Oh! The New Superhero Stamps from the Post Office feature Wonder Woman doing something I quote in my poem, “Wonder Woman Dreams of the Amazon.”
“…Inexplicably, snow-feathered doves appear in my hands…”
Check it. I write it, and it becomes a stamp. What does this mean?
Incidentally, the scene where she produces doves is in a comic-book fight with Mars, the God of War.

Back from Port Townsend (where we had record heat waves – in the 90’s – with no breeze and the buildings lack both air conditioning or much ventilation. ) On the plus side, I saw many little fawns and seals and walking in the morning on the beach was still very relaxing. And crashed many readings at the Centrum Writer’s Conference, since I didn’t officially sign up for the conference, just kind of made my way to the events that sounded fun, including Ilya Kaminsky and Joshua Beckman. No internet and no cell phone, just my stack of books, the sand, the local wildlife (including a long-haired blonde woman rolling around in a suburban yard for some reason. Then, she shook herself off, and walked on. And, completely out of touch with the hippy atmosphere of Port Townsend, two young men in three-piece suits and gelled hair who accosted me outside the local grocery store, who looked like they had walked out of the movie Wall Street. )
Back in Seattle, where, again, we lack much in the way of air conditioning, I’m sadly making my way towards colder spaces – the mall (ho hum), the theater, with its rash of misogynist films about evil, vindictive women who want to hurt the unlikeable male leads – I’m thinking of seeing Clerks II just to avoid the Super Ex-Girlfriend or John Tucker movies – or, um, the grocery store? It just looks weird to hang around in a bank, even if it is air-conditioned.
I’ve read another five books on my reading list – including the fabulous Ink Dark Moon – worth the cost of admission just for Jane Hirshfield’s discussion of translating from the Japanese – and the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, which seemed so contemporary it was uncanny. I actually even used a tip from the book – in summer, in Japan around 900 AD, they put their hands in bowls of ice water to keep cool. Good thinking. She’s a writer who loves showing off how witty and clever she is, seems to be mostly amused by the men who try to seduce her, and generally makes fun of people in misery and the less fortunate. In short, sort of a “Mean Girls” model of the Heian period.
Check out these quotes:
From 62. Annoying Things: “One has sent someone a poem (or a reply to a poem) and, after the messenger has left, thinks of a couple of words that ought to be changed.”
From 14. Hateful Things: “A man with whom one is having an affair keeps singing the praises of some woman he used to know…(Yet sometimes I find it is not as unpleasant as all that.)
From 63. Embarrassing Things: “A man recites his own poems (not especially good ones) and tells one about the praise they received – most embarrassing.”
From 148. Pleasing Things: “Finding a large number of tales that one has not read before. Or acquiring a second volume of a tale whose first volume one has enjoyed. But often it is a disappointment.
Ha – # 148 could have been written about any summer sequel.

Another reading? Yes! This one is tomorrow night, Tuesday, in Redmond, WA, with the fantastic poet (and friend) Annette Spaulding Convy, with her sexy/funny convent poems. (After this, I’m ushering myself off to the beach and a B&B for a few days of R&R.)

SoulFood Poetry Night
Tuesday, July 18, 2006, 7:00 p.m.
SoulFood Books, 15748 Redmond Way, Redmond, Washington
(for directions, visit www.soulfoodbooks.com)
We’re pleased to feature the following poets, plus an open-mic reading:
Jeannine Hall Gailey is a Seattle-area journalist whose first book of poetry, Becoming the Villainess, was recently released by Steel Toe Books. Poems from the book have been featured on Verse Daily and on NPR’s Writer’s Almanac. Her work has also appeared in journals such as The Iowa Review, The Evansville Review, The Columbia Poetry Review, and others. Jeannine is studying for her MFA in poetry at Pacific University where she volunteers as a poetry editor for Silk Road.
Annette Spaulding-Convy’s poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, North American Review, and Crab Orchard Review. Her chapbook, In the Convent We Become Clouds, won the 2006 Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Contest. She is also the recipient of a Washington State Artist Trust GAP Grant.
Reading series curated and hosted by Lana Hechtman Ayers and Michael Dylan Welch.For information, please phone the store at 425-881-5309.

I have the crazy idea that I’d like to hop down to San Francisco around the first week of September and do some readings for Becoming the Villainess there. I found super-cheap airfare and hotel – but I don’t have many connections to the San Fran area. Is there anyone who could help set me up with a reading in the area? Thanks in advance!

Today is Glenn’s birthday, which means cake! and presents! And possibly going to that pirate movie, finally! A banner day all around.

Three acceptances this week from online literary magazines: Perigee, The Boxcar Poetry Review, and Poetry Southeast. All of them got back to me in less than a month! This cheered me up considerably, especially after I heard that in a response to a withdrawn poem, Many Mountains Moving thought they had lost my submission (they couldn’t be sure?) – after 14 months! Not to complain, but, really! That kind of thing just sucks the life out of me and my desire to lick envelopes.

I have a reading this Saturday, if you’re in the Kent/Auburn/Tacoma Washington area (my understanding is that these Cornucopia Days festivals involve tasty snack opportunities. I’m just saying.)

POETS AT KENT CORNUCOPIA DAYS
2-4 p.m. Saturday, July 15

The Northwest Renaissance this year celebrates its 20th consecutive summer poetry reading and conversation event a month early and in a new venue. The reading will take place 2-4 p.m. THIS COMING SATURDAY, JULY 15, in the Fine Art Exhibit, upstairs in the Green River Community College facility at Kent Station, 417 Ramsay Way in downtown Kent during Cornucopia Days. NWR program director Marjorie Rommel said “We’re delighted to find ourselves so much in the thick of things as part of the city’s historic Cornucopia Days in downtown Kent.”

This year’s readers include well-known Bellingham poets Malcolm Kenyon and rising slam star Dustin Ryler; Linda Malnack, Des Moines; Auburn poet and performance artist Stephanie Skura; Sherry Reniker, who teaches at Highline Community College; Seattle poet Jeannine Hall Gailey, whose new book Becoming the Villainess is just out from Steel Toe Books; and popular Tacoma poet and poetry host Michael Magee. Colorful (and highly dramatic) Kent poet R.D. Shadowbyrd will emcee.

The event, free and open to all, is supported by the Kent Arts Commission. For more information, contact Marjorie Rommel, 253/939-0571, mrommel@qwest.net, or visit the Kent Cornucopia Days website, http://www.ci.kent.wa.us/arts/news/2006_cornucopiadays.asp.