A little news, a little cold, a few readings that I’m going to attend…
Thanks to some friends who alerted me that a few of my poems are online with Contemporary Haibun Magazine.
And to another friend who alerted me to my presence on a list of finalists here (and the winners haven’t been announced yet – cross your fingers for me!)
http://www.smartishpace.com/home/erskinej/info.html
I’m proud to be on the list with fellow blogger Rachel Dacus.
Been under the weather with that cold/sore throat thing that’s been going around, you know, the combination of the crappy rainy cold windstorms and the usual germs when it turns cold, so I’ve been kind of out of it and not very productive, but I’m looking forward to doing some socializing and such at several readings this week.
The first is the Crab Creek Review new issue debut (the first one that I helped edit!) reading:
http://crabcreek.blogspot.com/2007/10/roots-and-writers-reading-october-23.html
Tuesday at 7 PM at the Richard Hugo House with readers like Oliver de la Paz, Jenifer Lawrence, John Davis and Janet Knox and my former classmate at Pacific University Thea Swanson.
Then, Oliver strikes again at a reading at Open Books with Aimee Nezhukumatathil at 7 Pm on Thursday: http://www.openpoetrybooks.com/calendar/index.html
which should be really fun as well.
OK, sorry for that cranky rant yesterday. I just get very irritated when poets, of all people, on the Poetry Foundation site, of all places, complain about how hard it is for them to read poetry. Grr.
So, on to happy news of some friends:
Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s poem “After Challenging Jennifer Lee to a Fight” will be featured today on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac on NPR. You can read and listen to it here: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/programs/2007/10/15/#thursday
Laurel Snyder’s new book is out! Say hi!
Mary Biddinger not only has organized poetry shelves but will become the Editor of the Akron Series in Poetry! Go congratulate her!
Postcard from Ohio and New York…
Well, I’m worn out – you couldn’t ask for two better hostesses than Mary Biddinger at University of Akron and Aimee and Dustin at SUNY Fredonia! I loved meeting all their students, the audiences for the reading were so enthusiastic (25 minutes of Q&A at Akron!) and it was just a pleasure to hang out with the lovely and talented Mary and Aimee, talking about poetry and lit mags and babies and lip gloss.
Here are few pics of the fun:
