You never really know a town til you’ve been to its ER, I say. I got to visit this weekend. A new town, a new set of health challenges, this time, stomach trouble, sigh. More blood to draw, more scans to schedule. The hospital also confirmed that I had had pneumonia while I was in Port Townsend, probably for a long time, without knowing it. My lungs still have blockages! I have been breathing easier since I’ve been here, but apparently I’m not all the way better from that year-long trip to lung-trouble land.
On the plus side, I’ll be joining the reading for Poetry International on Nov 1, where Li-Young Lee will be reading as the feature! Fun stuff. As long as I can walk and talk, I’ll be there, baby!
The Thyroid and two Poetry Books Everyone Will Love…
So, got back from a thyroid specialist yesterday who told me I’ve had a weird thyroid problem for some time (manifested by odd lab results and by the big old swollen thyroid I’ve had for years) where it switches from hypo-to-hyper, and has to do with the immune system. So I’m starting a new med, this time a synthetic t4 thyroid hormone. Oh, the excitement of me and my new medications…(PS some problems that can be symptoms of thyroid problems – constant sleepiness or sleeplessness, blood pressure fluctuations, joint problems that mimic arthritis, and of course, the weight fluctuations that come out of nowhere. and puffy eyes. It’s really the puffy eyes that got me. Puffy eyes? I’m such a girl…)
On to Poetry!
Dorianne Laux’s first book, the truly great Awake, is soon going to be re-issued by Eastern Washington University Press, and good for them! This book has long been one of my favorites of hers, a little rawer but certainly as powerful as anything in the later books, including a certain poem called the “Tooth Fairy” which may be Dorianne’s best poem EVER! (Buy it from the Press here: http://ewupress.ewu.edu/poetry/awake.htm) It makes a great holiday gift!) I hate it when good books go out of print too early, and Awake was definitely one of those books. Kudos to EWU Press!
I have to admit that, though I loved Matthea Harvey’s poetry in journals like A Public Space, when I bought her first two books I liked, but not loved, the work – certainly you could tell Harvey was a clever and funny writer, but the whole books seemed a little intimidating, or opaque. Her newest book, Modern Life, I have fallen in love with the entire thing. It’s not just the references to robots (of course, I’m always game for those) or Japanese anime classics (her “Robo-Boy” being a clear reference to “Astro Boy”) because even the standalone poems in the book are outstanding, as are the poems in the series “Terror of the Future/The Future of Terror” that was based on a dictionary list of words between “Future” and “Terror” and manage to evoke our post 9/11 anxiety in a new and chilling way.
Here’s a link to buy it at Amazon:
Modern Life at Amazon
And, Matthea Harvey is coming to Seattle to read at Open Books on November 14!
