Jeannine Gailey — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:24:00 +0000

So sorry to be absent, caught a nasty case of bronchitis and on top of that, it turns out I thought I sprained my foot but they think now it’s actually broken! So I’m going to a foot orthopedist to see if I need a cast. I’ve been getting around on a combo of crutches and a rented wheelchair for a week. The ironic part of this? The weather has been nicer than it’s been since I moved here. Yesterday it was in the eighties. That’s right. Eighty frickin degrees! And you know what doesn’t work well on sand? Crutches or wheelchair wheels. Dang! On the plus side, crutches are a heck of a bicep work out. I miss going out to see my seals. There’s a difficult slippery stone wall on the ocean I like to climb, and the day before I hurt my foot I saw a tiny newborn seal perched precariously on one of the rocks by the water. It’s seal pupping season!
Also, in ironic timing, my parents are coming in town. We’re still planning to take them to the San Deigo Zoo, La Jolla, all the tourist stuff, just, you know, I can’t walk and can only stand on one foot. Did I mention my apartment is up two flights of rickety stairs and there’s no elevator? Good times.
Anyway, onto poetry related news, I am anxiously waiting for any New-Year-rejections or acceptances. The poetry world has been mysteriously quiet. I feel like I can’t send anything out until I get some responses back, even though I have some new poems.
I did get two beautiful contributor’s copies of Ninth Letter; Neil Aitken is in there with me, along with Tim Green’s new wife, Megan Green, I think! It’s an edgier journal than I’m used to, style-wise, oversized and full of innovative graphic design. I’m looking forward to sitting down with it, and its inviting artistic elements.
I was also invited to the release party of a San Diego anthology called A Year in Ink sponsored by the San Diego Writers Inc at an arts center downtown. Looking forward to socializing…awkwardly, on crutches, but still…I feel like I hardly know anyone in town, so I need to work a little harder on being outgoing and getting out of the apartment, not just to the beaches but to poetry readings. Despite broken feet and a cough!

80 degrees – Webbish6