After an outpouring of kindness to me during the last few days, I am grateful for so many thoughtful and encouraging friends and acquaintances and yesterday I got even notes in the mail and a kitty-grieving care package containing chocolates and kitty socks and a very touching pencil portrait of my cat by my friend’s daughter. Thanks everyone, your well-wishes have really helped.
It also helped to be really busy this weekend with poetry-related and non-poetry related stuff – In Posse Review – who recently published an issue with some great Seattle poets – including friends like Peter Pereira 😉 – had a party at this cool coffee-and-wine bar place – I didn’t have any poetry in there but I showed up because I interviewed poet Brian Turner (of Here, Bullet) for the issue. It was nice to chat with a bunch of local poets and hang out and socialize – nothing like a party to take your mind off what’s bothering you – and afterwards, we visited the nearby Scarecrow Video – a place famous for its huge selection of movies of all kinds – and found not only rare Miyazaki videos and DVDs but a whole wall labeled POETRY – with video tapes and DVDs of things like readings and interviews by Merwin and Gluck and Jorie Graham and videos about poetry, slam poetry readings, who knew these things existed? I checked out the Gluck and Lucille Clifton videos and also Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service, which was definitely more child-oriented even than Spirited Away. Then today I met with a few other poet friends for enjoyable poetry chat and then visited the Animé Store in Bellevue, where I bought nothing but admired the idea of a store devoted to anime – it even has themed snacks, which I was too chicken to try. Yesterday I got word of the first proof copy of my book – which had some things wrong on the cover – so I also had that to stress about, a good distraction from dead-cat thoughts.

Thanks everyone for your well-wishes. We did end up having another vet do a cat-autopsy, and found that my kitty had a genetic progressive heart condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy that caused her heart walls to thicken over time, so that a seemingly healthy cat can just drop dead at any time, and the only way to diagnose it is with a doppler EKG. Although the pain meds may have been too much for her and slowed her already-overworked heart to the breaking point. I keep thinking, if only…A lot of purebred cats have this condition, apparently, though our little mutt kitty was not purebred. She sure was cute and sweet though. I just wish I had been able to say goodbye. Bye little black kitty, who was nicknamed “Gamorg” after the wolf-amimate-creature in the Neverending Story because of her long, long fangs. I was thinking it was about this time last year that I almost died during surgery because of an undiagnosed (and, also, rare) bleeding disorder. I was so mad at my surgeon/doctor then, but now I have forgiven her. Everyone makes mistakes, and doctors can’t assume everyone they work on is going to be the exception. Maybe over time I will get over my anger at the vet…Sorry to fill the blog with cat pictures. Soon, I’m sure, I’ll be back to talking poetry…

My black kitty, who I loved very much although she was always a little iffy with visitors, died this morning after a routine procedure at the vet. I don’t know what to do with the body, or whether to have an autopsy. Should I still pay the vet that killed my cat? She was only seven. Today is a crying day.

Back from RadCon, and thankful to be back in the chilly but heavily treed part of my state…
So, an interesting weekend in the desert half of Washington State, where the landscape (dramatic bare red hills, very little vegetation except…wow, tumbleweeds!) seems appropriate for a Martian convention. So cold outside in that part of WA that it literally hurt to walk outside. The best part was meeting some wonderful sci-fi writers and artists. The worst part – our room had no hot water in the mornings. Not a fun way to start the day, and all the other rooms were booked. Ah, conventions. The hotel did have a surprisingly nice little wine bar with things like duck salad on the menu (yum!) – not what you’d expect from a little no-Starbucks town. The panels were a lot of fun, and the reading went okay (although an impromptu reading at one of the artists’ panels – when they were doing collaborative sketching – was more fun.) I have to admit that, though I consider myself fairly geeky, that I was a bit afraid of, for instance, attendees in vampire teeth and/or sketchy costumes. Also, wayyy too many conversations with drunk people. And now I know more than I wanted to about “furry fan fiction.”
My intrepid companions on this surreal journey included my cover artist, Michaela Eaves, my friend from Portland Rusty, and the stalwart husband. They were great company on the three-and-a-half hour drive up and back.
Now I have to start thinking about AWP. I’ve been told it’s possible that there might be copies of my book up there that my publisher, Tom from Steel Toe Books, might be bringing. So, I’m excited about that, and meeting my blogger friends. And I haven’t been to Texas since I was about ten.
And, I’ve been trying to teach myself some Japanese, including the kanji, as I’ve been researching Japanese pop culture and fairy tales for this new manuscript I’m working on. I’ve learned the following words: older brother, older sister, younger brother, cherry blossoms, city, bamboo, and love. I can barely really call it a manuscript; it’s really only twenty finished poems and then ten more unfinished. It may not be the easiest language to teach yourself – my brother took Japanese at college for three years, and says it’s still challenging for him to read it. I’ve been checking Manga out of the library too. It’s really fascinating how connected American and Japanese pop culture are, and yet how they come from totally different traditions. Yup, I’m in some kind of fevered writing-research mode for sure. I did finish a new poem over the weekend, although not sure it’s good.
Came home to a couple of signature-less rejections. And I’m starting to freak out that although I mailed my NEA application on January 31st, certified mail, return receipt requested, and usps tracking SAYS it was delivered to “someone” on February 6th, I haven’t received any return receipt. Or the SASP. Should I resend? But the NEA guidelines say they automatically reject multiple submissions. Fret, fret.
Thanks to everyone who offered to help with the reviews! If you want to be on my list of reviewers, or have any suggestions of where to send the book for review, please drop me a line if you haven’t already 🙂

Embarrassment of poetry riches in the mail in the last few days…
Charles Jensen sent me a copy of Red Mountain Review, which besides containing his impressive chapbook of intense, persuasive poems, also had a poem by Janet Knox (one of my workshop peeps,) an old classmate of mine from the U of Cincinnati, Jim Murphy, fellow Blogger Alison Pelegrin…I mean, how fun is that? It’s a great looking journal, by the way, for those of you that don’t have it yet…
Also, received Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s beautiful broadsides of the twisted but delicious poem “Small Murders” – how can you not love that? It also has a picture of Aimee on it. If there is ever a fashion-doll created for poets, they should use her as a model. With accessories!
Speaking of fashion and accessories, page 62 of the March Glamour (on shelves now!) there are two poems, one from Louise Glück’s upcoming book, Averno, which I am very much looking forward to. Poetry in fashion magazines? How do I get some of that action? Better than the NY Times…
Found out I may be helping to judge a small chapbook contest. I’m excited to do it. The press is one that does really great work.
Time is getting close on the book. Must find reviewers. I think I have five and I should have more like ten or fifteen at least. If you’d like to be on my list of peeps to receive copies of the book for review, let me know, and if you have any suggestions of good places to send my book for review, let me know that too. It’s knuckle-chewing work, I tell you. I know you’re going to get sick of me talking about it, so just give me a hand-signal or something when I go on too long…
Also, picked out poems for the reading on Saturday at Radcon. Twenty minutes worth, though I’m signed up for thirty, because thirty minutes can seem really long. Also considering doing research on the panel topics, “Mythology in sci-fi” and “Writing for gamers,” though I think I know something about both topics.
Sent a brand new chapbook of animé/Japanese fairy tale poems to Tupelo’s chapbook contest. I wasn’t even thinking of doing another chapbook, but I’ve been spitting out all these poems that kind of have the same theme, so I thought, why not? Nothing ventured…