Bringing Me Back Down to Earth…
Yes, inevitably, after good news, something happens that brings you back to earth. In my case, every day stresses – Glenn working long hours, must-do-costs like dental work, my folks having some health issues (my dad) and pet health issues (my mom’s little papillon dog), trying to find a place to live permanently here in the NW – have been filling my head.
The house hunt has brought up some internal conflict as well. I’m forced into admitting this autoimmune arthritis means some adjustments. I can’t just run out and buy a cute townhouse with two sets of stairs because of my wonky ankles, which sort of sucks, you know? It’s not the fact that I can’t buy the townhouse – which of course is only sad in the short-term and on a surface level – it’s facing up to my own real limitations these days. My brothers wanted me to fly home to see my nephew who was returning from five years in the Navy, and I had to tell them I couldn’t – right now. Ditto AWP.
So, you take the good news (Dorothy Prize!) with the bad (family stress, health stuff) and try to be gracious and open and keep up your life up as best you can. Life is never all sugar and sunshine – and if it was, we would probably be out enjoying all the good stuff instead of trying to create art, right? Speaking of creating art…I need to get writing AND submitting! I need to make up for a very laggy (is that a word?) January. I’ve got two book reviews – both of books I’m really looking forward to – on my “to do” list as well.
On the up side, Valentine’s Day is on its way – check out Kelli’s offer of cute poet valentines – and make sure you order a copy of Karen Weyant’s new chapbook, Wearing Heels in the Rust Belt. I love Kelli’s devotion to snail mail and Karen’s combo of grit-and-glamour depictions of women.
And, in case you are feeling a wee bit stressed, here is my personal stress attacker: wee polar bears!
New review for She Returns to the Floating World, New Poems, New Vistas…
I woke up to a new review of my second book of poetry, She Returns to the Floating World up at Web Del Sol Review of Books. Thanks Web Del Sol and Gina Barnard!
With this latest bug I’ve had, I’ve been running high fevers, especially in the evenings, and waking up every night at 3 and 4 in the morning. Now I’ve got Murakami’s IQ84 audio book on my CD player in the bedroom, so I can listen to it when I wake up and can’t get back to sleep. Last night, I actually had an idea about feral princesses and prophets for a poem at 4 AM – I’m so happy I wrote it down because when I woke up for real this morning, I had a new poem I was actually pretty happy with (especially since I wrote it in a daze in the middle of the night.)
I have a confession, though I know it’s not confession Tuesday: this last week with the flu, I’ve started watching the Home and Garden network shows, like “Property Virgins” and “House Hunters.” I’m trying to remember the language of floor plan, square footage, and closing costs. It’s been too many years, and the processes have changed a lot, since the last time I did this. I watched a single girl in Seattle buy a $275K one bedroom, one bath condo in Ballard. (Where I grew up, $150K bought you a two-story four-bedroom home – and probably still does today. So.)
I’ve also been trying to write a little creative non-fiction. What I struggle with is setting a scene, slowly, building suspense, extending scenes with dialogue and description. So many years of poetry has taught me to condense, to capture a moment in as few words as possible. It’s like retraining muscles. Got to learn to create new vistas for my readers, for myself.
