Solar Eclipse Reading Material (and book birthdays), Flare, Corona, Under the Weather in Springtime, More Reading Notes, and Upcoming Zoom Classes and Readings

Solar Eclipse Reading Material (and Book Birthdays)—Flare, Corona

The solar eclipse is tomorrow, and it’s almost my (and my book’s) birthday, so may I suggest some eclipse reading material? Flare, Corona has eclipses, solar weather, supervillains, terrible diagnoses, surviving, and a surprising number of foxes and coyotes. You can order Flare, Corona from BOA Editions, Ltd., or from local bookstores like Open Books, or a signed copy directly from me. Okay, that’s enough eclipse cross-promotion for now.

I was thinking about my last birthday, and the book launch last year, and seeing my parents and little brother and friends all together. It was a really fun day. The last four years have not had enough celebration in them. I’ve been so stressed lately I haven’t taken the time to be grateful for the good things that have happened in the last year. Even in the last couple weeks, when I’ve been stressed about a) trying to get an ADA bathroom remodel done without losing my mind or all my money, b) my purpose as a writer, and c) just general depression, I’ve had so many friends encouraging and supporting me, so thank you to all of you who sent me a little note or bothered to say something nice. I am grateful to you!

And, thanks to friends’ encouragement, I’m going to run a few Zoom classes, including one on “Possible Futures: Apocalypses and Solarpunk,” and another on persona poetry. I may also run one on PR for Poets if there’s enough interest, which instead of generating poems, would include Q&A.  (Let me know in the comments if you’d be interested!)

I’m also doing a live in-person reading as part of a Jack Straw Reunion special at the Jack Straw Cultural Center on the evening of April 24, with other Jack Straw Alumni and friends. My first in-person reading in a while, so if you’re in the area and free check it out! 

I did get the good news that I’ll be doing a writing residency on San Juan Island this summer, which will mean…two residencies in a single year…I’ve never done that before. It really does help when I’ve got a manuscript I’m working on and new poems that need to be written.

(It also turns out my foot bones were not broken as I feared last week, just soft-tissue damaged, so I only have to stay off the foot for a couple of weeks while it heals, and side note, my foot bones are stronger and thicker now in x-rays than my x-rays six years ago! Take that, age related bone density! In all seriousness, I think this is because I’ve been able to exercise more in the past six years, ironically, since my MS diagnosis in 2017, because the diagnosis led to more intense physical therapy, and now I am able to do much more outside than I used to be able to. So see, even things to be grateful for that I didn’t realize I’d be grateful for, like getting diagnosed with MS, which led, ironically, to better physical health.)

Fox statue with pink rhododendrons

Under the Weather in Springtime (and National Poetry Month)

I love April, and I’m usually fairly healthy in spring, but I’ve been taken down by another upper respiratory bug this last week (not covid, but still unpleasant), the weather’s been unseasonably grey and cold, plus foot injury recovery, so I’ve mostly been staying in.

Despite being sick, spring continues all around, this week with blooming rhododendrons and tulips starting. I hope I’ll be well enough next week to get up to La Conner to see the tulip fields there, which we always try to do around my birthday. I love it up there. I always come back feeling inspired. And thinking about retiring to a farm with miniature horses.

More Reading Notes

Two books this week that are worth noting are The Husbands: a Novel by first time novelist (and former game designer) Holly Gramazio. The premise is that a single woman comes home from a party to find that she is married to a man she has never met, and that when she sends a husband into her attic, a new husband appears, and her apartment (and life) change accordingly. You can tell the book was written by someone who loves math and gardening. No spoilers, but the book ends up being quite a meditation on marriage and the importance of (and dangers of) regretting your “what if’s.” It’s lighter than my usual fare, but speculative enough to keep my interest, and I read the whole thing in one sitting.

My other read was my Bookwalter Winery Book Club Pick for National Poetry Month, Terrance Hayes’ So to Speak. It’s a bit quieter (more meditative?) than Hayes’ previous books, as he takes on topics like the pandemic, and makes references to his previous book, American Sonnets for My Once and Future Assassin, and even has a comic based on Octavia Butler (one of my favorite solarpunks) and DIY sestina exercises complete with charts and graphs. It’s an enjoyable read, even if you haven’t already been introduced to his work, and if you were already a fan, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at some of this new work. If you’d like to join the book club, we’ll also be doing a brief open mic after the book discussion. It’s at the Bookwalter Winery tasting room in Woodinville, we meet at 6:30 April 10, and yes there will be wine!

Keep your eyes open for more information about the upcoming readings and Zoom classes. Enjoy your eclipse!