Three New Poems in Bourgeon, How to Cope with a Rough Week, Talking Publicity Efforts and Finishing Up Manuscripts and Other Poetry Things

Three New Poems in DC-based Bourgeon

I want to start with a thank you to DC-based Bourgeon, a new literary journal, for publishing three brand new poems from me, “A Woman Turns Fifty with Cherry Blossoms,” “Cassandra Reminds Us the Spring,” and “Dating Profile” (which, warning, is a little spicy.) Here’s a link to read them all. 

Sneak peek of one of the poems below:

How to Survive a Rough Week

So this week has been a little rough, with more shootings, I’ve been struggling with a never-ending sinus/bronchitis infection not helped by the constant rain and storms (will we ever get spring weather? Before we get blistering summer? It seems not!), more fights against the rights of women, and my father-in-law in the hospital many miles away in Ohio.

I often tell people that surviving a bad week is purposefully grounding yourself in things that bring you peace, happiness: for me that includes pink flowers, my pink typewriter, and spending time with friends and loved ones, even if that’s on the phone.

Our garden was trashed by the cold wet winter and spring—lots of stuff died or is dying of mold or related diseases – so we picked up a few new plants to put in the ground. It’s not like we lost a crop as farmers, but still, Glenn and I put so many hours into so many things that did not survive (or were eaten by deer) that it’s discouraging. It’s not just us—we’ve strolled many nearby usually-flower-filled spaces that have been decimated by either poor weather or construction (so much construction killing so many flowers and trees).  Still, baby bunnies, chickadees feeding baby chickadees, and flowers cheer us up.

Talking Publicity for a New Book, Finishing a Manuscript and Other Poetry Things

I had a good conversation with a friend who just had a book come out. She has been doing a ton of readings—both in person and on Zoom—and was just two weeks into her book’s launch, but was feeling overwhelmed. When is enough enough?

My attitude towards this, when I talked about it in my book PR for Poets, is that no one will ever say “you’re doing enough” so you have to decide. If you love doing readings, or social media, or sending out postcards, do that. Poetry has a longer shelf life than most things, so don’t worry if in the first month you haven’t gotten to everything – interviews, podcasts, blog posts, readings, etc – all of it takes it out of you, especially in the third year of a pandemic and people are just starting to go to bookstores in person again. So be kind to yourself, set boundaries. Don’t say yes to everything. And try to celebrate the small wins.

As I am finishing up my final version of Flare, Corona for BOA Editions, a lot of anxieties have come up. Is this grammar okay? Why did I leave punctuation out of this part of the poem but not this other part? Have I forgotten people I need to thank (probably!) or acknowledgements for poems that might have slipped through the cracks? I really do need to turn it in to typesetting but there is so much you want to all of the sudden fix about your manuscript. Since this is my sixth poetry book, I can say yes, this is also a normal part of the process. I get very insecure about my book right before it goes out into the world. I loved the book so much while I labor-intensively (and money intensively) sent it out to publishers. I loved it when it was taken. But now, I see nothing but flaws.

I also got a few acceptances this week that would normally be big deals to me but it felt hard to celebrate with so much other bad stuff going on. The world feels very dark and dismal (and it’s not just the abnormally cold rain, though that hasn’t helped). If you are struggling, please reach out for support and take good care of yourself. Please remember you are making a difference in the world, even if sometimes it doesn’t feel that way. Maybe take a break from social media and news. A friend of mine reminded me to submit poems (which I hadn’t been) and give myself time to write (which I also hadn’t been doing much of). Put at least one positive thing on your calendar just for fun. Wishing you as good a week as possible.