friday

This morning I got an acceptance note from Pebble Lake Review for "Humidity" (little world, your afternoons are losing their edge...). I'm sooooo happy. On the phone at work I made up with my husband, and in the evening my son and I built our first model airplane! I mean, is this good or what? And Monday is a holiday in Germany. I think that's good, but won't be sure until it gets here.

sechszehn

Just jumped the halfway point in the poem-a-day forum. It's been good for me. Maybe I'll even do another round. If I get a good poem out of it I'll be thrilled, two and I'll implode. Here's the line-up so far:

16. Bitten (My thoughts now include the kisses of wild animals.)
15. The Telephone’s Two Eyes (The telephone’s two eyes are sobbing…)
14. Anniversary (chernobyl poem) (For twenty years no hand…)
13. If this is all (if this is all…)
12. Out of Order (Apparently, the rat poison…)
11. Cantata (As the tenor begins…)
10. Her Auburn Hair (Her five lovers brush the mud from themselves with straw…)
9. From Very High Heels (I always want more…)
8. Wink (I forgot to ask my mother what…)
7. Waiting Room (Only the sick are not heartless…)
6. Emergency Substitutions (If I don’t have 2 tbsp cognac the book says…)
5. You and Whose Army (The day was unkind…)
4. Me Jane (you bunker: me slug…)
3. Logbook (While we count casualties, the dead…)
2. Forecast (All day it showered; the rain…)
1. Early March (The snow arrives like a shipwreck…)

What is this

I got an invite from the editor of In Our Words: A Generation Defining Itself to submit some poems for consideration in this anthology. I had gotten the same invite last year and, as a natural skeptic, decided not to pursue it. Is anyone familiar with this publication? Is it good? Not so good? It claims to have published 900 writers, which raises me brown eyebrows.

All I Want

Got a rejection from Southeast Review. Too bad.
But the most important thing is I like the poems I’d sent them.
So I have them back now. The poem’s the thing.

I don’t care if I’m rejected by SE Review, but bring me a poem.
(A poem with legs, and soft haunches.)

I don’t care if I’m promoted at work, but bring me a poem.
(A poem that can stand on its head, like yogis, like water.)

I don’t care whose family we visit at Christmas, but bring me a poem.
(A poem sumptuous as blue ink on rough paper.)

I don’t care if I lose my internet access, but bring me a poem.
(A poem that eats lunch at midnight.)

I don’t care if there’s a run in my stocking, or if I add two grey hairs a day or George Bush finds oil on the moon, just bring me a poem.
(A poem that entertains like hipsway, and sings in the voice of a cricket.)

30 days

I'm doing the poem-a-day forum at the 30:30 forum of Inside the Writer's Studio. Interesting experience. When I studied language education, one focus was the language-learning "monitor," ie the superego in the head that edits what the learner says. If you have a high monitor, that means you don't speak the foreign language unless you're pretty sure what you're saying is correct. Low monitor means you just talk and talk without much concern about correctness.

I can't help but think of the monitor when trying to post a poem a day. You have to spit it out, right or wrong. Maybe you'll be incomprehensible. I need to drop my monitor and just write. I think in fact it's a pretty good start to writing altogether - just beginning and worrying later on.

Don't know yet what my poem will be today, which is day 6.
So far it's been:

5. You and Whose Army
4. Me Jane
3. Logbook
2. Forecast
1. Late Snow

A word or two

Looking at Common Ground Review's guidelines, I read this footnote on why they don't take simultaneous submissions:

*A word about simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions can cause editors serious problems. For example, the editors have accepted a poem for publication (after lengthy evaluation and some negotiation), and the poet notifies them the poem has been accepted elsewhere and wishes to have it withdrawn. At this point, the editors have spent a great deal of time planning layout. (i.e. which poems should face each other on opposing pages or where the best place is for each illustration.) Poems that occupy more than one page add another layout dimension. In addition, layout involves four pages not one. Subtract one poem and either add a poem or subtract three other pages. Whichever action occurs causes the editors to have to re-evaluated the journal layout and then start over again. The content page and the biographical pages of the journal will also have to be edited.

I can understand having a choice of poems to yourself is a nice comfortable feeling, and if I were an editor, I'm sure I'd prefer it. But in the interest of the poet, I wouldn't require exclusive submissions. Especially if I have a "lengthy evaluation" period. Especially since I don't know what business I'd have doing the layout for somebody's poem before I'd informed them that I wanted their poem and waited for their confirmation. If, however, the magazine has indeed informed the poet of acceptance (as the first line seems to suggest), and the poet nevertheless pulls the poem later on, then that poet is a jerk and isn't playing fair and demanding exclusive submissions from him/her probably isn't going to save the editors from anything.

Forsythia

Took browndog out for a walk around 630. Not a soul around, not even the newspaper lady. We found the blue ball dog destroyed yesterday and kicked it down the hill a bit. Or I kicked it and lazy watched. Having a dog has left my legs in tatters. I haven’t had this much exercise in forever. Nor did I want it. Beautiful morning on the brink of rain. Fogsoft. Green slopes, and the forsythia apparently just informed that Jesus is risen - everywhere its hair standing on end.

Came back and hid the colored eggs in the garden.

what the ....

ok, i'm hardly a war monger
having been a good young quaker
and I can't stomach the president of usa
but when iran in one breath says
its pursuit of the nuclear is peaceful
and in the next says
israel must be annihilated
i do wonder why they're looking
for the guy with the big stick

Dwellings

In the trunk, the stowaway.
In the dark, the smuggled diamonds.
In the wine, bitterness.
In the wool, the manger.
In the rain, the small cold fingers.
In the mailbox, weeping.
In the iron, rust.
In the horse, the donkey.
In the cane, brown sugar.
In the mother, sons.

Rock Salt Plum

I have an interview and two poems in the new Rock Salt Plum Review.

There's also an interview with Li-Young Lee. I found it very interesting what he said about trying to downplay his poetry in conversation with his mother, and how she's had to have other people translate them from English for her. It was especially interesting because the editor, Jalina Mhyana, had asked me for a poem about my mother and I declined in fear that she might read it, afraid it would hurt her feelings. And she's more important to me than the poem.

Nice issue. Have a look. I've always admired the layout and colors and poetry there.

It's Tweed Day

Tweed is not lazy.
Tweed has the inner ache-nature of straw.
Tweed reeks of blood sausage and barley.
Tweed’s virtues are infinite and unshakable.
Tweed above all remains industrious.
Tweed is miserable, and wants to lie down among its own kind.

It's Everything Has Been Purchased By A Corporation Or Lobbyist Group Month

April is…
· Chocolate Eaters Month
· Poetry Month
· Candlelight Vigil for Eating Disorders Awareness Month
· Cesarean Awareness Month
· Cancer Control Month
· Child Abuse Prevention Month
· Sexual Assault Awareness Month
· International Guitar Month
· Mathematics Education Month
· National Humor Month
· National Welding Month
· National Smile Month
· National Pecan Month
· Facial Protection Month
· Occupational Therapy Month
· STD Awareness Month
· Women’s Eye Health and Safety Month
· Stress Awareness Month
· Alcohol Awareness Month
· Autism Awareness Month
· National Garden Month
· National Anxiety Month
· Uh-Huh Month
· Keep America Beautiful Month
· Youth Sports Safety Month

April 1 is . . . . . One Cent Day
April 2 is . . . . . National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day
April 3 is . . . . . Tweed Day and Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day
April 4 is . . . . . Tell-A-Lie Day
April 5 is . . . . . Go For Broke Day
April 6 is . . . . . Sorry Charlie Day
April 7 is . . . . . No Housework Day
April 8 is . . . . . All Is Ours Day
April 9 is . . . . . Winston Churchill Day & Name Yourself Day
April 10 is . . . . Golfers Day
April 11 is . . . . Eight-Track Tape Day
April 12 is . . . . Look Up At The Sky Day
April 13 is . . . . Blame Somebody Else Day
April 14 is . . . . National Pecan Day
April 15 is . . . . Rubber Eraser Day
April 16 is . . . . National Stress Awareness Day & Eggs Benedict Day
April 17 is . . . . National Cheeseball Day
April 18 is . . . . International Jugglers Day
April 19 is . . . . Garlic Day
April 20 is . . . . Look Alike Day
April 21 is . . . . Kindergarten Day
April 22 is . . . . National Jelly Bean Day
April 23 is . . . . Read Me Day and World Laboratory Animal Day
April 24 is . . . . National Pigs In A Blanket Day
April 25 is . . . . National Zucchini Bread Day
April 26 is . . . . Richter Scale Day & National Pretzel Day
April 27 is . . . . Tell A Story Day
April 28 is . . . . Great Poetry Reading Day & Kiss-Your-Mate Day
April 29 is . . . . National Shrimp Scampi Day
April 30 is . . . . National Honesty Day