Losing Knut, Reading Reviews, and Supermoons
Amid the news of a Libyan war, the continuing disaster in Japan, I admit a little bit of more trivial news stood out to me: the death of a little four-year-old polar bear named Knut. Knut was rejected by his mother and hand-raised in a German zoo. He became a cover model for global warming and environmentalism. Unfortunately, sometimes mothers reject their cubs because there is something wrong with them; a heart defect, or other genetic problems. Knut’s cause of death was not known, but it is uncommon for polar bears in captivity to drop dead so young. (Note to self: glad my mother did not decide to reject me. A recent x-ray revealed an extra bone in my ankle! Even more mutations surprise me every day!) Anyway, here is a picture of Knut with his handler, Thomas Doerflein, who also died young at 44 of a heart attack.
In other news, instead of just talking about it, actually wrote a review of a poetry book, and now it’s up: Erika Meitner’s Makeshift Instructions for Vigilant Girls reviewed at Barn Owl Review.
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.
Karen J. Weyant
Right now, I think the world could use some more cuteness!
…and Just have to get Erika Meitner’s new book (Note to self: must refrain from buying new poetry books until tax refund comes in…)