Amidst the turmoil of illness and the sadness of death (of our beloved cat, Lou-Lou), the world of poetry churns on. Here are a few announcements.
I'll be reading in Fayetteville, AR on Saturday, 22 October, for the Improved Lighting Reading Series. These readings take place at the fabulous Nightbird Books on Dickson Street. We start at 7:30 that night, and I'm thrilled to be reading with Amanda Auchter, Tony Presley, and Mark Spitzer.
If you are in the area, please stop by. There will be Earnestine giveaways of some sort. :)
Having done my MFA at the U of Arkansas in Fayetteville, I'm super excited to be invited back to my favorite college town in one of its prettiest months.
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Saturday, I received my contributor's copy for the latest South Dakota Review, which is under the new leadership of Lee Ann Roripaugh, the first woman editor and only the third editor in the history of this wonderful journal.
This issue is AMAZEBALLS and you must get a copy ASAP to read poems by Adam Clay, Mary Biddinger, Bruce Covey, Matt Mauch, Heidi Czerwiec, me, and so many more (not to mention the fiction and nonfiction, too!). Also, I love the new larger format. So weighty in the hands.
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Tomorrow is our second event in the Big Rock Reading Series. Wahoo. I simply cannot wait for Alison Pelegrin to get to town and unleash her poetic powers on the PTC audience. I'm not sure they know what's about to hit them. If you are in the area, the reading starts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night. All information here.
Alison is a good friend and an awesome poet. She has two full-length collections from the University of Akron Press: Big Muddy River of Stars and the HOT OFF THE PRESSES Hurricane Party. I've read both and YOWZA. Also, I definitely think Hurricane Party should win some kind of design award for this cover. Spectacular.
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In the meantime, I also received two out-of-the-blue emails from poets who had read my work in other journals and wanted to let me know what they'd enjoyed about the work. I've written here before about my own mission to reach out to those writers whose work speaks to me whenever I'm reading a journal or book. Being on the receiving end of such emails reminds me to double my effort in the future. It really is spectacular.
One of those sending an email is also an editor for a long-standing and extremely well-respected journal. He asked me to send in some of my work. As we all know, there is nothing guaranteed about this kind of solicitation, but I wanted to mention it here for those who wonder if this kind of thing really happens. Yes, apparently it does. Apparently it is true that editors read other journals and seek out the work of those writers they admire. (I hear tell that if you write fiction, this sometimes applies to agents as well.)
So thank you to the two people who took the time to email me last week about my poems. It was a hell week on a personal level, and those emails dropped into my inbox at the perfect time.
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Until next time, friends and fans of the Kangaroo, be safe, be happy, be content.
4 comments:
I'm so glad to hear about all this good news, which I hope helps your spirit after your sad news.
Thanks, Kathleen. Those cats had so much to teach me and it seems they go on teaching even after they are gone.
Hi Sandy,
I can't believe we missed each other in Fay by only three weeks!! Good luck with your reading on Oct 22; tell Amanda I said hi.
Congrats about being solicited by an editor. That does sound lovely. And thanks for posting about the new editor at South Dakota Review--I will need to pick up the issue you're in, so thanks for steering me that way.
Hope you get through your stack of papers quickly so you can get back to The Real Work.
Hey, Martha,
Bummer to miss you, but thanks for the note here.
The stack of papers is always there, so the Real Work goes on to spite it! :)
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