Anniversaries, Birthdays, Heatwaves, and Thoughts on Asteroid City and the Poetry World

Glenn and I at the lavender farm on our anniversary

Anniversaries, Birthdays, Heatwaves, and Asteroid City

Since my last blog post, I’ve celebrated my 29th wedding anniversary, my husband’s birthday, there’s been a crazy heatwave, I had my doubts about poetry, caught a summer virus (not covid, no worries, just a regular childhood virus my immune system isn’t strong enough to fight off), and watched Wes Anderson’s newest movie, Asteroid City.

For our anniversary, we accidentally stopped in for a Lady A (formerly Lady Antebellum) mini-concert at Chateau Ste Michelle, stayed out late with the first sunflowers in Woodinville at the Lavender Farm, and Glenn made a wonderful dinner of duck with cherry sauce and black forest cake for dessert. (We looked at reservations, but the menus weren’t very allergy friendly, and the prices have gone way up since we last went out—pandemic inflation maybe?) I was a little under the weather on Glenn’s actual birthday, so my little brother Mike took him out axe-throwing (yes, it’s a thing) and then out to dinner, which they really enjoyed. (Glenn said I’d enjoy the axe throwing, but my MS and joint problems said probably not, LOL.)

First Sunflowers in Woodinville

First Sunflowers, Heat Waves, and Asteroid City (Thoughts on Film and Poetry)

My weird summer virus coincides, weirdly, with a huge heat wave—temps of 90 (and humidity levels at 30) meant an almost desert-like feeling to Seattle in the last couple of days. We were watering the hummingbirds, two bird baths and fountains, our poor flowers and baby trees – and ourselves. We have air conditioning, but it struggles to catch up with temps over 80. A common Seattleite’s summer retreat to a cooler area, Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast, had to close today because a mountain lion went to the beach to cool down!

Thirsty goldfinch at our bird fountain

On my sick days, I had a chance to catch up on movies—and I watched Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret (which was cute, and very true to the book, except for I remember the mother worked in the book?) and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, which felt like a mashup of many of my own poetic obsessions—apocalypse, the Cold War era’s paranoia, mistrust of the government, aliens, nuclear testing anxiety, quarantine and its reverberations, and of course, death, Shakespeare, and witches. Some of my friends really did not like this movie, which highlights artificiality in a sort of odd black and white narrated Rod Serling juxtaposed with a tableau of the American West in color and admittedly does not have a linear plot. But I loved it—and more than that, it was the first movie I’ve seen that made me want to make a movie. (I have a friend with a fancy Ivy League degree in film and I suddenly had the urge to ask to borrow all her books from the program.) This film almost felt like a visual poem—a pastiche of Wasteland-like fragments. The other thing I noticed was influences from my generation—from Futurama episodes (I recommend watching “The Series Has Landed” and “Roswell That Ends Well” for shot-to-shot comparisons) and MST3K fifties apocalypse anxiety films. Wes is four years older than me, so we probably watched and read a lot of the same things growing up. I loved Moonlight Kingdom, but I strongly identified with this film—it’s practically set in my childhood home of Oak Ridge with its massive government buildings and kooky genius children in nearby schools, called “Atomic City.”

It’s weird because this week I had a little bit of poetry-life anxiety (ie I applied to jobs that pay money again and felt my book wasn’t getting enough reviews and I wasn’t sure what else to do to promote it and that made me feel like a failure, tbh) so it was good to focus on another art form—especially since I’ve also been reading Tom Hanks’ book on movie making magic (Tom Hanks was also terrific in Asteroid City, and he should keep the silver hair from the movie.) And of course, the writer strike and actor strike are very much in mind. What would it be like to be a writer and director in the Hollywood world right now? I’m looking forward to two new movies coming out too—Barbie and Oppenheimer (which as you probably know, in my mind I combined as “Barbie as Nuclear Scientist: I am Become Death.” It’s hard to break new ground and be unique in the world of movies—it’s an art form that’s been around for about 100 years, but it feels like so many movies are sequels or remakes of earlier, better things, as if people have run out of ideas in that amount of time—and all these movies are sort of the opposite of that (Barbie could be a corporate movie, but with Greta Gertwig in charge, I doubt it). And poetry can be the same—it sometimes feels like the same ten people get all the awards and attention and just get rotated, and they come from the same neighborhoods and fancy colleges and sometimes all their poetry can feel the same. It’s hard to stand out in the poetry world! It’s hard to be unique. My favorite poetry books are quirky and off-the-wall and very much reflect the poet’s personalities—and I guess if my book finds its audience eventually, that’s the most important thing, not if it gets reviewed in the “cool” places or wins the “cool” prizes (though of course those things would be nice). With Flare, Corona, in particular, the experiences of being diagnosed (wrongly) with terminal liver cancer and then (correctly) with multiple sclerosis, with the science and comic book and humor and solar weather spins that I brought, I hope sharing it helps people going through some of the same things, even though that sounds corny! Anyway, I’ll be positively distracted this week because my older brother, his wife and kids are coming out to visit – the first time I’ve seen him in over six years, and I’ll be meeting the kids for the first time. So that’s exciting.

Stay cool as the whole country seems to be encountering a heat wave this upcoming week, and take advantage of any summer lulls to see movies you have been wanting to see or read books on your to-be-read stacks. You never know where inspiration might hit.

Academy of American Poets Puts Flare Corona on Their Summer Reading List, Writing Retreats with Friends and Working on a New Manuscript (with Supermoon)

Academy of American Poets Puts Flare, Corona on Their Summer Reading List!

Got a little bit of good news after the holiday week. Very grateful to have Flare, Corona appear on the Poets.Org 2023 Summer Books Reading List—some people received it in their Academy of American Poets mailing, but you can read the whole list here:

https://poets.org/2023-summer-books-list

Every little bit of PR really helps with poetry books. I also got my print copy of Foreword Reviews in the mail today, so it was a good poetry book day. If you haven’t gotten a copy of Flare, Corona yet, remember you can order a signed copy direct from me here or order from BOA. And if you want a review copy, you can send your review copy request directly to Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer, Director of Development & Publicity, at bratt@boaeditions.org.  I’ve been a poetry book reviewer for 20 years, so no one more appreciates a good poetry book review than me!

Kelli took this picture of me with my new manuscript all over my hotel bed

Writing Retreats with Friends and Working on a New Manuscript (with Supermoon)

So, over the holiday weekend, my friend writer editor and publisher Kelli Russell Agodon and I snuck away for a few days at a local lodge to work on our manuscripts, talk poetry, goof around a little bit but mostly try to make some dents in our work on both of our next books. And I think it was very productive! In just a few days, Kelli and I both had updated versions of our manuscripts (mine hadn’t been touched for about eighteen months) and we got cocktails, went out for sweet potato fries, visited Woodinville’s awesome lavender garden, visited the Lodge’s resident pot-bellied pigs, stayed up late/got up early, and talked poetry. I did that thing where I spread out all the poems on my bed to see how they went together. I think I talked Kelli into putting mermaids in her book (you’ll have to see when it comes out!), and she talked me into putting less plague in my book and more spells.

July’s Thunder Supermoon at Moonrise, no filter

This also made me feel empowered as a disabled person, because I was able to pull off a trip with a friend without any major illness/disability crises. Sometimes people like me with chronic illnesses and disabilities can feel shut out of the traditional residencies because they’re not particularly handicapped-friendly or they’re someplace far from doctors or the difficulties can just be overwhelming, so I want to suggest this kind of alternative.

I felt so motivated, got so much done, and had such a good time. Grab a friend, find a place to stay for a couple of days (hopefully you’ve scouted out its ADA appropriateness and it has some local attractions around to visit and a good fireside lounge)—you don’t need two weeks or anyone’s permission—try it!

Happy Disability Pride Month!

Hummingbird hovering over bird fountain

The next two weeks are going to be challenging so I’m glad I had a little break! Sunday is Glenn and my 29th (!!) Wedding Anniversary, then his birthday is Thursday, then my older brother, his wife and three kids are coming out for their first visit to see us out here in Seattle, so I will be busy busy busy the rest of the month! There is usually something hectic about Seattle (and Seattleites) in the summertime, which is so gorgeous and short-lived—the need to get outdoors and appreciate the ocean, the mountains, the flowers and all outdoor venues becomes almost impossible to resist! Of course, with the wildfire smoke and MS flares being more common in the heat, I have to force myself to take it a little easier than most. Here’s wishing you a wonderful and productive July!

Happy Almost-4th with Birds on Display! Foreword Reviews Flare, Corona, Writing with Friends and Other Ways to Nurture Your Inner Writer, and Disability Pride Month

Happy Almost-July 4 with Birds on Display! And New Reviews, a Disability Pride Month Reading List, and Writing with Friends

Happy holiday weekend! I know most of the country is wreathed in wildfire smoke, so stay safe out there. I myself have been struggling with bad asthma this week – though no wildfire smoke is here yet – and have been breathing my nebulizer and relying on eucalyptus steam and steroids to keep my lungs clear.

While I’ve been resting, the birds have been putting on a wonderful display – especially a family of goldfinches and migratory Rufous Hummingbirds and their babies.

Flare, Corona Reviews and Reading Lists

Me with red hair for the 4th in lavender fields with Glenn

I was also lucky enough to have my first official print review of Flare, Corona in Foreword Reviews! Thanks, people at Foreword!  Here’s a sneak peek at the review, which also included a poem.

And did you know July is Disability Pride Month? I did not until CLMP posted a reading list for it, including wonderful books by friends like Ilya Kaminsky, my own new book and a poem of mine. I feel honored to be in good company, and ordered a couple of books off the list immediately. Here’s the list! Feel free to support disabled writers in July!

Writing with Friends and Other Ways to Nurture Your Inner Writer

I’ve also been working on my next book in preparation for a weekend writing retreat with my friend Kelli Russell Agodon. We are going to exchange books, talk shop, bring some books to read and maybe take some outings for fancy tacos, ice cream, or a lavender farm or winery. I also attended a wonderful online talk by Orion on fairy tales and climate crisis, which was really interesting (and I re-subscribed to Orion,) and had our book club where we discussed Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, and our next book up, the poetry book Our Dark Academia by Adrienne Raphel, who I’d never heard of before I picked her book at Open Books, Seattle’s all-poetry bookstore (where I’m heading today as well, along with a stop at the Frye Museum to see this exhibit by Kelly Akashi.)

Kelli and I pre-gaming for our writing retreat

As you might be able to tell, after six months of doing promotion work for Flare, Corona, readings, radio interviews, social media, etc, I felt my inner writer and creativity needed a little bit of a boost, a refill, if you will. I hadn’t been writing much new work or sending out much work, and some of that is the energy bank of a chronically ill/disabled person – hey, if you’re promoting your book, you don’t also have energy to write reviews, write new work, experiment in the way necessary, or think about where to send new work (much less get your nerve back up for rejection!) I don’t think it’s discouragement as a sort of estrangement, so I think that being around my writer friend and being around new books and art and the overall energy of working on a new book rather than trying to generate excitement about your previous work, which let’s face, you had to turn in edits way back at the beginning of the pandemic and who can even remember that far back?

In the meantime, my nine-month-old kitten Charlotte demonstrates a wise lesson: we really should stop to smell the literal roses (or lavender, or peonies, or sweet peas.)

Something about this time of returning to work/life/travel after a long period of absence with the pandemic makes everything a little strange, so it’s important to literally stop where you are, evaluate your surroundings, and make sure you are still enjoying the little things around you that might have gotten blotted out by all the busyness of the last few months. Part of being a poet, I think, is remembering those little moments – I mean, not all fluffy kittens and flowers, but all the moments worth remembering – time with your family, time creating, and time spending nurturing your creative inner self.

Welcome Summer! Celebrating the Solstice and a New England Radio Interview about Flare, Corona

Solstice sunset, with lavender and sun flare

Welcome Summer! Celebrating the Solstice and a Radio Interview

The solstice came this year gently – a little overcast, temperatures in the 70s, and the sunset lasted til almost past 9 PM. We celebrated more simply this year, a trip to 21 Acres, a local farmer’s market, where we bought local honey, cherries, peas, and carrots, and a sunset spent at the lavender farm down the street, where the blooms have just started on the oldest lavender plants. It was lovely to feel the grass, smell the lavender, feel the sun – not too hot or punishing – and welcome in this fraught season. (Fraught because of the wildfire risk and because MS patients tend to worse in the heat.)

In the wildflowers on the solstice

But there is a lot to love about summer, even for me – the slower pace, the longer less dreary days, more time for gardening and birdwatching, and cherries (I mean until you’ve had local cherries in Washington right at the peak of the season have you ever really had cherries?) And time with friends and family. I’ll be meeting some new family members for the first time next month – my little nephews and nieces who live in Cincinnati and have never been even close to the west coast. I’m looking forward to more wine-tasting dates with my writer friends – it’s easy to entice them out this way when the flowers are in bloom, every winery has live music and the patios are all open. When we were at the lavender farm (officially, the farm is called JB Growers Family Lavender Farm) we could hear a local concert on one side, people cheering for baseball players on another and the whistles of red-winged blackbirds all around – and still there was such a sense of quiet and peace.

Radio Interview about Flare, Corona, with WICN, a New England station, and Mark Lynch

I am grateful to WICN and Mark Lynch for interviewing me for their station about my new book, Flare, Corona. It was a pleasure – we talked about a shared love of 50’s sci-fi movies, health crises, and more. We actually went on talking after we were off the air, and it was so fun, It felt like talking to a friend, which means that guy is really good at his job!

Here’s the link to listen to the whole thing: Jeannine Hall Gailey – 90.5 WICN Public Radio

Anyway, I hope you enjoy and it gives you some insight into the book, writing during a pandemic, and killer shrews.

And here are a few more pictures from the week – from our solstice visit, a literary kitten living the good life, and our summer visitor, the black-headed grosbeak. I hope your entry to summer will be as gentle and lovely as possible. (Stay away, wildfires!)

Visiting (and Supporting) Local Lavender Farms, Building Your Own Residency, and When You Know You’ve Done Enough for Your Book

Mt Rainier with wildflower patch

Visiting and Supporting Local Lavender Farms

Glenn and I went to visit our local lavender (and later corn, and pumpkin) farm on its opening day, also the first day I felt well enough to get out of the house. It was the one cloudless sunny day before a string of cold rainy days (it was 54 degrees and rainy two days ago! In June!) And rain today. And tomorrow. After a hot dry May, our June has become June-uary.

We are thankful to have beautiful spaces in our neighborhood to celebrate. My own yard is pretty small (like most yards in the Seattle area—pricey real estate means small yards), so it’s nice to see what happens when you can plant acres of flowers or herbs or vegetables. Not to mention it’s good for local pollinators and birds. Look at this wildflower patch! And even though the lavender is just starting to bloom, it already smells amazing.

Flare, Corona in the lavender field

When Do You Know You’ve Done Enough for Your Book?

A friend of mine reminded me that I hadn’t posted a picture of my book on Instagram for a while, and also reminded me that most of my friends still don’t know I have a new book out (despite postings here, on social media, etc, for three months). And she was right! A friend just congratulated me on my new book after an Insta post this week.

This brought me to think about how and when you know you’ve done enough promotion for your new book. Even when you think you’ve done enough (and even if you wrote a book on book promotion for poets) you probably haven’t. So, Instagram post it is!

This also makes me think about my upcoming radio interview this Thursday on a radio channel in New England. Things like this are lucky breaks and bring attention to your book outside of your hometown. I’m also thinking about booking more readings this fall, and of course, still waiting for reviews (crossing fingers) and prizes (crossing fingers even more). It’s June and the book came out officially in May, though it made its debut in March at Seattle AWP. It feels like I’ve been promoting it for four or five months. But really, we should probably plan on about six months of solid promotion time for the launch of our books, including the months before and after. And for a whole year (or two), depending, we should plan to keep doing readings, interviews, or if other opportunities pop up. Poetry books have a long roll out—sometimes they sell better in year two than in year one, simply because word of mouth finally gets around, or someone teaches your book months after it comes out.

Fluffy Hummingbird

Building Your Own Writing (or Artistic) Residency

As a disabled and chronically ill person, most residencies are not built for me. If they require ladders to loft beds, or building fires, or steps, or even providing food that isn’t food-allergy safe (I’m allergic to about nine things, the most dangerous of which is wheat, in almost everything)—yeah, they’re not a good fit. I stopped applying for most residencies years ago when I realized—hey, they’re not built for non-perfectly healthy, able-bodied people. They’re not built for me. But I hear from a lot of people that they can’t do “normal” writer’s residencies for a variety of reasons besides their health—kids, jobs, or caretaking roles among them. So, here’s some ideas for people who can’t do the “normal” residencies.

Build your own! I live in a lovely area and there are a variety of places to stay at a variety of prices (yes, they tend to be higher in the summer as that’s our high season, but not always). If you can housesit for a friend going out of town, that can also count as a residency. Renting an AirBNB down the street. Anytime and anywhere you can get away—even just for a couple of days—to focus on your craft, your art and your writing, that counts as a residency in my book. I’ve got one planned in a couple of weeks, and I’ve already printed out poems for my next book to look at and started some relevant reading to prepare for it. Just this last week I spent over fifteen hours sitting in (virtual) doctors’ offices. Health problems are time-and-energy-and-money consuming. If I don’t set aside time (and energy, and money) for art and writing, it won’t happen—everything else will swallow it up. I’m sure you know how it is—if it’s not doctor’s appointments for you, it might be your family’s needs, your job’s needs, or the seven things you volunteer for (hey, I used to be addicted to volunteering, too).

Residencies should involve down time, too—you don’t have to spend the whole time reading and writing—you can goof off, sketch, visit local things you don’t normally get to, have a picnic, listen to music at full blast—anything that helps you get into your writing groove. And you can involve writer friends! Inviting a friend might help your residency to be even more productive, as you can get together and talk shop, plus friend time is important for artists of all stripes. Think about as building space for your creative self. It is just as important as any other aspect of your life, and deserves time, money, and attention. You know how, if you’re married or living with a partner, you reserve “date nights?” It’s the same for your creative self. So, think about creating your own personal artist’s residency. Good luck! And leave a comment if you’ve successfully done this!