Great Poetry Month Giveaway! Leave a Comment, Win a Book!

I’m finally putting up my post for the big poetry month giveaway (as described here on Kelli’s blog) so please leave a comment so you can win a book (or two, or three!) I’ll be using a random number generator to pick the winner the first week of May (but I’m closing a house in the first few days of May, so if I’m a day or two off, have patience!)

So, a little about me. I’ve written four books of poetry, Becoming the Villainess (Steel Toe Books, 2006,) She Returns to the Floating World (Kitsune Books, 2011,) Unexplained Fevers (forthcoming from Kitsune Books, 2013) and another book I’m still in process with on Oak Ridge and robots. I’m a poet obsessesed with persona, with pop culture, with the spaces between, with women who turn into foxes and disappear. I write, I review, I teach, I edit, I read. I try to become better. Every book I write I try to take a step in a new direction.

1. The first book I’m giving away is my own second book, She Returns to the Floating World. It’s full of meditations on Japanese folk tales, the role of the female icon in anime movies, women who transform themselves, lovesickness, tragedy, and heroism. Plus a little about Knoxville, imagined voyages, marraige, and dreams. From Kitsune Books, cover art by talented Rene Lynch.

2. The second book I’m giving away is a signed copy of Marie-Elizabeth Mali’s Steady My Gaze is compassionate, spiritual in the most interesting way, interested in Jung’s archetype, in love. No one who reads this book walks away unmoved. From Tebot Bach.

Okay, go ahead, comment away and good luck to you! You may also receive one of the following: The Haiku Handbook, a various literary magazine, or another poetry book of my choosing. You know, depending on how big the box I have to ship stuff is!

Face to Meet the Faces Reading

I don’t know why, but every time I walk into the Richard Hugo House lately, I get a good feeling. I’ve been loving their Cheap Wine and Poetry series (much rowdier and hipper than most poetry readings) and last night’s reading for the Face to Meet the Faces anthology celebration was just as fun. I got to see lots of my friends read – Peter Pereira, Martha Silano, editor Oliver de la Paz, among many other wonderful folks – and I got to meet co-editor Stacey Lynn Brown, which was fun! Another fun reader was Tiffany Midge, who did a wonderful job with the Hulk poem from the anthology as well as her own. I got to read Charles Jensen’s “After Oz” – which reminds me how much I like Charles’ poetry – as well as my own “When Red Becomes the Wolf.” It felt like a really fun time and I really loved the celebration of persona poetry! Yay, persona poetry!

I’ve got a class at National’s MFA program starting up in a few days, so I’m gearing up for teaching that again, as well as prepping for a presentation related to the mystery job possibility, trying to get things squared away with the new townhouse before our close, and, oh, yes, I’m moving in a month so I’m packing things up and getting rid of bags of old clothes and broken things.

So it’s National Poetry Month but my brain is full of many things to keep up in the air and moving forward…surprisingly, I’ve already written a couple of poems this month and I’ve been reading a really fun real-life tale of running an independent bookstore in Utah called “The King’s English.” Since I sometimes daydream about running my own bookstore, it’s a perfect escape book at the end of a long day. I recommend it!

Welcome to National Poetry Month!

At April 01, 2012
By Jeannine Gailey
In April National Poetry Month, how are you celebrating, readings and classes
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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

At March 29, 2012
By Jeannine Gailey
In Adrienne Rich, Julianna Baggott, Karen Lillis, Laura Elizabeth Davis, redwinged blackbirds
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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!