Odd Convergences in a Small Town…

Sometimes things just come together. Today I got two contributor copy magazine issues (of Mythic Delirium – a paying market, by the way, of science-fic poetry, and Poetry International, where I share pages with the likes of Li-Young Lee, Nin Andrews, Lynell Edwards, and more…) and two acceptances in e-mail, one from the very last issue of the Journal of Mythic Arts, a terrific resource that I’m so so sad is at an end.
Then, I got an acceptance of a query for a poetry journalism piece, then an e-mail inviting me to a small reading and Q&A session with CD Wright (!!) this very afternoon! She’s going to read in a few days in Seattle, but she happened to be in my small-town neck of the woods for a local class, so it was basically the ten students, ten folks from Copper Canyon, and me! Fun times. She read some from her newest book, which I liked as it was all post-apocalyptic. I definitely benefited from hearing her read her work – I had thought of her as a difficult poet, but when you hear how she reads it, it no longer seems difficult, if that makes sense. She was very charming and down to earth, too, answering questions. She talked a little bit about collaboration with artists (which I loved hearing about) and about hybrid forms (same.) I asked about her use of the line, which always seemed to me to be very progressive. She responded that “I was never very good at the line, but I was good with sentences, and dialogue, and so I wrote around my weaknesses.” Ha! Like I said, very charming.
It was also my first day of this current residency, which goes through June. If only the cabins had internet – or I had one of those roaming internet devices. It seems like all my work these days – submitting, researching, interviewing, etc – requires an internet connection. And don’t forget I’m researching new cities to live in, as well – the move is just around the corner now, and we still haven’t made a solid decision…