Port Townsend Writers Conference and a new review of Torn
I’m writing you this note from chilled, damp, but still beautiful Port Townsend. I snuck up yesterday to see Dorianne Laux talk about music and language and Erin Belieu read with Cate Marvin. That Cate! That’s someone you watch read and wish “I wish I was more like that when I read.” Then I went and met some new friends that I had only known by e-mail before, and that was fun. Saw lots of old friends too. I told Glenn I probably knew 80% of the crowd in the audience last night, from someplace.
We saw heron and many, many deer. The whole place was in a cloud, and I think the temp topped out at 59 degrees. Must remember to bring warmer clothes this weekend.
My new Rumpus review of C. Dale Young’s third book, Torn, is up! And I think it’s much better than that New Yorker review. But tell me what you think!
https://therumpus.net/2011/07/even-more-taboo-than-love/
I’m reading on Saturday with Dorianne and feel excited but nervous. I bet everyone will be exhausted by Saturday night. People are already starting to get the midweek “stare of doom.” Wish me luck!
Snow Bees, poems for the weather and some great books I’m reading…
A very seasonally-appropriate Winter 2011 issue of Goblin Fruit is out, featuring my poem “Snow Bees” – you can even hear me reading it!
Incidentally, this is one of the poems that I wrote while collaborating with artist Amy Johnson for her installment art exhibition, which involves snow, wolves, bees, the works. I’ll post info on it as soon as it’s up!
While the doctors are busy trying to figure out why I keep going into anaphylaxis (I’m going to learn to spell that word correctly, for one thing) – food allergies, autoimmune, etc – I’m trying to keep my mind occupied with new reading material. Cate Marvin’s Fragment of the Head of A Queen, Sandra Beasley’s I Am The Jukebox, and issue 8 of Cave Wall, which I’ve seen some people mention lately, and I wanted to discover a new lit mag. I’ve only glanced through all three so far, but I’ve loved what I’ve read of Sandra’s “I Am the Jukebox.” Here’s a little bit from “Another Failed Poem About the Greeks,” which will indicate why I love the book so much:
“His sword dripped blood. His helmet gleamed./ He dragged a Gordon’s head behind him…As first dates go, this was problematic.”
I’m also reading Lizzie Acker’s terrific and strange Monster Party, a hybrid-forms, short-short fiction collection from Small Desk Press, as odd and crazy and interesting as can be. I just finished the story called ‘Baby,’ in which a dying narrator talks to…well, I can’t explain what or who the baby is, but let’s just say, it’s not what you’d guess.
