Watching the sand blow sideways on the beach here at Seaside, Oregon, which makes for a pleasantly myopic effect – the soft moving dunes appear and disappear in the windstorm. Tonight we might even get snow.
Last night, as part of Pacific University’s evening readings, I listened to Marvin Bell read with jazz bassist Glen Moore, and I’m getting ready to do my graduate reading in about an hour. While I’ve been gone, birds have been dropping dead in Austin, New York City had a foul stench shut down parts of the city, a woman lit herself on fire in a Seattle hotel, and apparently, the stomach flu is sweeping the nation. Perhaps a good time to be isolated in a tiny town on the coast. As long as there are no tsunamis 🙂 (There are tsunami warning signs all over town. I do have an emergency weather radio, just in case. No worries!)
It’s weird to be away from my regular life. I’m such a typical Taurus, creature of routine. I never feel as productive or social at these residencies as I want to be. Ten days is a long time to go, go, go! I’m looking forward to some quiet time when I get home.

Today through next Sunday I’m the featured poet at Fickle Muses. Check it out!

All right, my friends, I’m off to rainy Seaside for ten days. Enjoy yourselves!

Yesterday I laughed out loud while reading this sentence (from gothic novel with a twist The Thirteenth Tale) This sentence is spoken by the ambiguous villainess/heroine of the book:
“People whose lives are not balanced by a healthy love of money suffer from an appalling obsession with personal integrity.”
Argue about or discuss at will.

Check out the new Pebble Lake Review!

I hope to post a blog or two from the residency, but if not, I miss you and will have plenty to post about when I get back. I wish you health and happiness til then.

Yet another reason to go back and get your MFA…
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/health/03aging.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5059&en=55b8bb4109973f3c&ex=1168491600&partner=AOL
Want a longer life? Go back to school!

Only four days to go until my last residency at Pacific University and my graduation as a full-fledged MFA holder. At the last minute, today, my thesis advisor, Pattiann Rogers, let us know that since her house has been damaged in the blizzards of Colorado, she would not be able to come out to the residency, so we had to arrange a new last-minute thesis review chair, which is going to be Marvin Bell. Which, I mean, come on, I can’t really complain. There were really no bad choices, since I liked all my advisors really well. One thing that Pacific’s MFA has going for it is a terrific faculty. It was just the flurry of sending my thesis around for one more round of reviewing – at the last minute – that made me a little nervous. But I think it will go fine. And Marvin will probably have lots of terrific, helpful things to say. He always does 🙂
So, still have to do the errands, pack, and get everything together (practice the class I’m giving, organize poems for the reading, etc.) And then graduation. Everyone keeps asking, what are you doing after graduation? I’d love a little part-time teaching job, I think, or something in publishing. But probably I’ll just keep freelancing until something hits me on the head out of the blue. Keep fiddling with my second book manuscript. Keep hitting myself on the head for not writing fiction instead of poetry.
Warning: Below you will find the meanderings of a mind on a serious dose of cold medicine.
Last night I re-watched some episodes of Heroes (you probably know I’m fascinated with this show, the X-Men-like premise of “average” people finding out they have bizarre abilities.) I was reminded once again how much the narratives of comic books are like the narratives of major religions – how the “chosen” must struggle to live up to their potential, deciding to use their powers for good rather than evil or selfish gain, performing miracles for the “unchosen.” What makes a person a hero in real life? There are many people who have had tremendous impact on history, but most of them aren’t heroic – rather, the villains steal most of the limelight. How can we impact the world for the better? I guess I would label myself a realistic optimist – Despite the obvious evil around us, I still stubbornly believe that we can help each other, if we could only figure out how. I have this feeling that poetry is a power for good because it helps us practice empathy – the art of getting inside someone else’s head, which may help us have compassion for each other. Okay, I bet you’re tired of my hokey philosophizing now. But I do feel hopeful about 2007. May it be a better year for me, for you, a more heroic year for our country, for the world, for more demonstrations of the impact of compassion, of love, of courage and not fear, hate, or bitterness. In the words of David & David (obscure 80’s band – bear with me:)
“Past the punks and the drunks and the bad guitar players and the dewy-eyed, teenage dragon slayers, you come to this place…And you can say I just want to walk with you, as we do the things that we know we have to do, ever hopeful and ever true…And though we both know deep down in our hearts that one day this will all fall apart, oh for right now, let’s just be heroes.”