Prom and Poetry Update

Our bathtub was amazing, on the 23rd floor looking out at Manhattan, thinking about the night on the town...we were at the Kimberly Hotel which is quite near the Buttercup Bakery...mmm, cupcakes in bed for breakfast!
Do we look old enough to be at the Prom?
the DRESS!!!!
another shot of the dress...hmm, i have more shots of the dress than jonathan...what does that say about our relationship???


POETRY

Today I just found out that one of my poems will be in the Outside Voices Anthology which comes out in 2008 I think. It's huge, like 475 poets. I'm always fascinated by how many people are writing and doing new things (so to speak) and how these communities of ours form. How much of it is by the so called evil networking, which I like to refer to as finding new friends, you know, like discovering new restaurants or something. I often wonder what brings us together. Obviously now the internet and wow, look what technology has done for the literary community. In general I think the internet is a great tool for literacy. So here's the site: http://poetry2008.blogspot.com/

Come, be my book fellow. But wow, look at what we are all doing. All of these dreams of doing meaningful things. That's how I feel about my anthology, (still deep in permissions) but planting the seeds and waiting for that thing to bloom.

The King and Queen of the Prom!!!

The royal blog of text will follow later on this week...

The Latest Burlesque Hype

Last Monday's Burlesque can be viewed here.

And check out May's issue of The Washingtonian. Turn to page 82 and you'll find a very pretty photo of Gina Myers reading at last month's Burlesque.

It was worth it

to wait in line for free Ben and Jerry's today. They have a new banana flavor. I'm surprised Ramona hasn't gone for ice cream yet. I really need to get back to her and back to the museum sequence. Over the weekend I went to the Hokusai exhibit and feel a poem coming on about a woman thrown in a well for breaking a favorite dish.

Spent the rest of the afternoon outside in the Circle reading my student's fiction. Reb sent me some job postings at the NEA but I like being able to play outside. Such is the life of a bartender. You really feel like you are getting away with something not working during the day. And yes, this is totally worth it. I feel like a kid sometimes and speaking of that, the big news is one of my friends is pregnant (with her second child). Wow, it seems like only yesterday we were running around the flats in tank tops in the winter and dancing up a storm. And I see my students and think am I really that much older? And I think of Suzy beginning her family and think of how far we've journeyed from there, though getting back together for Annie's bachlorette party will no doubt bring us around to the circle again reminding us that girls are girls no matter what loops they chose to follow. And I know that no matter which paths we take, we will circle round with each other.

On a Rainy Day looking for a cheap bathtub

A rainy Saturday morning has me inside. I'm still thinking about the aesthetics of the book. Not sure if I really want a Bonnard painting on the front or a photograph or just a blank cover. I'd publish it here but all the permissions and whatnot have got me scared of the red tape, but you can google Bonnard and bathtub and get an idea of what I'm considering. So I'm online looking for other possibilities as permissions are expensive. At any rate, the announcement is up so check it out: http://www.wwph.org/news.html#winners

I find it funny that as I'm struggling with this whole idea of presentation, I have assigned that to my students---to publish so to speak their final portfolio and make something. I think these decisions are important and now I really know as I'm going through this. However, I am lucky in the fact that I get to be a part of this process---many authors don't, so I know I should count my blessings even if they complicate things.

This week's Buzz

I can't really say that much has been going on, except that spring is here. I know that because people are out on the streets now and outside and not at the Rouge. The other day I watched the large bees (I forget what they're called) hover into the roof of the yoga studio. I really like the image of hovering and burrowing. Not sure how I will use it but something felt really good about it, like it was soft, like the bees. I wanted to see them closer. I don't think they sting.

My fancy knives came from Crate and Barrel and tonight I'll use them as I cook my haricot verts for Jonathan. We've been mispronoucing that all week. Leave it to Whole Foods to provoke a week long entertainment. They also have apricot ginger creamcheese which has now yuppified me. Yep, Ramona's got the fancy pants!

Also check out Burlesque on Monday and get your buzz on with these queen bees of poetry: Anna Ziegler, Amy King, and Lauren Bender. Click here for more information.

Connecting to Buddha

I'm currently connected to Buddha, which is what I named my Wireless Network. Yes, I'm serious. I think it will really be the only way that I will actually connect with Buddha on a daily basis. I'm also thinking about a cat, and I'm thinking of naming it something like Moshe, or after some poet that strikes me. Though cat won't come until I do more home stuff for me, like painting and hanging things as cats would complicate all of that.

Jonathan brought me flowers during my office hours and one of my students came by to chat about writing and life. Office hours were finally more than me just grading and surfing the net. I wore these really uncomfortable shoes and had to take a cab home which sucked b/c I walked to work in the rain and then rode home when it was sunny. Alas, I changed into better shoes and walked over to the J for the reading of Passover poems. This is the new breezy me, I realized my limitations and accepted my body for what it was and then figured out how to accomodate the posture. Yoga speak is good speak.

Though I teach with Jane Shore and Faye Moskowitz, I never really got to hear either one of them read and it made me appreciate both of them even more. Such tenderness and humor (I'm talking about their work as well as them as individuals. I loved Faye's story about eating Milky Ways on Passover and Jane's "Shit Soup" poem. And then Carolivia Herron and Josh Weiner---two writers living so close to me that I never read. It was a reading with such grace and spirit, reminded me of Wick readings in a way, when the people are as good as the work and the work is as good as the people and everyone is there for the right reasons.

And then my friend Sandra came and told me that someone very wonderful got the Pulitzer. And that reaffirmed everything for some reason and I felt good and I think she felt good and then she left and I took a bath and now I'm connecting to Buddha so I can write this stream of blog, when I have so much to say and none of it comes out exactly right. Perhaps that is the Buddha, just letting me ramble, trusting that it is good or that there is goodness. And my friend Anna is going to read for us in Burlesque and Harriet emailed me about the anthology that we had talked about over the summer in Philly (yes, a new project) and I'm realizing that there are so many connections that I'm making but not like networking in the evil sense when it's out for self promotion but when you really want to connect because you realize it's the connection that matters, not the outcome. Nameste to you and your wireless.

In My Shoes

Not having my internet at home has at first been causing much anguish but has also removed some stress and compulsive behavior on my part. Now I can't check email like 20 bazillion times and google myself and look for hot shoes online, or rather pictures of hot shoes that I bought so you all who don't live close by can get a glimpse of my tootsies, or rather what's on my tootsies. (By the way, today I'm wearing the new Mary Jane red Campers). I'm walking in the shoes of a girl no longer chained to incoming messages and enjoying the freedom from technology, It's funny, these advances, meant to enrich our lives also come with a cost--it's hard to imagine dealing without these things. Cell phones, email. Think about all the people who walk around on their phones all the time, think of all the things they miss while walking. I wonder if technology makes us more self absorbed? I like the way this fits, though email comes next tuesday--or perhaps, I'm still battling the evil Verizon monopoly and their bureaucracy but that's another rant, neither worth my time or yours. I'll leave that battle to my corporate lawyer boyfriend. He can fight the good fight for fair use of pole attachments and anti-corporate mergers and free cable lines and whatnot.

In class we're talking about perspectives, how something changes from first to third person, what details filter in and who gets to be the one with the voice in our stories. So often we only focus on our own and our needs. So I'm going to more yoga and trying to see the greater schema of life, and of not focusing on the smaller things like Verizon and my shoes (the latter being much more challenging). We're also talking about setting and how the places we encounter change us.
From a simple car or metro ride to a trip abroad, to room in our homes, or the local cafe all become part of our world, how our surroundings are a tapestry and if we pay attention to the things these places and these moments tell us, we begin to understand things that are universal, that transcend our locality, essentially what it means to be human. Sans email, sans cell phone. Try it and see what is there, the things you miss when you remove the protective guise of technology and become more in tune with what is.

Home Sweet Home

So, I just moved into my new apartment--has a washer/dryer and is more than one room! Tonight my good friend Janeil is coming over so I get to test my new oven out. The chicken is marinating in my new fridge and yesterday I stocked up on groceries so I get get back to feeding Ramona properly. I don't have internet hooked up so I apologize for my irregularity. Tonight's menu includes:

Rosemary balsamic chicken
bruchetta with heirloom tomatoes
salad of field greens

I'm so sick of pizza and eating out. The apartment is scented with fresh basil and hyacinth that Ramona stole from Whole Foods. We're still bad asses!