Welcome to National Poetry Month!
April is not only National Poetry Month, but my birthday month, and this year, because of job interviews (!!) and house business, even crazier than usual. I wish all of you writing a poem-a-day luck. I wrote a poem two days ago for Unexplained Fevers based on one of Deborah Scott’s new paintings that I feel pretty good about, but I’m not attempting the poem-a-day this time around.
I’m also going to do the book giveaway deal, but I just haven’t decided on my second book yet. So many to choose from! So stay tuned…
I’m reading with a large group of Seattle-area poets at Hugo House this Wednesday night to celebrate A Face to Meet the Faces, the persona poetry anthology. Later this month I’ll be teaching a teen class on haiku, haibun and anime (here’s the poster) in Redmond.
What are you doing to celebrate this poetry month? And what are you sending me for my birthday? I could use some down-payment money, hardwood flooring and furniture…:)
Adrienne Rich, the invaluable advice of others
I was so saddened yesterday to learn of the passing of Adrienne Rich from complications of rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease. It’s amazing how many of my writing heroes have autoimmune problems. I met her years ago at a writer’s conference in Arizona, one of my first poetry heroines I actually saw reading in person. I was so excited I called her a rock star. She was gracious and warm, a fantastic reader, just everything I would like to be when I grow up. You can tell why I love her in this quote, from her poem, “Planetarium:” “A woman in the shape of a monster/ a monster in the shape of a woman/ the skies are full of them.” (Click here to read the whole poem.) Science, mythology, feminism, and a singular voice. She will be missed.
You know, even though I’m getting ready to publish a third book next year, I am just as eager and anxious for good advice about publishing and publicity as I ever was. I am ready to learn more about how to do everything better! I’m plotting different tactics for the next book’s readings – how to make them more dynamic and exciting, exploring new kinds of venues like art galleries and shops, etc.
Here are two good write ups for writers:
—Julianna Baggott on Agents
—Laura Elizabeth Davis interviews fiction writer Karen Lillis on book touring when you’re paying for it yourself
I spent two hours yesterday signing financial paperwork for the house deal, even though we don’t close til May. Urgh. I will be glad when the whole thing is over! It is a huge distraction from writing, submitting, you know, everything that is not buying a place to live. I did discover, upon visiting the townhouse for the first time in actual sunlight a few days ago, that the cul-de-sac we’ll live on is across the street from a charming wetlands pond complete with reeds full of singing red-winged blackbirds. I’ll just be steps away from feeding ducks all year round!
I’m also applying for a job which I can’t talk about yet, but the prep for it is really stressful. Cross your fingers for me – this would be a terrific opportunity!
A Weekend of Sunshine and Art – Red Current at Roq La Rue
My favorite art gallery in Seattle, Roq La Rue, did a fabulous show this weekend called “Red Current” in which an all-female lineup of over thirty artists showed their work, including my collaboration partner on “Unexplained Fevers,” Deborah Scott. Here’s a pic of us with her piece, “Consumption of Innocence.”
One of the great things about the show was the unified feel despite a variety of methods and material…there was a hulking black pelican made of knitting cloth…abstract pieces that brought to mind moonscapes by Port Townsend artist Counsel Langley…forests…nudes…a gun holster made out of amethyst…the show is up til April 7, I’d go check it out before it’s gone!
In other news…our inspection is tomorrow. The sun was out yesterday, so we braved the toll on the 520 bridge and we walked in the Japanese gardens downtown and drove through the arboretum. Only a few things were blooming…camellias, a few rhodies, and some early cherry blossoms…spring is springing late this year for sure in the Northwest. By the way, if you’re looking for an old television, portable freestanding air conditioner, or old laptop with no hard drive, please let me know as we are cleaning house before the move this time! Make an offer!
In Which Many Things Happen All at Once
So, signing the new book contract with Kitsune, and signed on a final offer for a townhome near Glenn’s work within the same 24 hours. The place needs a little work, but is mostly in good shape. Hope the inspection and appraisal both go okay! Today I talk to my money person to see what stuff we need to get together and by when. It’s been a bizarre process shopping for a house during this so-called buyer’s market – because of the low prices, there’s been very little inventory, and so, very few houses to look at over the past four months that were even close to being okay to live in without needing, say, 75K worth of work. Two interesting web sites for those of you interested in Seattle real estate: the Seattle Bubble blog and The Mortgage Porter, both of which I’ve been reading religiously for about four months along with scouring real estate listing site Redfin. I’m glad I can finally stop reading them all ! This is the last time I want to move for a while.
Now, my National Advanced Poetry Class is starting up in a week or two, plus I’m putting together a proposal this month for a very exciting possible project that I can’t talk about yet but I will ask you guys to cross your fingers for me on…And writing a bunch of reviews. With the writing life, it’s so much about a life of months of waiting, followed by two weeks of hectic opportunities that must be accomplished all at once…
Amid all the excitement, I want to say I’m excited about the upcoming April 4 reading at Hugo House for the persona poetry anthology A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry
; I’ll be reading my own poem included in the anthology, “When Red Becomes the Wolf,” and also Charles Jensen’s “After Oz.” The other readers are all fantastic and I expect it to be a really fun happening.
IthacaLit and a Tuesday Night Reading
So happy to be the featured poet up at IthacaLit. You can click here to read my interview there or here to read some poems (including some sneak peek new poems from my upcoming third book, Unexplained Fevers…see previous post for more news about that!)
And my last March reading…I happen to be reading in a coffee shop tonight with a few other talented writers in North Seattle at Seattle Mobile Espresso, 13000 Linden Avenue North – one block west of Aurora, from 7 PM to 8:30, part of the ThirdTuesdays Poets and Writers series.
The weather has been weirdly wintry, my life is in a whirlwind of upheavals, most of which are good. If we hear back positively tomorrow from a seller, we may have a new – and permanent – little homestead to move to within a month! Whereupon we will start the bookshelf-building and painting preparations…
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.
