Fevery and nauseous today. After a jaunt over the water Saturday to see my dear island-bound friends (45 minute drive, 30 minute ferry ride, 20 minute drive) and back, through lashings of cold wet wind and driving rain, I started feeling – not surprisingly – achy and chilled. But it didn’t go away and I spent all yesterday in bed with nothing but crackers and ginger ale. Still not better, which makes me sad, because I really wanted to go see Rebecca Loudon do her reading tonight at Hugo House. She is one of my favorite local poets, and I haven’t seen her read in ages. Blah! Fie on this frail immune system of mine!
But aside from that, I am feeling very blessed. For one, the aforementioned island poet friends – a lovely group that has stuck by one another for several years, and continues to rah-rah one another on every success. For another, Kelli A. showed me her copy of 32 Poems (Now in Perfect Bound!) on the back of which Deb Ager kindly printed a cute little ad for my book, Becoming the Villainess. And Eduardo also gave a little shout-out for my book on his blog this weekend, which I was very cheered by even in my current nauseous state! Thanks E! These little things really add up, especially when I haven’t written a line of poetry in a couple of weeks, much less sent anything out, and I start feeling like I’m not really a writer, etc. The kindness of others can not be overvalued.
Now I’m going to go crawl back into bed.

OK, first of all, remember to vote! I did a mail-in vote, which doesn’t feel quite as satisfying as punching holes or whatever.

Back to the working world…
Just interviewed for – and I think accepted – a part-time job working with Expedia. It will be nice to have a steady paycheck again. I’ve been freelancing since I started school, but nothing steady, nothing that guarantees money in the bank. So this will be a good change, I think. Orientation on Friday! This is good, because not only is Christmas coming, but my student loans will start being due in January after graduation…and there’s this book publishing enterprise I want to start…

A call for poems…Though I have abdicated my role as editor of Silk Road recently, my good friend Lisa Galloway is still plugging away there, and is in desperate need of good poems of place! She’s requested that you send your poems to her at lisagalloway at gmail dot com. It’s a beautiful journal, so what are you waiting for?

I have been pleasantly surprised recently by reading material in new issues of the Writer’s Chronicle (put out by AWP) and American Poetry Review. In APR, a fascinating essay on the friendship of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, which had a wonderful gossipy tone that sounded genuine and invested, not creepy. In The Writer’s Chronicle, a long interview with multiple poet/editors, including the editors at Sarabande, Tupelo, Rain Taxi, and others. Other articles of interest in there too, like one on creative research.

Got to see some poet friends this weekend in the middle of a flood, a windstorm, and heavy rain. You know those times when good things happen to people you care about – a lot of them, all at once? That’s going on with me now. I think I must be good luck! Apocolyptic weather today again. Read and loved Names Above Houses by Oliver de la Paz – especially the prose poems telling of a young boy’s discovery of wings.

(Updated: As a reward for those of you who voted, or a punishment to those of you who did not, depending on your feelings about kittens:
Trick…or Treat?)

Hey, you say, when will Jeannine stop posting kitten pictures and start talking about poetry again? Well, today’s that day!
I got to hang out with Jennifer Thorton on a somewhat otherwise miserable rainy day, and we went to see a really fun reading by Rigoberto Gonzalez, Rick Barot, and Oliver de la Paz (my faves were a group of sonnets by Rigoberto titled “What the Dead Teach Us,” Rick’s poem “Magnolia” and Oliver’s persona poems from his book, “Names Above Houses.”) And I saw Dr. Peter there! I’m looking forward to reading Oliver’s book.
I’ve been loving The Daily Show’s Ohio episodes this week, as a former resident of the state. Tune in for skewering of “wholesome” flyover country, replete with Bob Evans references.
I’ve been trying to write a “finale” poem for the new book, sort of a breakup for the husband/wife characters, and everything I write sounds too much like Louise Gluck. I mean, I love her work, she does write some good breakup poems, but I don’t want to be all derivitive and whatnot. Sigh.
Voting coming up soon. Remember: Try to vote for the least stupid, or the least evil. Also, read those many poorly-written initiatives closely. This is where all those high-school mandated Government classes pay off!

Meanwhile, in a total rip-off of The Onion…

Kitten thinks of nothing but murder all day.

In real news, I’m looking forward to hearing a great reading at UW this Thursday with Oliver de la Paz, Rigoberto Gonzalez, and Rick Barot.

Hope you had a great holiday, complete with lots of pumpkins, black cats, and candy!

I’ve been sickly (this darn sinus infection is killing me!) but somewhat productive this week:
–part-time jobs applied for: three (one teaching, one technical, one travel writing)
–grant applications: one
–festival applications: one
–poems written: one
–acceptances (thank you, Columbia Poetry Review): one
–pounds of junk mail thrown out: six hundred
–chapbooks received in mail (Slice of Cherry Pie): one. By the way, Ivy, Shanna, and all involved: A kick-ass piece of work. I loved every poem, I devoured the whole thing at once, I want everyone to read this, whether or not they are Twin Peaks Fans. PS You should be selling this at the Snoqualamie Lodge too! (where they shot some of Twin Peaks.) One of my favorites is the prose poem by Jared Leising. Love love love!
–horrible MLA-formatted two-year bibliographies finished: one
–kitten-related injuries: three
–kitten pictures taken: too many (and here’s another, this time in demon kitten mode chewing on Glenn)

I know I’m very far behind in my review work (I have several books including Laurel Snyder and Kate Greenstreet’s stacked in my “to review” pile. Patience! On 11/20, my thesis will be done, and I will have time again.