New Review of PR for Poets, Harvest Season at the Farm, and I Could Use Some Magic (An Unfortunate Confluence of Health and Teeth This Month)

Wagon wheel with pumpkins

Harvest Time at the Farm

We had some cold clear days between the rain and so tried to spend some time enjoying them (despite some health challenges) and I definitely enjoyed photographing. October here is mostly cold and dark, so the few sunny days must be appropriately celebrated, I think. We embrace the Hygge here in the Northwest – cold walks outside, hot cider, cozy blankets and sweaters, hot pumpkin bread, candles. It’s important to try to keep your spirits up here to fight the increasingly dark days.

A New Review of PR for Poets up at Entropy

A big thank you to Kim Jacobs-Beck and Entropy for this wonderful thoughtful review of PR for Poets. This is not a poetry book, but a book meant to empower poets to help them promote their work in a time when fewer and fewer poetry publishers (with fewer resources) can really do full promotion of a poetry book. From the review: “It is a useful guide for any poet with a first book, or poets who feel they could use new strategies to get the word out about their work.” Anyway, I hope this helps the book get into the hands of more poets.

I Could Use a Little Magic This Month (An Unfortunate Confluence of Health and Tooth Trouble)

So, despite the smiling photos, this last week has been mostly about going to the dentist, then an endodontist, then my primary care doctor (the endodontist thinks I need a root canal but I’m too risky to work on, the dentist thinks I’m too sick for more dental work, despite a second broken tooth and a tooth that needs a root canal, the primary care doc and several specialists don’t know why I’ve been so sick or what else to do to up my immune problems.) It’s been very frustrating and I’ve been stuck avoiding crunchy foods (eating a lot of soup) and trying to nurse myself back to health. I’ve had two weeks of antibiotics already and I’m layering on all the magic tricks – hot tea, soup, saline spray, ginger everything, hot and cold compresses and a heck of a lot of attention to keeping my broken tooth from getting worse. So if you believe in magic or prayer, I could use all the good energy to get myself an endodontist who isn’t afraid to work on me – and luck with the very first root canal of my life. And I’ve been sick with two or three viruses at a time, so getting rid of those would be nice too, since every minor infection makes my multiple sclerosis symptoms worse and I just haven’t felt well in months. I’ve been told I need to rest and keep my stress levels low. I had to cancel a reading in Auburn on Monday and a class reading next week already, so I’m just laying low, trying to sleep more (lots of naps!) and ignore the news (!!) and boost my immune system as much as possible. Please leave any recommendations in the comments (especially open-minded endodontists on the East side of Seattle, those who do sedation preferred since I am allergic to novocaine.) And uplifting, funny television shows. It’s been a while since I had a jolt of good poetry news, too, so if you have good thoughts to spare…Thanks.