Spring Equinox, St Patrick’s Day, Vaccinations, a New Book in the Works, and an Upcoming Redmond Poet Laureate Reading

White cherry blossoms, white sky

Spring Equinox and a New Book in the Works

It’s cold and gray on today’s Spring Equinox and official first day of spring here in Seattle, although there is evidence spring is approaching or at least trying to make some progress. I usually write and think about poetry (and life) more on the equinox for whatever reason (passage of time, seasons, poetry stuff, don’t they go hand in hand?) and today found me organizing, shuffling, taking poems in and out, copyediting a brand new poetry manuscript – all written in the last year and a half. A press asked to see the full manuscript yesterday, which led to me having a flurry of fixing and editing and polishing and retitling. But it was a good feeling – productive, happy – to be working on this new book manuscript, and looking towards the future.

St Patrick’s Day and Vaccinations

It was a more celebratory St. Patrick’s Day this year than usual because I was finally able to get the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, so a lucky day indeed. I felt great the day of the shot, no allergic reactions, though had a down day the next day (like a normal human – fever, chills, headache, nothing crazy.) It was sunny and Glenn and I went out and took pictures with the plum blossoms afterwards. Glenn won’t have his shot for another week or two at least so it’s a moderated celebration, but it feels like there’s something positive on the horizon. after so much stress and anxiety about when and how I’d get the shot and if I’d catch covid before I got the shot.

Washington State has only vaccinated about 12 percent of people so far, so we still have a long way to go to any kind of “safe” opening up, but at least it’s finally moving forward after crawling at a snail’s pace while other states raced ahead. The process of getting the vaccination appointment took three people (myself, my mother in Ohio, and Glenn) after a friend called me to clue me into to how the vaccines were proceeding so yay teamwork, but it shouldn’t have been such an undertaking. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you are still waiting for your shot – your tech-savvy friends and family, your friends who are volunteering at vaccine sites – and I hope you all get your treasured vaccines sooner rather than later. It really took away a great weight and anxiety I had been feeling for at least a year, but even more recently as numbers and variants have been on the rise. I feel like I can focus on other aspects of life again. Like writing. And friendships. And living life.

And my birthday is coming up at the end of April, usually a happier time although last year it had a distinctly mournful feel in the middle of rising death tolls and with the vaccine far on the horizon. I hope this year will have better things on the horizon.

Upcoming Redmond Poet Laureate Reunion Reading

And I have a Zoom reading coming up – a Redmond Poet Laureate Reunion reading, with current Redmond Poet Laureate (and friend) Raul Sanchez, Rebecca Woods Meredith, Michael Dylan Welch, myself, Shin Yu Pai, and Melanie Noel. It’s from 3 PM to 4:30 PM Pacific on Thursday the 25th, so you’ll see each of us read for a few minutes, which should be fun. I’m going to read some new work!

Here’s where to register for the event.