Supervillainesses, Media Appearances All Over the World, and Other Distractions

Hello, dear readers! It’s been a tough month. And I’m turning 40 in a week. I’m hoping the rest of the month goes, you know, better? With slightly fewer horrible occurrences? Is that possible, universe-controlling being(s)?

So, to entertain and distract you, some links! There will a poem by me about a supervillainess (Poison Ivy) up at Barrelhouse, a roundtable with editor Robert Brewer and poets Mary Biddinger, Nate Pritts, and Aaron Belz you can watch on YouTube, an article in the Bainbridge Island Review about building community and that coincidentally discusses Garrison Keillor and some other fun stuff, and a review of the anthology Eastern Heathens in a Singapore newspaper that mentions me too! So see? Lots of good distraction!

Also, two days before that aforementioned birthday, on the 28th of April, I’ll be reading at Seattle’s Poetry-only bookstore, Open Books, with poet and editor Kelly Davio at 3 PM! Read more here. Join us as we read poems about fairy tale heroines going berserk, electromagnetism, and more from our books, Unexplained Fevers and Burn This House – an afternoon of super-exciting, girls-on-fire type poetry. Yes, that’s right – if that trailer from Catching Fire where Katniss stares straight at that guard attacking Gale and says “Go Ahead” all bad-ass is your kind of thing – you’ll probably enjoy this. You know, if you also enjoy poetry.  (By the way, how awesome is it that Philip Seymour Hoffman is playing Heavensbee? Exactly right casting.) Okay, all you non-Hunger Games fans can go back to thinking about poetry again.

Next post? The top five things a person about to graduate from their MFA program needs to know. Any tips? Put them in the comments!

 

 

 

 

 

A Week of Sadness, of Returning to Field’s End, and Technological-Poetry Marvels

It has been a dramatic few days. Watching the terrible Boston marathon bombings – I happened to have the news on in the background when it happened – reminded me a few things, besides the heart-stopping sadness that accompanies these disasters. None of my ponderings will be more profound than anyone else’s on the subject, but it did reawaken that awareness that we are not safe as we usually assume ourselves to be, whether going to the movies, to a race, or to school (one of my friends had a stabbing incident – 14 people – at her community college a few days before the Boston bombings, where one of her students helped stop the attacker. I hope he gets an A!)

We are not permanent, we humans. We better ensure that we are doing the important things with our lives that we always meant to, because there may not be those extra years to make up lost ground. It reminded me that the little things we do to build the world up – telling someone you love them, maybe doing some volunteer work in the community – that they do add up, in the end, to more than the destruction some random terrorist might enact.

And with exactly that in mind, yesterday I made the trek over to Bainbridge Island Library to my own former home town to give a talk for Field’s End on building community, which seemed like an appropriate topic given the latest events. I talked about maybe how the most important thing I’ve learned from being Poet Laureate of my little city of Redmond has been – you do not need to be a Poet Laureate to do good in your community, to make a difference, to start a reading series or work with your local library or go into your local schools or work with an art museum or gallery. No – I could always have been doing those things, but I wasn’t brave? empowered? enough to do them. But now I know that I can. And I got to see one of my old friends, Lana Ayers, who was in the audience! (In less glamorous news, we did manage to have our car stall – and needed a jump to get off the Bainbridge ferry and had to drive around a bit to get our battery some more juice. For those of you who have never experiences needing a jump on a a ferry boat, let me tell you, it is both embarrassing and stressful. We blame our new/used car’s keyless on and off button, which it’s possible we haven’t quite mastered.) But Bainbridge is still the favorite of my former-home-towns, still charming as ever, maybe with slightly better restaurants than we had when we live there, and it was an oasis of sunshine on a stormy day.

And then today we used the internet to have a live meeting – across many states – to talk about poetry. I was honored to be part of the group – moderated by Robert Lee Brewer – that included Mary Biddinger, an overachiever for poetry if ever there was one, Nate Pritts and Aaron Belz. There was an interesting discussion of kindness versus the attributes of not-kindness in the poetry world, talk about our top poetry moments – mine were admittedly a little scattered, and of course a few of our poems, which seemed strangely thematically linked, not sure how that happened. Here’s a link to it at Writer’s Market:
http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/four-poets-read-poems-and-talk-poetry

The neat thing about the event was that somehow Google was trying to support the literary arts for poetry month and helped us use Google Hangout for our event, and here again I thought – here is a company which often I think of as nameless, faceless, etc – that is trying to do some good out there. I know companies do what they can, but it’s always encouraging to have an actual brush with corporate do-gooding. (You know, Microsoft matches employee charity donations, Capital One sent us out to work with Habitat for Humanity, so it does occasionally happen, you cynics!) And it was wonderful to see some people for the first time – I’ve never met Robert Brewer though I have been corresponding with him for years about Poet’s Market! And see Mary Biddinger, with whom I read on my very first book tour (U of Akron to Fredonia!) many years ago, again! Anyway, it made me think that in the future, maybe more poetry readings and lectures could be virtual – that perhaps we might be able to chat with someone famous that we love “virtually face to face” – and the ability to go to poetry readings would be greater for people who live far away from literary cities, or have disabilities or other things that keep them away from a lot of literary social events. Maybe some events at AWP Seattle will be done with Google Hangout! We’ll see.

Anyway, the week has left me emotionally drained, physically exhausted, but strangely, feeling hopeful about humanity rather than doubtful. There were so many more people doing good at the Boston Marathon than evil. The former army guys who ran to carry injured folks to the hospital, the runners who kept running to donate blood in the aftermath, the first responders who no doubt saved many lives that day. Look at humanity. We keep fighting against death, and pain, and anger, and sadness. We keep at it. We don’t give up.

Where am I going to be for the rest of April? And a wonderful review of Unexplained Fevers

I woke up this morning to a wonderful blog review (the first one!) of Unexplained Fevers by Kristin Berkey-Abott here. 

Thanks, Kristin, for the lovely review! Not to belabor the point, but you can get your own copy of Unexplained Fevers here, here, or here!

In case you’re wondering what I’m up to for the rest of April (also Poetry month!) here are a few places you can find me:

–April 16th, 2013: http://www.fieldsend.org/2013-roundtables3.aspx – 7 PM at Bainbridge Island’s Library for Field’s End – Jeannine Hall Gailey discusses how to make a difference in your local poetry community.

–April 17th, 2013: https://plus.google.com/events/c87ft4tolfkkf60runr427oaqas?authkey=CL-VxuTKmY_AkAE – 4 PM Pacific/7 PM Eastern on Google Hangouts – a National Poetry Month Promotion with Poet’s Market Editor, Robert Brewer, plus poets Jeannine Hall Gailey, Mary Biddinger, Nathan Pritts, and Aaron Belz – live readings and poetry discussions. This event will be streamed so you can watch it afterwards as well. (And I’ll put up a link after it’s done.)

–April 28th, 2013: At Open Books in Wallingford at 3 PM. I’m reading for my brand new third book, Unexplained Fevers, along with poet and editor Kelly Davio, who is reading from her first book, Burn This House.

If you’d like a copy of my new book, but you just can’t afford it? Sign up for the Great Poetry Giveaway!

The Big Poetry Giveaway

Okay, at the last minute, not only have I created a Goodreads Giveaway for my new book (see sidebar on the right to enter) but I’m also participating in this year’s Big Poetry Giveaway, started by Kelli Agodon and hosted this year by Seattle poet Susan Rich.

Here’s a link on how to participate:

http://thealchemistskitchen.blogspot.com/2013/03/sign-up-now-to-participate-in-big.html

My Try Poetry Giveaway

 

 

 

 

 

This year ‘ll not only be giving away my third book, Unexplained Fevers, an exploration of the dangers of the fairy tale world and the lives of contemporary women but a copy of one of my favorite journals, the Spring 2013 issue of Rattle.

To enter, leave a comment here with your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win! Winner will be chosen by random number generator on May 1! Good luck!

What Are You Doing to Celebrate Poetry Month? I Think I’m Going to Celebrate By Turning 40 and Releasing a New Book!

Yes, I’ve always liked the coincidence that my birthday happens to be during the arbitrarily-chosen National Month of Poetry but this year it seems particularly apt. Turning 40 seems like one of those birthdays that poets write poems about.

So what am I doing during poetry month (and beyond?) Well, I’ve already attended a small press book fair, read for the City Council, and taught a teen poetry workshop, and that was just in the first week! Here’s my upcoming stuff:

1. Well, you may have heard that I just released a little third book of poetry called “Unexplained Fevers,” and so, am involved in sending out book cards, setting up readings, sending out review copies, etc. (Buy it here, here, or here!)

2. Going over to Bainbridge Island’s Field’s End on April 16 to talk about how to build a poetry community, or more specifically, how I’ve tried to build a poetry community in Redmond over the past year’s work as Redmond’s Poet Laureate.

3. On April 17th, I’ll be participating in Google Hangout’s National Poetry Month Poetry Hangout with several other wonderful poets at 7 PM Eastern. Tune in to see if my internet connection holds or if I look terrible on web cam! (Hint: You’ll have to install Google Hangout stuff first, so check it out beforehand.)

4. Signing up for a Goodreads Giveaway and the Great Poetry Giveaway (see an upcoming post for more details.)

5. On April 28th at 3 PM, teaming up with Kelly Davio for my debut Seattle reading at Open Books for Unexplained Fevers. It should be, if I can borrow an overused term, totally epic!

6. On the final day of April, I will be out of my thirties officially! Before then, I hope for one last chance to visit Skagit Valley’s Tulip Festival (which runs all of April) and maybe change my hair radically, wear a really short skirt, and other last-minute-saying-goodbye-to-my-thirties hi-jinks!

“Once Upon a Time” – A poem from “Unexplained Fevers”

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time he left me. I left him. It was winter, the white sun is what I remember most. When he called, I cut my hair. When I swayed, he swore. I wore a white dress and promised. He promised me. We chopped wood and parsley.

Once upon a time, I called him. It was hopeful. It was hopeless. One might not have recovered. His hair was white as winter sun.

Once upon a time we broke our crowns. The tumbling came after.

Once upon a time we thought we could. We drank from cacti in the desert and from freshwater pools on an island. We drilled through sheetrock. We stained the ground with blackberry juice.

Once upon a time I have forgotten. There was no veil, because it just sticks to your lips. I didn’t hide. Three days of mourning, three days to come clean.

When we rode off into the sunset, we had no idea where we were going. We should have mapped. Should have paid attention to the steady beat of our bloodstreams. Should have touched the dirt. Gone offroad.

We should have guessed. Should have noted. We paid in gold and heartache. We stood there in the winter sunlight, white as ghosts. It was the end of the road. It didn’t have a fairy tale ending. We couldn’t keep our stories straight. It wasn’t as they had told us.

  • This poem was first published in The American Poetry Review and is the first poem in my new book, Unexplained Fevers! Buy it here, here, or here! Happy poetry month!

Welcome to National Poetry Month – and my New Web Site

You may want to update your links and feeds – www.webbish6.com is my new blog site and my RSS feed is now located here:

https://webbish6.com/feed/

Welcome to National Poetry Month! It’s been a few days of exciting ups and downs – I met with a bunch of local writers, attended a small press fair, read for Redmond’s City Council and received a “proclamation of poetry,” started promoting my new book…and tried to rebuild my entire web site, including switching hosts, switching from Blogger to WordPress, changing the layout, putting up new art by Michaela Eaves, created new forms for buying my book…it was a little rocky for a couple of days, but I hope you like the results! I have also tried to link in to social media a little better and my new poetry samples page includes mp3 files of readings and youtube links!

Anyway, you may now buy a signed copy of my third book, Unexplained Fevers, directly from me at this link:

https://webbish6.com/books/book-order-form/

Let me know if you have any problems!

Let’s see, what else…I have two new poems up at the lovely 2 River View journal here, where you can hear me read the two poems (both from my new book!)

http://www.2river.org/2RView/17_3/default.html

And I’m in the new Ooligan Press anthology, Alive at the Center, and I’ll be participating in a group reading for it on Friday at the Richard Hugo House!

A New Web Site is Coming…To Match the New Book!

So my new book, Unexplained Fevers, is finally making its debut! (You can click on that link to order a signed copy from my via Paypal, or you can order it via Amazon, or from New Binary Press directly. By the way, I am waiting anxiously for the first reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, so let me know if you put one up! Hint hint! 🙂

And with it, I’ll be updating my web site in the next few days, with graphics of art by Michaela Eaves created for the book, and the blog will become WordPress instead of blogger, a new hosting service, and the whole site will look more 2013 instead of, well, 2008, hopefully! (A little screen shot below.) My little brother Mike, a professional developer who is out in Thailand right now, and my husband Glenn have been hard at work, across the miles, putting the site together.  So, if you see some changes, don’t be alarmed! If you have any trouble with the site, shoot me an e-mail at jeannine dot gailey at live dot com.

 

Unexplained Fevers New Book Launch! When Nerves Attack!

Guess what came knocking on my door this morning from Ireland? A first box of my new book, Unexplained Fevers!

The curious onlooker is my cat, Bastett. She’s not much of a literary critic; she mostly wants the box!

In case you are interested in ordering a signed copy, you can order it online from me here:
https://webbish6.com/unexplained-fevers.htm
The form should automatically calculate shipping, and takes Paypal. You can also e-mail me about orders at jeannine dot gailey at live dot com.
If you are overseas, or just want to support a good independent press, you can order it from New Binary Press in Ireland, here:
http://www.newbinarypress.com/books/unexplained_fevers.html

In the meantime, I’ve got National Poetry Month events to worry about, like reading for the Redmond City Council and doing a workshop for teens at the local library, talking about building poetry community over on my former island home (Bainbridge Island.) Preparing for my debut reading in Seattle for Unexplained Fevers (with Kelly Davio reading from her first new book, Burn This House) at Open Books!

Even so, little things spring up, things like my first ever review in Dutch (of my first book, Becoming the Villainess, here or, if you don’t speak Dutch, try a translated version here) that remind me that you never know who is paying attention, or when they will pay it, or in what language. We have to be grateful when they pay attention to poetry at all.

How Poetry is Like the Hunger Games

(And since you asked, yes, this post was inspired by a dream in which I was in a Survivor/Hunger Games-esque game show, in which I turned earnestly to my love interest and said “I will do what it takes to survive.”)

A few posts ago I talked about lessons we can learn as writers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Today I’m going to talk a little bit about how the poetry world is like the Hunger Games.

1. The most important thing you can do is survive. (And by that I mean, keep writing.) In The Hunger Games, Katniss wasn’t the strongest, the smartest, or the best fighter. She won the game by being likable enough, by being strong enough, by being persistent and wily enough, by being a genuine friend to some of the people in the game…and some luck as well. The same is true in poetry. You do not have to be the best. Most people in the “game” of poetry –  including the thousands of  MFA students paying thousands of dollars to study it – will stop writing within five years. That is the reality. If you keep writing, and you keep reading, and you keep getting better and sending your poems out and your book out, and you are a good friend to people, and you have enough resources to keep yourself going long enough, you will probably make it to “real poet” status (whatever that means.) No, this does not mean tomorrow you will wake up with your picture on the cover of Poets & Writers, but if your dream is to publish a book of poetry with a good small press, that is a very achievable goal if you send out long and hard enough, get a few breaks, and just…well…don’t give up.

2. Don’t Get Distracted from the Goal, and Pay Attention to Those Parachutes. It would have been easy for Katniss to just slow down long enough to get killed, or to play the game poorly enough that she might have become an easy target, or ignore the help she was getting in those little parachutes because she wasn’t paying attention, or to become so interested in Peeta that she lost focus. When she was injured and in pain, she didn’t stop trying to win. Bad things will probably happen to you along the “life of poetry” – you will be rejected, you will get sick or have family or money or job things interfere with your writing, you will feel discouraged or cynical – so pay attention to those little parachutes from the sky when they appear. Those rewards will be enough to keep you going – a publication in a journal you’ve loved forever, a good review of your book, someone writing you a note about how your work changed their life. (Those of you who’ve read the books, please don’t talk about the parachutes from Mockingjay…obviously that would be a different kid of metaphor.)

3. The Capital May Be Corrupt, and Set Against You; Be So Good They Have to Pay Attention. Remember the scene where Katniss gets the game designer’s attention when they are ignoring her by nailing the apple in the pig’s mouth with an arrow? Remember how President Snow wanted to kill Katniss but couldn’t, because the head game designer and the audience were all cheering for her? If you’re a female writer and have paid attention to things like the VIDA numbers, you know the deck is stacked against you. If you remember Foetry, you know that a lot of book contests – not all of them, but probably a good amount – are fixed. If you read a recent experiment where a story published by the New Yorker was sent to the New Yorker from the slush pile and rejected and feel like – well, no one can get published in the big names from the slush pile – well, you may have a point. Most poets will be ignored, their work forgotten, their books unread and unnoticed. But you know what? Be so good at what you do they can’t ignore you. Write the most excellent poems, reviews, fiction that you possibly can. Get your name out there when you get the chance. Don’t shrink from the limelight. Wear the flaming dress.

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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