, so I’ve been confined and resting…plus it’s rained nearly every day of the new year, which makes it tough to appreciate the gorgeous Pacific Northwest quite as much as usual (what the with driving cold wind and rain). A leak sprung up around our chimney after one of the windstorms, which somehow seemed symbolic. I’ve been able to read a little bit, write a little bit, but mostly I’ve been sleeping poorly, restlessly watching nature shows, and trying to make headway in the eight-ten books I’m reading. I’ve been researching publishers and vowing to do a better job this than last in sending out my book manuscripts (I have two now, a sixth and a seventh).  I have had some good things happen this week, which I thought I’d share – a new review, a new poem, and a poem set to jazz music.

“Angel”

New Poem, “Angel,” in the new issue of Scryptic, a magazine of alternative art

Thanks to Scryptic, who published a speculative poem of mine for the new year, “Angel,” in their latest issue. From the art to the lit pieces, it’s a bit of a rush to read. My poem’s on page 57 of the PDF, and here is a little preview to the left. The poem is called “Angel,” but it more science fiction than religion.

New Review of Sophie Collins’ Who Is Mary Sue in The Rumpus

Looking for something new to read in the new year that will challenge you and get you thinking? Check out my review in The Rumpus of Sophie Collins’ Who Is Mary Sue, a book that challenges the notion of female autobiography, the idea of authorship and authenticity, feminism and pop culture. I wasn’t familiar with Sophie Collins’ work when I picked this book up at local poetry bookstore Open Books, but she has a fascinating mind.

” Might every character who is female and empowered be termed by male fanboys a “Mary Sue” with some derision? Might every female character, indeed, be a “Mary Sue?” Whether we write about ourselves or others, women authors will always be accused of the sin of autobiography in a way that men typically are not.”

Poems Set to Music

I also had a suprise when a gentleman named James Gardner contacted me and asked me if he could set my poem, “Robot Scientist’s Daughter [medical wonder,]” to music on his web site, Poetry DNA. Check out the results! I’m kind of a jazz fan, so this tickled me.

Surviving the Dark Winter

So what are your survival tips for surviving the dark, cold winter months? January and February are my least favorite months to live around Seattle, it’s pitch black by 5 PM and the sun doesn’t really come all the way up…ever, plus the cold wind and rain mean you never really enjoy being outside. It’s cold and flu season so I’m not surprised I finally caught something, and this bug is a loooong one. I’ve reorganized my office, written a few poems and revised both my poetry manuscripts, but honestly, I’m restless, ready for a little springtime. (I know, we’re still a long way, but Seattle does start to have some camellia and cherry blooms sometimes as early as late February.) I’ve already started thinking about how to successfully approach AWP – I’ll be doing one offsite reading, and I’m planning to spend max time at the Bookfair saying hi to friends and checking out books and lit mags, my favorite part of the conference. My big goals were: getting more sleep, trying to do something fun once a week, and reaching out and socializing with more people, have all been rendered moot by this evil virus (waking up with early asthma attacks and tossing and turning with fever not conducive to more sleep, sadly, and you definitely don’t want to give this bug to anyone you like), but I hope to be getting better soon and back to my 2019 goals! I also made a playlist called “Survivor 2019” which includes this Sam Smith song from the Netflix series Watership Down, called “Fire on Fire.” Happy January!

 

New Year So Far, Poem in Natural Bridge, Lunch Dates with Poets and Poet Letters, and 2019 Goals

Sunrise on the New Year

Happy Brand New Year!

Good morning and Happy New Year 2019! Hope you had a wonderful New Year’s celebration! Miraculously I wasn’t too sick on New Year’s Eve, so Glenn and I were able to do a daytime stroll to enjoy the sunshine and then go out in the evening to Willows Lodge where we toasted and listened to a live band and generally enjoyed ourselves – we got home in time to watch the Space Needle Fireworks, by which time the city was locked in icy fog, so we were happy to be home and warm! We ate grapes for luck, and then I stayed up late afterwards writing a new poem and working on my new manuscript – still in its birth phases, but definitely shaping up.  Auspicious writing start – actually writing a poem within ten minutes of 2019!

Sylvia in linen closet, her favorite reading space

First Poem of the New Year in Natural Bridge!

Thanks to Natural Bridge for publishing my first new poem of the new year – “Self-Portrait as MRI.” Here’s Sylvia hiding in the linen closet with a copy, and here’s the poem:

From Natural Bridge’s newest issue

Sarah Mangold and I in black and white

Poet Lunches and Reading Poet Letters

One of my goals for 2019, besides getting more sleep (I average four hours a night, which I hear from doctors is not enough, what?) is getting out more and spending more time with wonderful creative people! Yesterday I had the chance to meet up for lunch with the lovely and talented local poet Sarah Mangold. I had run into her work at Open Books and liked it, so I was happy to have this opportunity to talk over coffee. And now I’m looking forward to reading her chapbook, Cupcake Royale! Nothing cheers me up like spending time with artists, writers, and musicians – I think it decreases the feeling of “I am crazy for doing this” and always inspires me to do more in my own creative life!

I’ve been reading a beautiful hardcover illustrated edition of Virginia Woolf’s letters and the second volume of Sylvia Plath’s letters. Virginia Woolf is always cheerful, restrained and clever in her letters while Plath is a little more self-revealing, passionate in her happiness and her disappointments, but I think both can teach us lessons about women writers. I’m also reading After Emily, a book by Julie Dobrow about the two women who devoted a ton of time and energy to make sure Emily Dickinson had a legacy and a reputation as a great poet. It’s kind of a wonderful lesson in what it takes to become a household name in the 1800’s in upper-crust society in New England and dispels the illusion that Emily didn’t make en effort or that she became a sensation out of nowhere – a sort of early template for PR for Poets! (Book Clubs were very big, FYI.)  (Another 2019 goal: less television and social media and more reading books!)

One quote I thought I’d share – I was reading Sylvia’s new years letters from January 1957 – and she had just had poems published in The Atlantic and Poetry, but was running into trouble getting teaching work for either her or Ted without PhDs, which frustrated her. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, was my thought about her quote after getting a flurry of new year rejections – which I also got (albeit nice rejections):

“These job refusals plus a pile of rejections (of really fine poems, too) are enough to make me think the teaching profession is run by slick closed-shop businessmen and the literary magazines by jealous scared over-cerebral fashion-conscious idiots.”

Well, you can always count on Sylvia to cheer you up in the new year!

Poetry and Gardening – Things to Look Forward to in 2019

Now, since last year I did lots of individual poetry submissions (and even a couple of fiction subs) but not so many manuscript submissions, I’m going to take an ambitious stab at getting Flare out into the world and work on getting my in-process seventh manuscript finished (themes of witches, religion, nature, politics?) Some of my spring bulbs are already poking up out of the ground – it’s still the dark rainy season, but I’m feeling ready for spring! We planted 45 new bulbs last fall, and had a least a hundred in the ground from the last two years, so hoping for lots of hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips. Poetry and gardening have that in common – the more you put out there, you might get more rejections (unsuccessful bulbs) but also more to look forward to? How about you? What are you looking forward to in 2019?

Two End of the Year Poems in ACM, and Dreams, Goals, and Inspirations for 2019

Happy Almost New Year! New Year Poems up at ACM

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday. I was thrilled to discover two year-end-themed poems up at Another Chicago Magazine, “Lights Out” and “Sitting by Yourself at the End of the World, I Mean Year.”  ACM has been one of my “goal” publications for a long time, so I’m thrilled!

“Sitting by Yourself at the End of the World, I Mean Year” from ACM

 

2019 Vision Board

New Year Inspirations, Action Plans, and Goals

It’s almost 2019, and if you’re like me (or January O’Neil, who has a cool “poetry action plan,” you start thinking about your intentions for the year ahead – what you hope for, what you can plan for, what you are envisioning. This year’s Vision Board had a lot of animals in it, and more words about inspiration and creativity. I realized the last two years had been all about survival – first the liver tumors and the cancer diagnosis, then the surprise of neurological symptoms and the MS diagnosis. I’m hoping this coming year to be fewer doctor appointments, more wonder – less about survival, more about creating and befriending and embracing the world.

From the AWP conference in March in Portland to sending out two poetry manuscripts – one about the journey of the last two years and one about the history of women and witchcraft, which I was just shuffling through last night to think about organization and which poems to leave out and which to add. I’m going to get more serious about sending out both – I only sent out book manuscripts four times last year, but I sent out over 150 submissions (!!) total, including fiction and essay attempts, and published about fifty poems, which seems like an okay ratio, but I had no idea I had submitted so much.

Bobcat sighting in Woodinville

Other life goals include cultivating more friendships and socializing a little more, paying more attention to my body and treating it like something to take care of and not push, and spending some time (!!) meditating or doing something restful and creative every day, maybe even just five minutes of art or writing before bed. Also, trying to value my time more. One of the things about getting serious diagnoses is that it makes you re-think what you spend your time and energy on. What are the essential things for living for you? Spending time outside, reading good things, and time consciously building a life – whether that’s balance or motor-skill exercises, or reaching out to a new friend, or time spent noticing the new flowers in your garden to the kind of moon that rises. Or the visitors to your neighborhood – the day after Christmas, this bobcat visited our street!

Christmas Moon

A Quiet Christmas, and a Great Gift for Writers

Christmas was quiet – a sunny (!) Christmas Eve with a lovely church service with interpretive ballet, a retelling of the Christmas story, camels and baby goats and lots of candlelight singing – and dinner with my brother and sister-in-law, a beautiful almost-full yellow moon, and talking about our dreams. Glenn did  a great job as always with dinner (two whole ducks, asparagus and honey-roasted carrots, and cranberry tarts – plus, cracking open his Christmas port). I was lucky to receive LOTS of books this year, and Glenn got me a really special Christmas gift – a library book cart, yes, just like what they have at the library, because he worries about me trying to transport my reading material from one room to another – a pretty large stack of books. I thought it was perfect!

Anyway, I want to wish you a happy New Year! My traditions these days include eating grapes, black-eyed peas, and a toast at midnight, even if we’re at home at midnight. (We’re planning a low-key visit to a local wine bar with live music, so we can enjoy a little festivity without too much drama…) Also, sleeping in New Year’s Day seems important! May 2019 bring us a better year for all. Leave your inspirations/goals/dreams for 2019 in the comments!

 

New Interview with Bekah Steimel, Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and Almost New-Year with Sylvia Plath-style Dreams and Goals

Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice from the Pacific Northwest

   Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, and almost New Year!

First of all, hope you are all doing well and celebrating the holiday season with a little rest and relaxation and even a little poetry!

Here in Seattle a lot of people celebrate the Solstice, along with other traditional holidays, the longest night of the year – I think because the long dark feels more intense out here, especially when sunset is around 4 PM. This solstice we had sunsets, hummingbirds (and coyote howls), a full moon, and even cherry blossoms on a neighbor’s tree down the street! It’s a good time to think about our dreams and goals for the next year – which I did this year with a little help from Sylvia Plath. More about that later!

Interview with Bekah Steimel

Thank you to Bekah Steimel for doing this interview with me! I hope you enjoy it! I talk a little bit about my best advice for poets and my time working as Redmond’s Poet Laureate. There’s also a little poem for the resistance!

Field Guide to the End of the World on End-of-the-Year Gift Guide

Also, thanks to Serena Agusto-Cox for including Field Guide to the End of the World on her 2018 Holiday Gift Guide. 
 Field Guide to the End of the World is a good book to read this time of year – it’s all about weathering disasters and apocalypses of various kinds. I’ve been reading, along with Plath’s letters, several apocalypse-y books, including M Archive: After the End of the World by Alexis Pauline Gumbs and the always mildly apocalyptic Murakami’s Killing Commendatore and we all know how much fun it is during the holidays to shut off all the noise (televisions, phones, etc) and spend some of that “darkness” time catching up on reading!

Talking Plans, Dreams and Goals with Sylvia Plath

So, one of the traditions as we head towards the new year is talking about our dreams, plans, and goals for the new year. Someone posted this from Sylvia Plath’s journal on Twitter, and I found another list from her school days in my own copy of her unabridged journals (click on each to enlarge):

No one was more ambitious than Sylvia, so we can all learn a little something from the lists, also, it’s always good advice to work on our inner lives and listen more (plus, French every day!)

So I spent my time thinking about what I wanted from 2019, what I wanted to accomplish, what I wanted to toss from this year, and what I have learned (besides not to date any guys named Hamish!)

Looking to 2019

I sat around a candle with a hot cider and thought hard about what I wanted. My dreams and goals may seem less ambitious than in years past – for instance, I want to spend less time in hospitals than I did the last two years, obviously (a modest goal for some – big ambition for me.) To do that, I need to practice a whole heck of a lot of self-care with MS, like, resting more, eating an MS-friendly diet (brains like avocado, blueberries and protein, apparently), doing my physical therapy, and choosing to surround myself with people who are a real support.
As far as writing goals go, we’ve got AWP coming to Portland in March 2019, so I’m hoping to make it to that and do some socializing, catch up with friends, and look at new journals and publishers at the Bookfair. I plan to finish up a seventh book manuscript and hopefully find a great publisher for manuscript six. I do want, like Sylvia, to make smart choices about people – I want to practice kindness and encouragement towards others, say thank you more often, and reach out and make new friends (don’t want to totally go the Emily Dickinson sickly-recluse route until I absolutely have to.) I want to try publishing essays and short stories as well.

Taking our writing seriously – like, carving out time to, as Sylvia says, “WRITE” – and submit work – which, from reading her letters and journals, I know she also took seriously. She reminds me to aim high, but also, not to isolate myself, which can lead to trouble, and she also represents what happens when you spend too much time trying to fulfill other people’s expectations of what you are supposed to be. (Embrace your strangeness, rather than spend energy hiding it.)  I was surprised this week to receive two surprise gifts from friends who live far away – and that reminded me I am blessed to have wonderful writer friends all across the country.

I want to spend more time appreciating the good things – spending time in nature, with my loved ones, just in general celebrating the good days. I know the holidays can be a tough time for people – a time when what we don’t have seems to be highlighted. As someone with a chronic illness, it’s hard not to worry about the future, especially with an incurable degenerative disease like Multiple Sclerosis. But I have hope. We have more medications and more tools, more research than we used to, and I have faced health challenges in the past. Even with the political turmoil in our country (and beyond) over the past two years, I try to have hope.

There’s a verse from Psalm 30 that says something like “Darkness may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Wishing you all more joy and less darkness in 2019.

Poetry Parties, Windstorms and Power Outages, and Ursula Le Guin’s Dragons

Sylvia posing with my haul from Copper Canyon’s party

Poetry Parties, Windstorms and Power Outages

Yesterday we had quite an adventure! We had been planning to go to Copper Canyon‘s Holiday party and book release for Ursula Le Guin’s final poetry collection. But an hour before we planned to leave, I started hearing branches hitting the window, and the power went out. Then we had to eat dinner without power or light (hard), dress (harder), and do makeup (hardest by far), which was exciting. The Hugo House still had power (although I heard later 100,000 people ended up losing power throughout the area) so we set out in our car with branches and even whole trees down on both sides of us, wind whipping our car around on the Floating Bridge, and when we got there, I could barely stand up against the wind, let alone walk!

 

In the new Hugo House

When we got there, though, Hugo House was lit and heated (phew!) and full of people, Copper Canyon folks with their book tables, and locals looking to celebrate. This was the first time I’d been to the new Hugo House, which had difficult unflattering florescent downlighting (which is why I don’t have more pictures from the party) and felt a little more like a dot com office than an arts space, and they have no parking (!!) which was a drag because Capitol Hill sucks for the handicapped parking situation already (the old Hugo House had at least one handicapped space) but the ground-floor space was generally more handicapped-accessible than the old space, more bathrooms and fewer stairs, though it lacked the gothic, dingy charm of the old Hugo House. Glenn and I poked around and found one small nook with slightly better light and visible books and here it is. It could use some better lighting, some flowers, some art on the walls, maybe a display of local lit mags and author’s books? And some places – benches, chairs – where people could sit and socialize? Call me Hugo House, and I will help you “flip that space,” LOL! My qualifications include watching a lot of HGTV and drooling over British decor magazines with lots of innovative bookshelves and tea/reading areas, plus being a poet.

Jane Wong speaks of dragons and Ursula Le Guin

Tribute to Ursula Le Guin and Her Dragons

Copper Canyon always throws a good holiday party! The readers did a wonderful job with their tribute to Ursula, including Karen Finneyfrock, Jane Wong, and fellow Two Sylvias author Lena Khalaf Tuffaha. One person talked about a memorial where Margaret Atwood said Ursula had “the best dragons in fiction” and Jane Wong talked about feeding our inner dragons lettuce, which was such a wonderful image.

People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.

― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination

I was very moved, and remembered the gigantic windstorm that hit the night about ten years ago that I heard Ursula read poetry on the Oregon Coast and talk about science fiction poetry years ago in Oregon. She insisted women science fiction writers should not be placed in a literary ghetto, that speculative poetry should not be considered non-literary, and that poetry should not be ignored and women should not be ignored – she was very feisty! And there was a giant wall of glass facing the outdoors, and it kept banging with thunder and wind, but it seemed to accompany her, not compete. She was a force of nature that deserved the tribute of the storm.

Came home with lots of books I’m looking forward to reading, the lights finally came back on around eleven, and now I’m finishing up holiday cards, wrapping the last presents to ship to Ohio (when is my family going to just move to Seattle, LOL?)

Finish Your Holiday Shopping

If you are still holiday shopping, please consider a signed copy of PR for Poets for the poets in your life, or a signed copy of Field Guide to the End of the World, Becoming the Villainess, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, or She Returns to the Floating World for lovers of the apocalypse, comic book superheroes, robots, fairy tales, or Japanese anime, or just poetry!

I hope you are all un-exhausted this holiday season, taking time out to enjoy at least a few of your favorite things this time of year, facing the storms and feeding your dragons!

Holiday Edition: Writer Dates, Vision Boards, Lit Mags and Managing Holiday Expectations

Kelli and I

A Wonderful Day Spent with Poet Kelli Russell Agodon – The Importance of Creative Friends

This time of year, it can be hard to squeeze in visiting with friends – but it feels also especially important for creative types to spend time with other creative types, to encourage each other, talk shop with someone, and remind ourselves we are not totally alone on our journeys. I was so happy Kelli came out to my side of town and we practiced shooting author photos (for our soon-to-be-taken-by-amazing-publishers books, of course) as well as goofy photos and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard while shooting pictures. Usually I focus on wildlife, so this is a totally different skill set! I think you’ll see Kelli is as gifted a photographer as she is a poet.

Vision Board 2019

Approaching Solstice, End of Year Poetry Thoughts and Vision Board 2019

So, it’s about to be the solstice, the shortest day of the year. I’ve gotten some really nice publications in the last few months (as well as a few rejections in the last week – everyone is clearing the deck) so I am focusing on feeling grateful for the good and trying to think of next year as a better year for my health, for building friendships in my creative community, and for publishing!

You can make fun of vision boards all you like, but I’m terrible at visual arts and so it’s good for me to practice trying to collage and put things together that are hopeful. (MS therapists literally gave me homework like cutting paper, coloring things in and other arts-and-crafts basics because apparently it helps our brains!) I’ve got a magic corner, a creative corner, a wellness corner, and a happiness corner. These last two years have been tough, I’m not going to lie. But I’m hoping good things lie ahead!

Sylvia with Tahoma Literary Review’s newest issue

Here’s a picture of kitten Sylvia (going on two years old now, but still as kitten-ish as ever!) with the new issue of Tahoma Literary Review, which is beautiful! We’ve got to celebrate the literary good things when they happen.

Managing Holiday Expectations

The holidays can be hard. The expectations, the travel, the family angst, the present-buying-card-sending-cleaning-cooking rituals can sometimes overwhelm. Especially women can feel like making a ‘perfect’ holiday is their responsibility, but you know what? Life isn’t perfect, it’s full of surprises, both welcome and unwelcome, and I think it’s important to take some down time as a time to let in the dark but light a fire, drink some hot tea or hot chocolate, spend some time considering the last year and what we’re looking for in the new year, and hopefully, spending some time with people who you love and who reflect love back at you. Except in Hallmark movies, no one has a perfect life, so there is no such thing as a perfect holiday.

A favorite ornament – carousel horse

Try to rest and have some fun. If you like seeing holiday lights like I do, take advantage of non-stormy-crazy-rain-or-ice days to see some. If spending time around plants or animals cheers you up, visit the zoo or a conservatory or botanical garden. See a movie during the afternoon on a weekday. Stay in pajamas and don’t do laundry for a day. I’ve got to do some unpleasant things in the next week (dental work, physical therapy, blood tests) but I try to sneak in as much good stuff as I can, including reading books of poetry and novels that I didn’t get to during the rest of the year. I also try to write a little, maybe set a few goals, take advantage of seasonal health-boosters like cranberries and sweet potatoes (cranberry sorbet in sparkling water? sweet potato hash for breakfast? Yes!) I wish you a very happy holiday season, but take it easy on yourself. Let things be imperfect. Allow yourself to be happy and practice kindness – to yourself and others – in small increments.

PS A very good holiday present for the poet in your life might be PR for Poets, a book to help poets prepare for how to learn the basics about marketing their poetry books! And of course I’m happy to send signed copies of any of my books to family and friends – just contact me 🙂 If you have trouble with the web forms, let me know – my crack team of web experts is working on making them work perfectly.

 

 

Lots to Celebrate Edition- New Poems up at the newly relaunched Shenandoah and SWWIM, Zoolights and Red Panda Cubs, Thanks to Escape Into Life for a Pushcart Nomination

Glenn and I amid barn-themed holiday decor

Lots to Celebrate Edition

Pushcart Nomination from Escape Into Life

It’s easy to get a little grumpy this time of year – holiday stress, trying to get things done, waking up to cold and dark. Sometimes I get awfully discouraged by the poetry world. But I hope you will join me in celebrating today. It is a good day to remember to be grateful.

First of all, thanks to Kathleen Kirk and Escape Into Life for nominating my poem “Blood Moon, Flare, Coyote” for a Pushcart Prize – and you can read all their Pushcart-nominated poems here. My friend Karen Weyant is up there with me! So excited.

Two New Poems Up at Shenandoah and SWWIM!

And a big thank you to SWWIM for publishing my poem, “Scar,” as today’s featured poem.

And after over a decade of submitting to Shenandoah, I have a poem in their newly relaunched issue. When Beth Staples, who recently took over the literary journal at Washington and Lee, sent me the e-mail a few months ago, I was in shock. A dream journal for me for sure, and happy to be part of the relaunch.

The poem is called “Introduction to Writer’s Block.” It’s also an extremely personal poem for me, as it describes trying to write poetry again after a severe MS flare hospitalized me last fall, and I was struggling with memory loss and aphasia, trying to literally find my words again. Anyway, so happy to be in the issue!

ZooLights and Baby Red Pandas at the Woodland Park Zoo

I mentioned in an earlier blog post how we’ve had a rare week of sun in usually gray and dark December here in Seattle, and we took advantage of it to go check out the Woodland Park Zoo’s new pair of female red panda cubs. It had been a long time since I’d seen red panda cubs, which are just about the most adorable (and fairly rare) animal on the planet. They will only be there for a few months. I spent about forty minutes in the freezing cold just gasping at the cuteness and taking about 150 pictures!

Then, just as we were leaving, they switched on the “Zoo Lights” so we did a quick tour of those, too, after visiting the snow leopards. And whoops, another red panda in a hammock!

Today the morning is clear and cold again, Stellar jays darting in the trees, hummingbirds around our feeders. I am looking forward to seeing some writer and artist friends for “art dates” in the next two weeks. I am thankful for publishers who send out royalty checks (this time, thanks to Two Sylvias – they always send royalty checks right before the holidays, which seems a lucky time to get a check) and thankful for people who volunteer at our zoo to keep red pandas and snow leopards alive and healthy, thankful to all people who create art – and those who support art with their time and money. I am thankful for days I have enough energy to get up and go out of the house to experience the lucky world I have around me – flowers, trees, holiday lights – and thankful that this year I am not as sick as I was last year around this time. I am starting to think, in a hopeful way, about 2019. May it be a better year for all of us.

New Poem Up in Tahoma Literary Review, Holiday Lights at Bellevue Botanical Gardens, Flat Tires and Holiday Poetry Shopping

Panorama of Bellevue Botanical Gardens Holiday Lights

New Poem Up at Tahoma Literary Review

Thank you to Tahoma Literary Review for including my poem “Flare” in their latest issue, which you can order a print or e-edition of here.

This is the title poem of my latest manuscript, so I’m especially excited to see it up!

 

Poinsettia tree with dancing mushroom lights

Holiday Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens

I had a few down minutes before a doctor’s appointment Monday so Glenn and I decided to take a quick detour (bundled up and bringing hot thermoses of cider with us) to see the holiday lights at Bellevue Botanical Gardens, which are pretty elaborate representations of animals and flowers. We’ve had several clear cold days this week and we really have to take advantage of our non-rainy December days, because they’re rare. It was really beautiful but I was grateful I’d worn my fuzzy boots, mittens, and earmuffs – by the end we were both freezing! You don’t get to wear your winter extras all that often out here – but we definitely needed them! It gets dark at about 4:30 PM – that’s when these pictures were taken, believe it or not, so I think Seattle-ites definitely celebrate with extra lights during the holidays – we put up our own house lights before Thanksgiving. When I’m not so sick I can’t move, I try to get out and see a couple of different holiday displays – both Woodland Park and Tacoma zoos have holiday lights festivals too, plus you get to see animals. I was shocked to see a still-blooming fuchsia, which had little white lantern flowers that looked so ghostly in the dark. It was definitely more fun than the doctor’s office! Got to squeeze in a little bit of fun when and where you can, I say.

Flat Tire Surprise and a Little Holiday Poetry Shopping at Open Books

We noticed a flat tire when we got home, and this will shock others our age – most of the newer cars (including our 1.5 year old Acura) do not come with spare tires, so Glenn has to take off the tire, find the hole and patch it up! There is so much construction around our doctor’s office, Redmond, and Bellevue it’s not too much of a surprise that we ran over a screw or nail somewhere but we hadn’t had a blown tire in a long time!

Open Books Display of Speculative Poetry

Back safely on the road, we were able to stop in yesterday at Open Books for a little holiday shopping. I was in a positive surprise – I saw my book, Field Guide to the End of the World, on the display table under “speculative poetry” right next to Tracy K. Smith! And then I got to chat about speculative poetry with Luther and Billie at the store, which, along with seeing holiday lights, might be one of my favorite things.

I bought a few books as gifts and a few for me – so I ended up leaving with more books than I meant to, but it’s a great time to support your local indie poetry bookstore AND give poetry books, so I had no buyer’s remorse at all.

Open Books Poetry Haul – gifts (and some for me!)

 

Jeannine Hall Gailey

Jeannine Hall GaileyJeannine 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.

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