Dear, dear pals.

I’ve missed these check-ins.

A., can you meet 3/6? I don’t think we have heard from you, unless your note went AWAL (sic) . :)

Family: Deferred my next trip to AZ by two weeks (Pop had a cold, wanted me to wait a week, and it was cheaper penalty to go with two). Regretted it immediately as Mom sounded awful on Wednesday. I made a call to her in-home nurse, and she sounded a little better Thursday & Friday. Will go to her doctor again on Monday to renew/get better pain meds. (She fell again, so has new rib pain on other side. She already has three cracked ribs.) I always expected a broken hip would get her, but it may be the ribs. Oy. Thank you for your continued support & affection as I traverse these hard times.

Submissions: Got a lovely rejection today from something I sent out ages ago and had forgotten about. I take heart that it was a big field (1000 submissions from 600 writers for an anthology). It’s time to revise my submission log.

Poetry: Excited that I have a new email prompt small group — two other poets whose work I like a lot. We’ll offer each other light critique, too. Also renewed a crit group that had lost members recently. I am thrilled with responses I got to calls for interest. Quality poets whose work I admire greatly. Makes me realize my poetry connections have gotten fairly strong. It feels super wonderful. I even wrote two decent poems in the last two weeks.

Prose: Not so much there, although I have organized my paper-draft pile at long last. And realize there are some old things that have had time for settling.  But I am also thinking about PASSION (and not just for Hallmark holidays). I am thinking about TC Detroit(1) and what she/he might have to say about something. Just not sure what something is. Yet.

Reading: More poetry. The reading is a great influence on my work. Matthew Rohrer’s  Destroyer and Preserver. LOVED it. Troy Jollimore’s  At Lake Scugog. (2) ADORED it. One of the best collections I have read in a while. Had been trying to read mostly female poets, but. These were on “best” lists and I love to check out bests.

Readings: Went to a Loggernaut reading Wednesday. Really good (I think all were reading from NY Times “notables”), but so different from the poetry readings I usually go to. Very hip. (3)  Lots of cool/pretty 20-30-somethings and a few of us old-folks. http://www.loggernaut.org/readings/  if you want to venture to the cool side. The upcoming Burnside Review 8.1 release at Crow Arts Manor at Milepost 5 is probably in that category, too. I will be in AZ, but here’s the information: http://www.crowmanor.org/events. Crow Arts also offers affordable classes. Check it out if you haven’t already.

So I am not writing much, but I am flirting with and pimping all the poetry & prose I can!

xoxo

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1) A silly pen name meant to be an inroad to writing persona with passion. It’s my “stripper” name (name of first pet, a cat named “Tom Jones”, paired with the name of my childhood home’s street. Although my first cat’s name was actually Quick Draw McDraw. Already I take licence.)

2) Here is the marvelous title poem, “At Lake Scugog.”

3) Dear friends. You are hip, too. And wonderfully comfortable and welcoming.