Yippeee…Good news to come…

My heart and prayers go out to the friends and family of the dead at Virginia Tech. I am saddened but not shocked. Campuses are one of the least safe places you can be. And evil, unexplained evil, is all around. I am suprised by all the goodness that still surrounds us, even in darkness. I am surprised by hope. It takes more courage to love than to kill. More strength to have compassion than hate. Being a hero in this world means, sometimes, ignoring the evidence, and reaching out to others, saying yes, saying, you are worth risking.

I’ve never had to cancel a reading before – I’m really sorry that I won’t be able to perform tonight at ParkPlace Books. Doctor’s orders to stay in bed and keep my lung infection from turning into pneumonia. But you should all go see Natasha Moni, who is a very talented poet and Lana Ayers, another terrific poet who is MC-ing.
So to those I miss – I’m sorry! Have a great time without me.

In other news, blech. I’ve been given the grandfather of all drugs, apparently, to treat a very intractable deal in the sinuses and lungs. It’s called Avelox. May it do its work quickly. I fear this has put me behind in all my scheduled work. Not to mention poetry writing and submitting. Well, it will all have to wait a little longer. Note to self: take more vitamins when travelling around for readings. Also, go to the doctor the first week you have the weird cough, not the second or third.

Just heard that 2River’s blog is podcasting some poems of mine:
www.2river.org/blog/archives/2007/03/jeannine_hall_g_1.html
Thanks!

Just rolled back in from Portland, after not one, but two semi-sunny days in a row – a miracle in the Northwest in March. The reading with Josh and Marvin Bell went really well – there were about seventy people there, the library was a wonderful venue, and I got to hang out with my cool Portland friends afterwards at the lounge at Pazzo’s (fancy!) I even sold a handful of books – enough to pay for dinner for myself AND Glenn! Now to rest up until the April 4th reading, and then Chicago.
How do we do it? Volume!

An exploration of two poems from my new Japanese-fairy-tale-anime-themed manuscript is up at Endicott Studios! Thanks to 2River View, who originally published them, and Endicott, which is a great place to find out about folk and fairy tales and mythological explorations in literature.
Wow! Thanks for the heads up (again!) Mary A!

I’ll be working the Pacific University MFA program’s table (#312 – which is back in the far corner) with the fabulous Dorianne Laux Saturday am (today). If I haven’t seen you yet in Atlanta this AWP (you know who you are), please stop by and say “hi.” (Reb, Charles J, Peter P?)

OMG! Kelly Link, my literary heroine, is here! And Francine Prose! And Kristy Bowen has an awesome poem on Poetry Daily today! Could I use any more exclamation points?!!?

Hey, dear readers! Well, AWP Atlanta is coming soon – I’ve already starting getting stuff together, shampoo, toothpaste, shoes. Is it going to be warm enough to pack sandals, what poems should I read during my five minutes at the Frock You reading, etc.
But, at the top of my mind, I have another aunt in the hospital (this time my mother’s oldest sister) with a serious lung infection (she has emphysema, so every infection could be life threatening.) My mom flew out to see her at the hospital, and is currently cleaning her sister’s house, because her husband is also sickly and can’t do a lot of that kind of stuff anymore (open heart surgery, passing-out headaches, etc.) I really love this aunt and uncle, who have always been funny and kind, and it’s hard to see them – still in their sixties – in so much physical hardship. I always give too much advice when I’m anxious – air-purifiers, humidifiers, electric teapots, organic house cleaners that don’t bother my aunt’s lungs. Advising my mom and uncle to press the doctors when they say they don’t know, and don’t know how to find out what’s wrong. That’s never a good sign. I’ve had pneumonia more than ten times myself (*thank goodness for the pneumonia vaccine – I haven’t had a case since I had the shot a few years ago) I know the antibiotics backwards and forwards, the pros and cons of steroids, the enemies – mold, dust, other people’s coughs – of fragile lungs. Anyway, whenever medical problems arise, I feel the need to be there, to hold hands, to ask doctors questions myself, to make sure the nurses don’t put cleaning fluids in the IV (that actually happened here at a Seattle hospital a few years ago.) It’s my control-freak nature. I want to save everyone. I want to hold them myself to keep them safe.
Got our taxes done this weekend with husband G’s help. He has been putting all the forms in TaxCut as they have come in, so it wasn’t that much work beyond adding up receipts, figuring out the sales tax deduction, things like that. A relief to not have to worry about that at least any more.
Still no place to live, and we have to be out of our current place of residence by May. No steady job. I don’t feel very settled. Anyone feel like putting a nice poet and her husband up for a year in their Seattle-area condo/house/etc? Will write poetry for rent? We Tauri (the plural of Taures? Taureses?) like to have things settled. But everything is up in the air. Last night I dreamed I was on top of Whistler mountain, riding a ski lift, with no coat. Later I dreamed I was attacked by multiple killer octopi, pulling me underwater and when I woke up I was coughing and coughing. A sympathy asthma attack, perhaps.

I was really looking forward to seeing two of my fave Seattle peeps read tonight at Open Books, the lovely and talented Rebecca Loudon and super-smart Ron Starr, but unfortunately, my sciatic nerve-back injury thingy was killing me and I ended up flat on my back again this afternoon after a day or two of tentative walking/bending/etc regular life. Argh! I bet they rocked the house. You know what is NOT good for romance on Valentine’s Day? Back injury. Sigh! And now I might have to get some xrays too. I’ve got mild scoliosis and they think I might have done something to a disk (disc?). I’m feeling 73 instead of 33!! I’m hoping to be walking tall by AWP with no problem – two weeks from now.
In the mail today, a contributor copy of Diner, with a review in it by me and a beautifully-written review of my book my someone named “Susan Frickshorn” who I believe to be wonderful blogger-poet Suzanne Frickshorn in a possible double/alias. Thanks Suzanne! I felt very honored!
In other news, have a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow – do something fun, eat some roses, enjoy candy, in general.