Well, it’s August first and I still don’t have anywhere to live come end of September. We’re planning a trip out to Phoenix soon to take a look at possible places. But it’s all very nerve-wracking. Especially for a person like me who likes to be all settled. But the docs are saying it’s the best thing I could do for my allergies and asthma problems, so it’s a health-motivated thing. The allergies out here are pretty brutal. I’d like to feel healthy again! Soon! Anyone with a nice house to rent in say, the North Scottsdale area should contact me right away 🙂
Speaking of nerves and doctors…I’ve been feeling sickly for the last month or so…fatigue, sore throat, etc. I also had a numb hand (which I mistakenly attributed to carpal tunnel.) Well, went to the doc, and after some blood tests it turns out I have a serious vitamin B-12 deficiency that was causing a lot of my fatigue/sore throat/numb hand stuff, as well as a generally crappy immune system. Huh. Apparently, when you don’t have enough b-12 it can cause numbness and tingling. Yikes! And some common drugs leach b-12 from the system. So, if you’re feeling tired and numb, go out and get yourself some b-12 stat! I’m taking 1000mcgs lozenges under the tongue each day (apparently we don’t absorb b-vitamins in the stomach very well, hence the shots and lozenges and other delivery systems.) This has been Jeannine’s monthly public health announcement.
Also, a little good news: my interview with Matthea Harvey for the Poetry Foundation (Post-apocalypse, Poetry, and Robots) a little while ago will be sent by the PF into syndication this fall. So it may pop up in a newspaper near you!
And I promise to get back to doing mini-reviews and poetry-talk soon…This week I’m entertaining my parents in this small town by the sea. We’re taking a four-hour whale-watching tour (I’ve never done anything like it, but I have seen whales twice while living here – once on a ferry, and once while vacationing on San Juan Island.) Should be fun! And windy.

Jeannine Hall Gailey served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington and the author of Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, Unexplained Fevers, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, and winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and SFPA’s Elgin Award, Field Guide to the End of the World. Her latest, Flare, Corona from BOA Editions, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. She’s also the author of PR for Poets, a Guidebook to Publicity and Marketing. Her work has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poetry, and JAMA.


