Wow – in the mail today, a cornucopia of poetry! Three books from the Mississippi Review Poetry Series, Issue 7 of Sentence, and Poetry Magazine with a long winded but amusing German essay in it, which I read out loud to Glenn while we were waiting for my orthopedist. It’s about the three questions poets get asked at readings, and also Proust.
And, good news from the orthopedist – no surgery required for the left ankle, and the right ankle is right on track to be healed in a week or two. That means there’s still probably another month or so of physical therapy to go before I’m walking – but walking by spring sounds awfully good! I love my new PT office, too, and the new PT guy I’m working with. Now, if we can get my mystery stomach illness solved, I’ll be ready to party! I think I will like Napa so much better walking than non-walking.
I also found out I have double the thesis students this quarter than I thought – there goes my free time for poetry submissions (not to mention writing…) Oh well. At least thesis work is fairly fun. I want to get some time to put up mini-reviews, too, of January’s Underlife, Reb’s God Damsel, and Allison’s Self-Portrait with Crayon. Maybe I’ll get a lull while the students are working on their reading lists…
Oh yes, and go read Jessica Smith’s post here on gender and blogging…which includes a quote by Reb that I also found edifying…
http://looktouch.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/gender-and-blogging-redux/
Well, off to Seattle (where it is not 63 and sunny, but 50 and rainy…brrr) tomorrow, and although I’m now capably limping across rooms in my cast (yay!) I’m still wheelchair-bound for the airport (boo!) Never been in an airport in a cast and a wheelchair before, so it’ll be an interesting (and no doubt, slower) experience. I’m looking forward to seeing a few friends (although not all of them – hard to schedule over husband’s G’s work stuff), visiting Open Books, eating some delicious salmon (and maybe some Rainier cherries if I’m lucky) and drinking a wonderful cup of coffee while browsing wonderful books. For some reason, southern California is devoid of the wild Alaskan salmon that was available at every grocery store in the northwest. Why all the farmed Atlantic salmon, San Diego? I’m looking forward to the visit – we were supposed to go out in February, but I couldn’t even stand on two feet back then (plus I had a cast on my hand as well) so we had to postpone. I picture myself coming home with my arms full of the things we can’t get easily here: poetry, black clothing and coffee.
Got my contributor’s copy of the really beautifully-produced pocket-size Sentence 6, which has its share of bloggers (Nin Andrews and Steve Schroeder) and writers I love, including Denise Duhamel. I’m writing a review of her newest book, Ka–Ching! as we speak. If you haven’t seen Sentence before, it’s devoted to the prose poem, and I’ve found it to be a wonderful read every time I’ve gotten ahold of a copy.
Question: Has the economic downturn affected your life as a writer? Have you submitted to fewer markets, sent out fewer manuscripts, had less time for writing?
So, what with the broken foot, the sprained right hand, and various bumps and bruises from another (!!) fall this weekend, we decided it would be best to cancel our journey northwest-ward for now and my reading up in Pasco for Columbia Basin College, which I really regret. What timing to have an accident or three!
I blame gremlins. Sneaking around, tripping me up…just in time for my trip! Boo! I will miss you Gwen, Felicity, and Seattle-friends! But I do plan on rescheduling a trip up to Seattle soon…
Trying to think of places to send a review-essay, and gearing up to write a conference proposal, another review, and some course-work for my upcoming class in April. Lots of work to do, and without the distracting use of my right hand and foot, well, I should be able to squeeze it in. Another week or two til I can do weight-bearing exercises on my foot! I’ve never been in such a hurry to progress to the next step of physical therapy before! I’ve been getting lots of good advice from my little brother, who broke his foot a number of times (among other things) in his quest for Shaolindo-black-belt-hood. His advice? It takes four weeks for a bone to set. Until then, rent lots of engrossing tv shows on DVD, and maybe play some video games. You can only read so many hours of the day – I go cross-eyed after about four hours these days. Also? There are a lot of nerves in the foot. Which is not such a good thing when you break a couple of bones. Like the opposite of reflexology. LOL.
Got my contributor’s copy of Redactions in the mail yesterday and looking forward to seeing Sentence’s new issue soon too (if they got my new address…it’s hard for lit mags to keep up with my many, many moves…)
