Losing Knut, Reading Reviews, and Supermoons

Jeannine Gailey — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 15:39:00 +0000

Amid the news of a Libyan war, the continuing disaster in Japan, I admit a little bit of more trivial news stood out to me: the death of a little four-year-old polar bear named Knut. Knut was rejected by his mother and hand-raised in a German zoo. He became a cover model for global warming and environmentalism. Unfortunately, sometimes mothers reject their cubs because there is something wrong with them; a heart defect, or other genetic problems. Knut’s cause of death was not known, but it is uncommon for polar bears in captivity to drop dead so young. (Note to self: glad my mother did not decide to reject me. A recent x-ray revealed an extra bone in my ankle! Even more mutations surprise me every day!) Anyway, here is a picture of Knut with his handler, Thomas Doerflein, who also died young at 44 of a heart attack.

If you need extra cuteness after this news, go to Zooborns.com for evidence of new cute animals being born every day. I particularly like the headline for the African black-footed cat: Cute cats born from Amazing Science! So optimistic after everything we’ve been reading about nuclear reactors, etc.

Was bouncing around in anticipation of the Super-Perigee-Moon last night. Wrote a bad poem about it. Listened to “Bad Moon Rising” and “Pink Moon” and read Margaret Atwood’s “Not the Moon” and Dorianne Laux’s “Facts About the Moon” which are very good poems about the moon. Did not eat any moon pies.

In other news, instead of just talking about it, actually wrote a review of a poetry book, and now it’s up: Erika Meitner’s Makeshift Instructions for Vigilant Girls reviewed at Barn Owl Review.

Jeannine Gailey — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 23:22:00 +0000

Tomorrow: The actual persona poetry post. I promise!

Today:
Check out this New York Times review of Matthea Harvey’s Modern Life:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/books/review/Orr2-t.html?ex=1360818000&en=d6f393afb926b4d1&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
In it, the author takes a short look at the somewhat gloomy life of a young poet trying to break into the ranks of po-biz/academia and also makes a backhanded comment about the kind of post-avant style (see previous discussion on Harriet blog) that a lot of younger writers write in today. Otherwise, it’s a pretty positive review of the book, though I’m shocked and appalled that “Robo-Boy” makes no appearance, not even a brief mention! Best part of the book, babies.

Barn Owl Review came in the mail today, and I tell you, if I was going to edit a literary magazine, the poetry content is pretty much exactly what I would pick if I had the choice. Spooky! I recognized names from the blog-world, which I was sort of expecting, but: more strangely (this was a surprise to me!) there were at least four members of my regular poetry-group among the contributors, and two other Seattleite-friends. That’s got to be a Northwest-friendly prejudice of some sort, except that none of these writers write in a very Northwest-y way; just the opposite. I mean, of course I think these guys are all great poets, but it’s a nice surprise (and, a bit eerie) to be included with them in a journal! We could even do a reading to promote the issue together…Anyway, an exciting journal, fantastic poems, fantastic writers. And not just because I’m in it and my friends are in it. Very happy to see this out there in the world. Yay, Mary B and Sara and all the other editors who worked to make it happen.
I would mention poems I especially liked but I pretty much liked them all. And, trivia for any anime buffs: my poem “Autobiography” was inspired by a character from the cult-anime series Fooly Cooly.

In health news: After getting slightly better, I am getting worse again: fever up again, more symptoms, etc. I swear to God this is the neverending virus from Hell. The good news? Tomorrow is supposed to be upper-fifties and sunny. I vow to go outside even if it kills me. I miss the outside world! Fresh air! Trumpeter swans! The cold cold Pacific ocean!

Barn Owl Review – Webbish6

Losing Knut, Reading Reviews, and Supermoons