Happy (and Hoppy) Easter, New Poems Up at The Normal School, and a Week of Being Sick (During Beautiful Weather)

Apple Tree Blooming in my Own Yard

Happy (and Hoppy) Easter

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates. I was too sick to do much this year, but I did revisit some classics, including the children’s book (written in 1939, and re-released in 1967) The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, which besides having adorable illustrations, contains surprisingly subversive morals on racism, classism, and feminism—I mean, it would be fair to say it’s an anti-Nazi Easter Bunny book. It surprises me what I look back on in children’s lit and see what affected my own values—in this case, learning that being a poor, brown female bunny from the country (being told to “look after her children” and “leave Easter business to the men” by the tall wealthy white male bunnies—sound familiar?) can achieve her dreams no matter what the obstacles.

sick, but still dressed for Easter, with neighboring cherry tree

Anyway, I strongly recommend you buy it for all your children. Meanwhile, I read the account of the Easter story in all four gospels and again noted that the first people to discover Jesus had risen were women, the first person to speak to the risen Jesus was Mary Magdalene, and the male disciples were too scared to check on his grave and refused to believe the women who saw the angels and even saw Jesus himself. So, ha ha ha, not much has changed, right? The church fails to point this out too often I notice. Ah well. You’ll have to excuse this country bunny.

New Poems up at the Normal School

I am very happy to share that I had two poems up at The Normal School this week, “Aurora, or When Firefoxes Spark the Sky” and “Pyrokinetic.” Below is a sneak peek at one of them. If you go to the link, like and share as The Normal School and I could use the online attention.

A Week of Being Sick During Beautiful Weather

First lilacs blooming in Spring.

This week I was supposed to run a book club for poetry month, record a poetry tutorial for Writer’s Digest, and a bunch of other things, but instead, I was sick in bed with a combination sinus/stomach flu bug, which I strongly do not recommend (if I look like I lost weight in the pic above, I did—from three solid days of being constantly sick and another day of liquid diet. Super fun! Like Ozempic without the cost Lol!) And every day I was in bed, outside the sky was blue, the flowers all jumped into bloom at once (cherry blossoms, apple blossoms, and lilacs generally do NOT bloom at the same time in our area, but the late spring really messed up the bloom cycle). So that was a bummer. It was not covid or the official flu (according to tests) but there are a lot of bugs going around, the doctor said, so just be aware.

Glenn and I with cherry tree

Meanwhile, I slept a lot, drank a lot of Pedialyte™ and caught up on a lot of good and bad television. I am hoping to get through my birthday (around the corner) with better health so I can get out and around Seattle to enjoy some blue skies and flowers.

It is almost the end of National Poetry Month, so I hope you have been reading and writing and enjoying poetry this month, too. If you want to cheer up a poet, just buy one of their books or write them a note about how much you enjoyed their work or share their work on social media or leave them an Amazon review or something. You never know when someone needs a little boost to keep them going.

Spring is Here with Cherry Blossoms and Art Shows, Tulip Fields, Pink Moons, and Visits with Family

My pink typewriter with cherry petals

Spring is Here—Cherry Blossoms and Art Galleries

In the days after AWP in LA, spring began springing in Seattle, although a bit colder than usual. The first sign here of spring is daffodils and cherry blossoms. We have several trees that I planted in our yard, and down the street, even more, so although it is a custom to go downtown to the UW quad to visit the almost-100-year-old cherry blossom grove, we usually get our cherry blossom fix closer to home.

Being outside is really good for me, even when I’m tired and feeling a bit sneezy (we’ve had a heck of an allergy season, despite or maybe because of the cold?), so I’m happy to have a bit less cold wind and a rain and at least a couple of partially sunny days.

Dewi Plass – Marvel

Visiting Art Galleries

Another soul-restoring practice of mine, besides spending time with flowers, is spending time with art. So, we went downtown to the new location (hard to find and in a bit of a dodgy area of town, but huge and well-lit) of Roq La Rue, my favorite art gallery in Seattle. They had a beautiful collection of smaller pieces called “Spectacle du Petite,” one of which I was able to take home (happy birthday to me!) Besides this, they had spectacular sculptures and new work by another favorite artist, Josie Moran. They just opened a new show this last Friday, so take a peek at their web site to see what’s going to be there. Worth the trip (and some level of confusion) finding it!

The day we went down we also went by a very friendly-seeming anti-Trump protest and a group of trans folks raising money for ACLU. It was sunny and everyone was in good spirits, even the gathered police, and despite what people on the right say about Seattle, I was happy and proud to be part of such a vibrant and inclusive community.

Annual Trip to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Which, because spring is late this year, meant we saw not only fields of tulips, but fields of daffodils, still-blooming cherry trees, and early/late camellias and rhododendrons. I always wish I could stay longer and do more exploring up in the area, but this was a quick day trip (to avoid the work being done on the house—this time, noisy electrical work)—and I wore out after about nine hours out and about in the fields anyway. In the meantime, enjoy these pics—when I posted some of these on Instagram with a guess-where-I-am caption, several people guessed Holland! But you can totally imagine Holland looking at these pictures.

Pink Moon and Visiting Family

The full Pink Moon was actually pink this weekend, so I tried to get a picture of it in its true color which is always challenging but this one got pretty close.

My birthday is coming up soon which is always a time of introspection, as is tax time (how is it possible I did so much freelance work for so little money? I ask every year.) I am hoping to find a new home for my next book, maybe a chance to do more lucrative work teaching or publishing, and of course, balancing the joys of life and the stress plus health stuff. I am trying to find more disabled and chronically ill women’s books to review (so definitely comment if you have a new book coming out), and besides the book club and open mic, trying to get together more regularly with other writers. AWP (and maybe the art gallery and protest, too) reminded me of the strengths of feeling like part of a community, rather than just a lone eccentric trying to live your lone eccentric writer life. Helping others, speaking up, these things are also part of feeding the soul, not to get too cheesy.

I also got to visit my little brother’s newly renovated home (beautiful!) in a lovely neighborhood and got to see the way he and my sister-in-law have already started making it their own—hanging art, arranging furniture, trying to beautify the yard (which the previous owner had left a lot of gravel). I am reminded that someday soon our own home renovations will be done, and we can concentrate on something else, but also, in this area, buying and maintaining a home is no joke, financially, but somewhat more stable than the veering stock market this week, for instance. I always like to touch base with my family, and it felt nice to actually spend an hour or two just talking and catching up.

Wishing you some time with flowers, art, full moons, and family and friends this month.

AWP Part 2: Meeting with Editors and Fellow Writers, My Moon City AWP Reading on YouTube, and Down Days

Tresha, Lelsey, Kelli and I (and right beyond the pic, Roxane Gay!

AWP LA Part II: Meeting with Editors and Fellow Writers

Last week I wrote a Part 1 of AWP post and promised a second. My web site has had issues, and I myself had a few down days—after the excitement and travel, my body decided it didn’t want to do much and made sure I stayed in bed for much of the last week.

But, back to AWP LA days 3 and 4. On the 3rd day I got to meet and talk to editors of literary magazines and presses I admired, or had published me, or a combination of the two. The bookfair was massive, and attendance was 10,000—not the biggest, but not the smallest either. The best thing about the bookfair is accidentally running into friends—and that happened outdoors as well. This picture at the top was a happy accident waiting for Glenn to pick me up at the “accessibility” drop off location, where I happened to run into friends Tresha Faye Haefner, Lesley Wheeler, and Kelli Russell Agodon. And Roxane Gay was right there too, right beyond the picture. Did I mention her keynote was worth listening to? I mean, not every keynote is useful, but Roxane is so real about the writing life—she described her first AWP as “being surrounded by people with interesting glasses and stiletto heels”—I remember being equally daunted at my first AWP, which was even longer ago, back in 2003, when they had a “huge crowd” of 3000 attendees. Ha ha ha ha.

Anyway, I should have made more time for parties, lunches, dinners, and other events, but I was usually burned out after about four hours. My energy levels aren’t what they used to be! (More on that later.)

I did get to have a coffee and a bite to eat with Lesley Wheeler, whose new book Mycocosmic just dropped from Tupelo Press. This trip to AWP was a last minute decision on my part—I had decided not to go a long time ago—but I felt that with having to be out of the house anyway (with the ongoing disability renovation) and having felt a bit down since the beginning of the year (and Trump’s re-presidency) it would prove encouraging, and it did. Even getting a bit of a break from Seattle’s cold and dreary spring (everything bloomed after we left!) was nice. If AWP is a bit physically and mentally exhausting—and it is—it also reaffirms you as a writer—a writer some people have actually read—and part of a community—whose books you actually read.

My Moon City Reading

Glenn was a bit late to catch the into from Mike or the beginning of the first poem, but this gives you a brief taste of the Moon City Press reading. Here I read California-themed poems from Field Guide to the End of the World, Flare, Corona, and my manuscript in progress. Hope you enjoy! It’s almost like you were there…

Anyway, besides having to spend a few days in bed, there have been cherry trees blooming here in Seattle and art shows to visit, which I’ll talk about next week. Until then, may your writer days and ways be lucky and supported.

AWP LA Part I: Day 1 and 2, All the Gossip, Disability and Travel, Poets!

AWP LA Part I, Day 1

Ah, the trip to LA – delayed flights, turbulence the whole time, and snafus with the rental car at LAX (the worst! do Burbank if possible!) meant we were racing across traffic after waking up at six AM and being in travel mode until 8 PM to make it to my Moon City Reading at least partially on time, after the hotel decided “accessible” meant something other than actually accessible (this happens a lot.) Anyway, we made it there, I got to see some friends, snap a pic or two, and then get home to the hotel and collapse without eating, because honestly, too tired to eat! That’s Day 1! (Pic from the Moon City Reading with Lee Horikoshi Roripaugh in the next paragraph.) The weather this whole trip was a little overcast and cool for Californians, which you can tell from the pics, although still warm to me (in the sixties, til nightfall.)

Lee Horikoshi Roripaugh and I at the Moon City Reading, Day 1 of AWP: Purple Light

Day 2 of AWP: So Many Friends, Poets, Publishers

So waking up bright and early day 2, I took a walk on the beach (I always stay away from downtown LA when I go to LA, from the time 25 years ago that I used to come down and present when I was a Microsoft tech person. Because downtown LA is not really LA.) And then hustled down to the conference, to register and meet up with people. I did not get to go to all the talks I wanted to – Beth Ann Fennelly and Hybrid writing, the speculative memoir (what?? right?) and many writers I wanted to see I just didn’t. But there were 10,000 people at this LA, so I guess that’s just statistics.

Anyway, I caught up with several former professors, lots of blogger friends, and some new people that were fans of my work that I hadn’t met yet, which is always a pleasure (and a surprise! Somehow I don’t realize real people actually read my books until I go to these kinds of things.) It was a b

Here’s the book haul from Day 2 and lots of friend pics: Got books by friends but also from good presses like YesYes Books and Word Words and tons of others. Did I come home with too many books? Yes I did!

It is so great to meet press editors and publishers you’ve never heard of. It is great to see West Coast lit mags you didn’t already know about. This is part of what makes AWP fun and worth going to, even if you’re tired and your MS is acting up and you have anxiety about travel and the world. the other part is catching up with people who know and love and might not have seen for a couple of years.

I don’t remember much about the night of Day 2 because I may have fallen asleep literally between events and didn’t make to several things I meant to (Roxane Gay’s keynote was great, but I watched it virtually later on.) Gossip: Roxane Gay bought The Rumpus. I was very happy to hear that as a former Rumpus reviewer, I must admit. She seems good at managing things.

All right, since I am typing this from the hotel and getting ready to fly back to Seattle, I will end there. Guys, stay safe and strong until I can post again. Also: LA is much friendlier and more diverse than Seattle, and you can do something that you couldn’t in Seattle: wake up, stroll across the ocean, pick up fresh masa corn tortillas with honey butter, and eat breakfast on the beach. I’m not at all an LA girl but I’ve got to admit the people are fun (People at LAX – at the airport! – stopped and complimented my clothes, my hair, and my luggage. Before I got  a rental car!) Locals recommended the best restaurants and local music to you, just standing around. and the food is amazing, just stuff we don’t get much in Scandanavian Seattle. Anyway, wait for Part 2: the Reckoning, AWP LA style.

Hello Spring, Plum Blossoms, Almost There: AWP, Renovations, and Health Challenges

A picture of me with plum blossoms

Hello Spring!  Plum Blossoms, and Almost There: AWP, Renovations, and Health Challenges

Well, it’s almost AWP, my bathroom renovations are almost done, and having survived a 24-hour stomach bug AND an emergency vet visit for one of the cats in the same day, it feels like we’re going to make it. Hopefully. (Thunderstorms and hail are predicted for the time of my flight, so think good thoughts!)

Though it’s mostly been a cold, wet, miserable spring so far, the plum blossoms and cherry blossoms and early star magnolias have started blooming, so spring can’t be far behind. I also got my hair to match. Pink for spring!

I hope you are all surviving as well as possible through this period of scary news and economic anxiety, among other things. I hope some sunshine and time with friends will help me shake off some of the low spirits I’ve been experiencing lately, a combination of high anxiety and low-level depression, I think. When your MS acts up (which mine has been lately) it is all you can do to not curse at the pain and non-ability to focus, write, or accomplish even small tasks, and this is all ratcheted up when strange people are in the house at all hours and you can’t get to any of your normal stuff and you and the cats both get sick. So I’m sorry I wasn’t well enough to post yesterday, when I usually do, but I promise an extra exciting post next week, after AWP.

A visit from our bob kitten seems to portend good things ahead, I hope. AWP can be frantic and overwhelming, I know LA has had a lot of hard luck lately, and I expected not to go (so didn’t even apply for talks or readings or anything.

I’m going to try to make it in time for the Moon City Press reading Wednesday night (if my flight, rental car, traffic, etc all make it possible) but otherwise I’ll be seeing friends at the bookfair and by appointment (if you want to see me, send me a message!)

Good luck this week, friends! May your yards be full of bobcats and plum blossoms. May spring come soon and bring better weather, better news and better fortune.