Where am I going to be for the rest of April? And a wonderful review of Unexplained Fevers

I woke up this morning to a wonderful blog review (the first one!) of Unexplained Fevers by Kristin Berkey-Abott here.

Thanks, Kristin, for the lovely review! Not to belabor the point, but you can get your own copy of Unexplained Fevers here, here, or here!

In case you’re wondering what I’m up to for the rest of April (also Poetry month!) here are a few places you can find me:

–April 16th, 2013: http://www.fieldsend.org/2013-roundtables3.aspx – 7 PM at Bainbridge Island’s Library for Field’s End – Jeannine Hall Gailey discusses how to make a difference in your local poetry community.

–April 17th, 2013: https://plus.google.com/events/c87ft4tolfkkf60runr427oaqas?authkey=CL-VxuTKmY_AkAE – 4 PM Pacific/7 PM Eastern on Google Hangouts – a National Poetry Month Promotion with Poet’s Market Editor, Robert Brewer, plus poets Jeannine Hall Gailey, Mary Biddinger, Nathan Pritts, and Aaron Belz – live readings and poetry discussions. This event will be streamed so you can watch it afterwards as well. (And I’ll put up a link after it’s done.)

–April 28th, 2013: At Open Books in Wallingford at 3 PM. I’m reading for my brand new third book, Unexplained Fevers, along with poet and editor Kelly Davio, who is reading from her first book, Burn This House.

If you’d like a copy of my new book, but you just can’t afford it? Sign up for the Great Poetry Giveaway!

The Big Poetry Giveaway

Okay, at the last minute, not only have I created a Goodreads Giveaway for my new book (see sidebar on the right to enter) but I’m also participating in this year’s Big Poetry Giveaway, started by Kelli Agodon and hosted this year by Seattle poet Susan Rich.

Here’s a link on how to participate:

http://thealchemistskitchen.blogspot.com/2013/03/sign-up-now-to-participate-in-big.html

This year ‘ll not only be giving away my third book, Unexplained Fevers, an exploration of the dangers of the fairy tale world and the lives of contemporary women but a copy of one of my favorite journals, the Spring 2013 issue of Rattle.

To enter, leave a comment here with your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win! Winner will be chosen by random number generator on May 1! Good luck!

What Are You Doing to Celebrate Poetry Month? I Think I’m Going to Celebrate By Turning 40 and Releasing a New Book!

Yes, I’ve always liked the coincidence that my birthday happens to be during the arbitrarily-chosen National Month of Poetry but this year it seems particularly apt. Turning 40 seems like one of those birthdays that poets write poems about.

So what am I doing during poetry month (and beyond?) Well, I’ve already attended a small press book fair, read for the City Council, and taught a teen poetry workshop, and that was just in the first week! Here’s my upcoming stuff:

1. Well, you may have heard that I just released a little third book of poetry called “Unexplained Fevers,” and so, am involved in sending out book cards, setting up readings, sending out review copies, etc. (Buy it here, here, or here!)

2. Going over to Bainbridge Island’s Field’s End on April 16 to talk about how to build a poetry community, or more specifically, how I’ve tried to build a poetry community in Redmond over the past year’s work as Redmond’s Poet Laureate.

3. On April 17th, I’ll be participating in Google Hangout’s National Poetry Month Poetry Hangout with several other wonderful poets at 7 PM Eastern. Tune in to see if my internet connection holds or if I look terrible on web cam! (Hint: You’ll have to install Google Hangout stuff first, so check it out beforehand.)

4. Signing up for a Goodreads Giveaway and the Great Poetry Giveaway (see an upcoming post for more details.)

5. On April 28th at 3 PM, teaming up with Kelly Davio for my debut Seattle reading at Open Books for Unexplained Fevers. It should be, if I can borrow an overused term, totally epic!

6. On the final day of April, I will be out of my thirties officially! Before then, I hope for one last chance to visit Skagit Valley’s Tulip Festival (which runs all of April) and maybe change my hair radically, wear a really short skirt, and other last-minute-saying-goodbye-to-my-thirties hi-jinks!

“Once Upon a Time” – A poem from “Unexplained Fevers”

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time he left me. I left him. It was winter, the white sun is what I remember most. When he called, I cut my hair. When I swayed, he swore. I wore a white dress and promised. He promised me. We chopped wood and parsley.

Once upon a time, I called him. It was hopeful. It was hopeless. One might not have recovered. His hair was white as winter sun.

Once upon a time we broke our crowns. The tumbling came after.

Once upon a time we thought we could. We drank from cacti in the desert and from freshwater pools on an island. We drilled through sheetrock. We stained the ground with blackberry juice.

Once upon a time I have forgotten. There was no veil, because it just sticks to your lips. I didn’t hide. Three days of mourning, three days to come clean.

When we rode off into the sunset, we had no idea where we were going. We should have mapped. Should have paid attention to the steady beat of our bloodstreams. Should have touched the dirt. Gone offroad.

We should have guessed. Should have noted. We paid in gold and heartache. We stood there in the winter sunlight, white as ghosts. It was the end of the road. It didn’t have a fairy tale ending. We couldn’t keep our stories straight. It wasn’t as they had told us.

This poem was first published in The American Poetry Review and is the first poem in my new book, Unexplained Fevers! Buy it here, here, or here! Happy poetry month!

Welcome to National Poetry Month – and my New Web Site

You may want to update your links and feeds – www.webbish6.com is my new blog site and my RSS feed is now located here:

https://webbish6.com/feed/

Welcome to National Poetry Month! It’s been a few days of exciting ups and downs – I met with a bunch of local writers, attended a small press fair, read for Redmond’s City Council and received a “proclamation of poetry,” started promoting my new book…and tried to rebuild my entire web site, including switching hosts, switching from Blogger to WordPress, changing the layout, putting up new art by Michaela Eaves, created new forms for buying my book…it was a little rocky for a couple of days, but I hope you like the results! I have also tried to link in to social media a little better and my new poetry samples page includes mp3 files of readings and youtube links!

Anyway, you may now buy a signed copy of my third book, Unexplained Fevers, directly from me at this link:

https://webbish6.com/books/book-order-form/

Let me know if you have any problems!

Let’s see, what else…I have two new poems up at the lovely 2 River View journal here, where you can hear me read the two poems (both from my new book!)

http://www.2river.org/2RView/17_3/default.html

And I’m in the new Ooligan Press anthology, Alive at the Center, and I’ll be participating in a group reading for it on Friday at the Richard Hugo House!