High School Students and Poetry, More Top Five Lists, and Tornado Tragedy
First of all, my heart goes out to all who were affected by massive tornadoes that swept across the south several days ago. Hundreds of people were killed, thousands impacted through destroyed homes. When I lived in Tennessee, the night of my oldest brother’s high school graduation, a small funnel cloud went through out front yard. I experienced several tornadoes while living in Cincinnati, once while I was babysitting two young children, and another that tore the front wall out of my gym, hit my former high school, and killed the parents of a fellow high school student by literally lifting them out of their second-story bedroom while they slept. As you might imagine, I had nightmares about tornadoes for a decade after I left the midwest. (I lived in Richmond when they were hit by a hurricane and some flooding, but somehow, it didn’t seem as scary as those tornadoes…) Although, I’m heading up to Skagit this weekend for the tulip festival/my birthday celebration, and they say a funnel cloud was spotted there yesterday! I’m hoping for better weather the next few days…just a little sunshine, please!!
I had the opportunity to judge a poetry contest for high school students and got to meet the winners at this little reading/award ceremony. It was really fun to meet the students who won and hear them read their poems, and see their proud parents sitting in the audience and clapping for them. I have to say these kinds of events really inspire me and help me to love poetry again. If you really feel too depressed about poetry, go work with some high school kids – it always reminds me of the reasons I fell in love with poetry to begin with.
Thanks to the lovely and talented Juliana Gray, who listed Becoming the Villainess in her top five books for the 32 Poems five fave books project. I can’t wait for her book to come out – she’s a great writer and helped initially inspire me to write about comic book themes.
So, I’m heading out to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, which I missed intensely while I lived in Calfornia – the huge swaths of multicolored flowers, the mist and mud and farmhouses, I love all that stuff. I won’t have much internet access, and hope to write a few poems – and I’ll be a year older when I return!
32 Poems Fave Book Feature and More
Well, my five favorite poetry books feature is up at the 32 Poems Blog:
http://www.32poems.com/blog/2238/day-21-jeannine-hall-gailey-shares-her-five-favorite-poetry-books
May all the books listed sell a thousand copies. Great books, all of them.
And, yesterday, Kelli Russell Agodon’s five fave feature was up, which might have have mentioned Becoming the Villainess:
http://www.32poems.com/blog/2233/day-21-kelli-russell-agodon-national-poetry-month
The bad things about lists like this is I still feel I didn’t even get to talk about a third of my favorite poets. Rebecca Loudon, Karyna McGlynn, Suzanne Frischkorn, Kristy Bowen, Jeff Walt, Karen Weyant…OK, now I’ve listed another six poets that I love. And that’s just for starters.
I have a small haiku up at the new issue of Pirene’s Fountain. The whole issue’s pretty great, and Aimee Nezhukumatathil (another of my fave poets…see, the list just keeps going) is featured in it.
Thanks to a very generous donor, the drive to collect money for the Japan disaster – specifically, for Doctors Without Borders – by selling copies of Becoming the Villainess raised more than $200 for the cause. Thanks again! All proceeds will go to the charities.
Five Favorite Books Feature, Poetry Month, April can feel like the cruelest month
To celebrate National Poetry Month, Deb Ager of 32 Poems is featuring poets talking about five of their favorite poetry books a day every day in April. Here is the calendar:
http://www.32poems.com/blog/2286/national-poetry-month-celebration-2
My list of five books will be up on April 22nd if you’re interested. And you should be!
Is April the cruelest month?
I celebrated National Poetry Month by reading Eliot’s “The Waste Land” out loud last night to Glenn. Say what you want about Eliot, and I do, but the man could write. Then I celebrated by waking up at 2 AM with an anaphylaxis attack. I don’t think it was a result of reading The Waste Land, so let’s not blame Eliot for that. The doctors don’t know why I keep having these; I’ve restricted my diet to about fifteen “safe” foods, I’m on double-doses of antihistimines and such, but still, I just wake up covered in hives and shaking and other unpleasantness. Chronic idiopathic anaphylaxis, urticaria, and angioedema is what they call it so far. Usually a dose or two of extra Benadryl suffices (I’ve stopped going to the hospital every time; now I just call the allergist’s office and he talks me through whether or not my symptoms are under control and what else I need to take.) Still, it’s pretty exhausting, and this is the first day of class for my National Advanced Poetry class as well, which is always a whirlwind of questions and introductions and “do I really need to buy these books of poetry?” It’s funny how much MFA students of poetry hate to buy poetry.
Besides the odd allergic reactions I’m still out of commission on the walking front because of repeated injuries to my right ankle. I’d say I’m unlucky with ankles but at this point – two years of being on and off of crutches, despite religious physical therapy and that kind of thing – it goes beyond that. I really want to be walking again by my birthday at the end of the month. I’m planning to go out to look at the tulip fields in Skagit by April 30, something I really missed when I lived in California (though I did live by the rununculus fields in Carlsbad, so there were compensations.) So think good thoughts for me. Walking by my birthday! It’s a mantra!
I’ve been trying to remain fairly cheerful, through the horrible disasters and wars in the news, through the physical trials and tribulations, through rejections, through trying to set up readings for the new book and applying for grants and jobs. I really have accomplished quite a bit in the last few weeks (wrote two reviews, did a bunch of poetry subs, worked on promoting the new book, judged a high school poetry contest set of poems, did a grant proposal, etc.) so maybe my restricted walking has helped me find more time for work! Plus it has been cold and raining even more than usual here in Seattle, a postponement of the slightly sunnier April weather I’ve been hoping for – I’m always grateful to see the thermometer above 50 degrees these days!
So, readers, let’s think of cheerful April things to not only promote poetry, but promote the people and the things in the world around us that are good. Write a note to someone you love, a thank you to a former teacher who made a difference. Write a review of a book you’ve loved. Subscribe to a journal you’ve always admired. We can do what we can do, and that is enough.
Jeannine Hall Gailey Interview by Serena Agusto-Cox
Serena Agusto-Cox has been doing interviews with 32 Poems contributors. Thanks Serena and Deb!
You can also read an interview in the same series with Steve Schroeder, and find out what musical taste we have in common!
As an aside, my little brother is now no longer even close to any kind of a hoodlum, but a respectable thirty-something computer whiz.
In case you were wondering, the interview was done a couple months ago – I am totally out of phsyical therapy now and walking on two good feet 🙂 Now, if I could just get rid of this pneumonia…LOL.
- At May 12, 2007
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In 32 Poems, Juliana Gray, top five songs
1
Lest you think all I do is complain, a new post, in which I talk about other people and things:
As I was asked multiple times for the five songs meme (I did answer on Deb Ager’s blog) I came up with some more songs, these a bit more off the beaten track, perhaps:
–“Dark Angel” by essence
–“Blue” by Angie Hart
–“I Think I Can” by j-pop band The Pillowz
–“Honey Don’t Think” by Grant Lee Buffalo
–“Innocent One” by Michael Penn
Check out Shanna Compton’s “best essay ever written on poetry blogs” up at the Poetry Foundation.
I am looking at the new 32 Poems, guest-edited by Carrie Jerrell. I really liked a lot of the work in this one, no real surprise there as I usually like 32 Poems. I saw a poem by an old friend from my MA workshop days at U of Cinci, Juliana Gray, who took on a pop culture theme with a twist in “Psycho.” In our workshops, Juliana had this great poem about Lois Lane hanging off a cliff that I’ve never forgotten. Anyway, check this one out – here are a few lines from the end of “Psycho:”
“…The nervous boy
lets for the breath he’s held and chews
another piece of the candy corn
he keeps in his pocket. Like a child,
our Norman: so dutiful, so sweet.”
Good stuff, right?
I also really enjoyed Dan Nester’s “Queries” and Stephen Priest’s “After Jacob.”
Also still need to blog about the 2007 Rhino and Jessica Smith’s Organic Furniture Cellar. Quickly, before everything I own disappears into boxes…
