Waiting for Fall to Arrive, Deer and Dahlias, a Week of Recovery and Reading, and a Giveaway

Me posing post-hospital with dahlias

Waiting for Fall to Arrive

So, thank you for all your kind messages, notes, and even a few gifts this week as I recovered from my hospital trips last week. I took some selfies to prove I was indeed alive and if not totally well, at least on a path to recovery. And I wanted to show off some of my garden dahlias – they are so spectacular in August, as everything else in the garden is starting to die down.

We’ve had rain, thunderstorms, and went from 95 degrees back to the seventies. It is starting to feel a little like fall is arriving soon. I always do better in the autumn than the summer. Of course, there is a lot of stress for the parents of children off to school or college – or the kids themselves – anxiety over what will happen with coronavirus and a ton of bodies together again.

There is anxiety over the election (yes, I watched the DNC, and if you want my recommendations, watch Michelle Obama’s speech, Kamala Harris’, Elizabeth Warren address healthcare, and Joe Biden make the speech of his career (and correctly quote poetry!)

There is wildfire all up and down the West coast, and hurricanes coming in the coast. It does seem like we’ve brought on a bunch of curses all at once. Oh, and they released genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida. I’m sure nothing will go wrong, especially once they’ve sucked the blood of some meth gators. (Just kidding, Florida.) In general, it’s an anxiety-producing world. It’s an apocalypse movie that goes too long.

Glenn and I with dahlias, post-hospital

Deer and Dahlias

Meanwhile, this week brought me a lot of late-August beauty, birds, deer with fawns, the dahlias bursting into fantastic bloom, the last of the late roses. I even have a bouquet of late lavender by the bed. I’ve been slowly getting my mental energy back, and yesterday I had enough write a poem and send my book manuscripts to some new places (for me.) I’m really hoping to have a book taken soon so I can direct my energy in a positive way as the fall comes, and opportunities to be outside dwindle. It’s good to have something to worry about besides coronavirus death rates, the post office being threatened by our evil would-be dictator, my own struggle to overcome threats to my own body, my family back in Ohio, etc, etc.

I hope you’ll enjoy this gallery of photos from my home for the week: dahlias, roses, black-tailed doe and fawn, Steller’s jay, goldfinch with phlox.

Sylvia posing with Anna Maria Hong’s Fablesque

Reading and Recovery

One of the kind gifts sent to me this week was Anna Maria Hong’s new book from Tupelo Press, Fablesque. If you enjoy fairy-tale-twisted poetry, mythology, experimental poetry, prose poetry, and harrowing tales of fathers escaping North Korea, this book is for you. I very much enjoyed it, and as you can see, Sylvia cuddled up to it right away.

I tried a bit of This is How You Lose the Time War, a sci-fi novel my little brother recommended, and finished Joan Didion’s White Album, thinking about starting the Year of Magical Thinking next. I’ve also been continuing my re-read of AS Byatt’s Possession, particularly as I go to sleep. In the heat, in my fatigue, reading is a way to make my mind and body work together, pass the time while I heal, while I hide out. Not so different, really, than my reasons for reading as a young kid.

PR for Poets

A Giveaway – PR for Poets

And speaking of reading as healing and escape, I’m going to do a series of giveaways on the blog, starting with my latest book, PR for Poets. If you have a book that’s just come out or have a book that’s about to come out, and you’re stressed about how the heck you’re going to sell books in today’s, erm, climate, this book might just be helpful.

So, I’m giving away one copy of PR for Poets to someone in the US who needs it! Just leave a comment on this blog post, with your e-mail so I can contact you if you win. If you want, you can also leave the name of your new book or upcoming book, so more people can see it! I’ll pick someone next Saturday with a random number generator, and then I’ll start a giveaway for Field Guide to the End of the World.