Reading Report from Jack Straw, More Family Matters, and Spring Brings Some Serious Pondering
- At May 05, 2013
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
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Friday’s reading at Jack Straw, just a day or so from the May Day violence downtown and on the same night as readings by legends like Rae Armantrout and Kwame Dawes (both of whom I was genuinely sorry to miss!)…well, let’s just say my expectations for audience were modest, especially considering the mild sunny weather, nearly perfect. But no – it was packed! I even saw some old friends I hadn’t seen in a while who decided to come out, which was great. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed listening to the other Jack Straw readers, in particular poet Emily Perez who read fairy tale poems and a really touching tribute to her father.
Unfortunately, I had new bad news about my family that night – this time, the wife and stepson of one of my older brothers were in a car accident while I was at the reading and strangely, they also diagnosed my sister-in-law, because of the x-rays, with pretty advanced pneumonia. My parents – including my mom, who has just gone through her own health crisis – went to the hospital to help out. Yikes! Any good thoughts directed towards my family would be appreciated.
And thank goodness for Saturday clinic hours – I ended up at the doctor’s yesterday, on a beautiful blooming May Saturday at 75 degrees, diagnosed with yet another respiratory infection. I do end up sick after readings quite a bit, it seems. But it didn’t stop me from going out on some wonderful strolls looking at goslings under willow trees, little new baby rabbits (or “minibuns” – which makes them sound delicious, doesn’t it?) and the now-fading blossoms of lilac and cherry and apple in Woodinville and Redmond. I figure, my by-now shredded nerves worrying about my family needed a little distraction. I haven’t been able to write much the last week and have thought about things like, should I have my parents move in with me, or close to me, as they get older? Can I help take care of them? Is it irresponsible of me to try to be a poet in a time when money is so tight? Yet, this kind of angst seems wrong in such beautiful weather…
Hope you all had a wonderful Star Wars day and free comic book day yesterday, and today, a lovely Cinco de Mayo!
Jeannine Hall Gailey served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington and the author of Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, Unexplained Fevers, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, and winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and SFPA’s Elgin Award, Field Guide to the End of the World. Her latest, Flare, Corona from BOA Editions, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. She’s also the author of PR for Poets, a Guidebook to Publicity and Marketing. Her work has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poetry, and JAMA.
Drew
Jeannine _
I, too, grapple with the inner monologue of guilt. Your question, “Is it irresponsible of me to try to be a poet in a time when money is so tight?” is often my query, along with, “Is is selfish to desire time for myself (to read and write) when there are so many pressing things to be done (i.e, make money, tend the house . . . )?”
Kathleen Kirk
Good vibrations of health to everyone!