Big Poetry Giveaway Winner, Jack Straw this Friday, Worries among May flowers
- At May 02, 2013
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
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The winner of the Big Poetry Giveaway of Unexplained Fevers and a copy of Rattle is Renee Emerson of Hyacinths & Biscuits. Congrats Renee! Hope you enjoy them! I’m also sending off a copy of my book to British Columbia for the Goodreads Giveaway.
I’ve just about recovered from Sunday’s reading and party, had a day after of being really sick, just got my voice back today, and started thinking about planning the next reading. This one will be for the Jack Straw Writers Program, this Friday, May 3rd, in downtown Seattle at 7 PM. I’m reading with three other Jack Straw writers, which should be fun.
Then, on May 11th, the final Poet Laureate event of the season at VALA art center, called “Once Upon a Time” – it’ll be a reading with a bunch of talented local poets and an art show by the lovely and talented Michaela Eaves. Plus a champagne reception! Read more about it here:
http://www.valaeastside.org/once-upon-a-time-a-poetry-reading-art-display-and-reception
In more personal news, my biggest worry the last week hasn’t been about poetry at all – it’s been about my mom, who seems to have had a transient ischemic mini-stroke last week. Her stress test and other tests have come back clean in the last few days, which is great, but I just wish I lived a little closer to her so I could check in on her in person. She’s otherwise pretty healthy, so I’m hoping this was just a strange aberration, but it was an unwelcome surprise – I guess that’s what happens when you turn 40, you don’t just realize your own mortality but also the mortality of your loved ones.
Meanwhile, outside spring is blooming with extra frills – cherry and apple blossoms all over town, a layer of planted-last-fall double-pink tulips in front of our little townhouse, sun and red-winged blackbirds chirpings. It’s supposed to get up to 80 this weekend, a little glimpse of early summer in our usually gloomy Northwest corner. It seems contrary to focus on worries in these surroundings, but I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything else. I’m feeling grateful for phone calls from friends and family far and near the last few days, the distractions of writing and reading, and a husband who has been working hard to cheer me up this last week. Even my cats have been extra friendly. So I will resolutely keep my mind on good things, on hope and peace and lean against anxiety, discouragement, fatigue, fear.
Jeannine 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.
Kristin Berkey-Abbott
Both of my parents have had TIAs and gone on to be perfectly fine. I wanted to give you a note of hope, from someone who understands how terrifying these kinds of incidents are.
My dad’s was a reaction to Interferon, a drug he was taking after a melanoma. It was in 1998, and he’s fine now, despite other health scares–no more strokes or anything like a stroke.
My mom’s was more mysterious. She had no health indicators like high blood pressure, high cholesterol or anything else that’s an early warning sign of possible strokes to come. She, too, has been fine since, although she’s taking Cumadin, a blood thinner, which has had a challenge here or there.
I am far away, although the airline ride is fairly short (2-3 hours, depending on the way the wind blows). It’s hard to know when to drop everything and rush to be there and when to save the money and vacation days that work would require for a more serious time–or is the current crisis the serious time?
I wish you all the best, and your mom sounds healthy, so I suspect this incident will be behind you soon. I’m glad you’ve got people and cats with you to keep you cheered.