I'm Vindicated!!!

My mom called today to tell me I made local news. Check it out by pasting http://www.vindy.com/content/society/311620887233040.php into your browser. I'm so excited I forgot how to make a click-able link!

I'm not sure if all those typos were in the original but the info is there :)

Good News

A series of unconnected events---there is a huge fat ugly moth that I have to step over to get my mail. After I get the mail, my neighbors and I all get to talking about this thing on the steps. I go inside and open the mail and find out that my poem "Self Portrait with Cigarette" (about Edward Munch, not me) was a finalist in the 2006 Ekphrasis Prize. What this means is that my poem will be published along with the other finalists in the next issue. I get a contributor's copy. Jonathan comes over with yellow flowers.

From the Bartender Diaries

We're not supposed to say when someone famous or sort of famous walks in the bar and we can't ask them about their fame. We're just supposed to treat them like regular folks and act natural---no fawning and asking for autographs and whatnot. We can even kick them out at last call...which I've done twice this week. There have also been some conference go-ers who made me recite poetry b/c I'm the resident poet at the Rouge (can I put that one on the resume) and so I'm sometimes called upon in my drink making, to recite---my last call lines being from Dylan Thomas...do not go gentle into that good night, rage, rage, against the dying of the light---it got them out so I guess it did the job :)

I just hope this resident poet status sells some books. So preorder your copies at amazon.com and you too can toast the resident poet on September 15th at Bar Rouge (where else) where I'll be drinking (not bartending) and celebrating the book.

Cheers!

Dance Dance Revolution

Tonight is Salsa night---Jonathan and I start dance lessons. Since moving out of Kent and Youngstown, I've really missed swing dancing and so we decided to try something new so we could both learn together. Actually, today has been a very dance centered day as this afternoon Shannon and I had lunch and we talked about the steam sequence---giving Shannon a better idea about who this woman is so she could begin to start working with movement. I'm really excited to be collaborating with her and next week we'll be in the studio! She was asking me a lot of questions about the woman, many of which I hadn't ever thought about while writing the poems. I don't think I could have done it if I had some direction in mind though---I often tell my students that writing isn't a path to some greater theme or idea and that you have to let the writing tell you what it wants to do. I like how some things just aren't explainable---which is esentially the "message" behind the sequence.

It's That Time of the Month Again!

BPH--Sandra Beasley, Christopher Salerno and Karl Parker

This morning I went to the Phillips and got back to working on the museum manuscript---I had gone with the intention of writing about the Klee paintings but ended up mesmerized by a small Cezanne in the corner of a room.

Came back home and found out I'll be reading with Anna Ziegler at GW in November and that in the middle of my life, Sonia Sanchez is doing something (more than writing poems) about the war. Yesterday my friend Leslie asked me to give some insight into what's happening in Israel and Lebanon because I'm the only Jewish person she knows.


http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2006-07-06/cover.shtml

I keep watching the news and really don't know what to make of all of this. One of my students wrote a phenomenal vilanelle about it, and I'm glad to see politics coming in to the arts. I have been talking a lot to them about the importance of art and how it can help us to see the world, and to inspire us to reconsider our positions, to examine new ideas, and to perhaps even move us to action.

The Politics of Pinching

Last night Jonathan and I watched the news before going to bed. It doesn't seem all that monumental, but I'm actually one who prefers to not watch news---I'm not sure why I am so against it---perhaps the sensationalism and the idea of images clipped together to tell the story. Maybe I prefer the writing, but even that can be the same way. I have to say that I hate the graphics and slogans they come up with---Crisis in the Middle East, Day 8....and that switching of Israeli and Lebanese flags at the bottom of the screen. I also don't know what to make of this whole situation. All I know is that the issue defies complexity and I don't know if there is any sense to be had and certainly not a right and a wrong at this point. Whenever someone asked me if I think there would be peace in the Middle East, my response was always, not in this lifetime. Not so optimistic from an optimist. Jonathan sent me the link to a blog from Lebanon so I will pass that on. http://cedarseed.livejournal.com/

I'm not one who usually is concerned with politics, but lately I think I'm changing my mind, at least in terms of bringing it into art---I've been telling my students to consider doing what Jane Kenyon Does in "Three Small Oranges." I really like the idea of seeing the significance of the daily and how we need to start opening our eyes to that which is beyond our lines of sight. Here's a link for this poem: http://www.izaak.unh.edu/exhibits/kenhall/ORANGES.HTM

Last night I went to my first crab feast with Jonathan and tried to partake but really found the whole thing pretty vulgar. I was glad when he showed me how cut up his hands were---all that carnage---he deserved the pinching. Then again, I don't know if one can justify these small things. Maybe there is a poem in all of this...

The Politics of Pinching

Last night Jonathan and I watched the new before going to bed. It doesn't seem all that monumental, but I'm actually one who prefers to not watch news---I'm not sure why I am so against it---perhaps the sensationalism and the idea of images clipped together to tell the story. Maybe I prefer the writing, but even that can be the same way. I have to say that I hate the graphics and slogans they come up with---Crisis in the Middle East, Day 8....and that switching of Israeli and Lebanese flags at the bottom of the screen. I also don't know what to make of this whole situation. All I know is that the issue defies complexity and I don't know if there is any sense to be had and certainly not a right and a wrong at this point. Whenever someone asked me if I think there would be peace in the Middle East, my response was always, not in this lifetime. Not so optimistic from an optimist. Jonathan sent me the link to a blog from Lebanon so I will pass that on. http://cedarseed.livejournal.com/

I'm not one who usually is concerned with politics, but lately I think I'm changing my mind, at least in terms of bringing it into art---I've been telling my students to consider doing what Jane Kenyon Does in "Three Small Oranges." I really like the idea of seeing the significance of the daily and how we need to start opening our eyes to that which is beyond our lines of sight. Here's a link for this poem: http://www.izaak.unh.edu/exhibits/kenhall/ORANGES.HTM

Last night I went to my first crab feast with Jonathan and tried to partake but really found the whole thing pretty vulgar. I was glad when he showed me how cut up his hands were---all that carnage---he deserved the pinching. Then again, I don't know if one can justify these small things. Maybe there is a poem in all of this...

You Always Knew I Was Nuts

http://www.coconutpoetry.org

now you can be sure! I've actually calmed down a bit...I realize that my imagination can and usually does get the best of me. Luckily, a trip to the Jesus salon (Jesus #1, hair #2---that's what my stylist says) was what I needed. My stylist actually reminds me a bit of my friend Katherine, the hippist Christian I know (Sarah is the second hippest). I mean, if Jesus could have rocked the purple hair, I'm sure that would have been right up there with the water to wine business. Speaking of color--not only did my hair get some, but also my walls, a pale (calming) green.

Crazy but Avec Ice Cream

Lately I've been feeling really jumpy. And very self-judging. Aunt Sue sent a great quote and a timely one too: Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it will
elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it comes softly and sits on your shoulder.

---Henry David Thoreau

Though I don't know how to make the jumpy go away---neurosis comes natural to me. Even the ice cream at Larry's two days in a row hasn't helped cool me off. Though it was funny to see the lady ahead of me get so pissed off she walked out of the store when Larry would only let her sample one flavor--and said he'd let her sample two...but this woman wanted to sample three...as if one really needs to make a careful and cautious ice cream decision. I mean, you should know what flavor you want, or at least have some idea. It's good to know there are some people more jumpy than you. At least I ended up with a chocolate shake!

Today Is Galley Day

Someone needs to give me a big pinch---today it all becomes real with the book. I was so excited, I couldn't sleep. The galleys for the book arrive today and Piotr and I have one more final edit before we go to press.

Last night I helped one of our business guests draft an email---well, in between serving him Grey Goose rocks, I gave him the expensive words to use. He said I should think about being a consultant in terms of business writing and asked for my card, and silly me, no business card. So, that's another thing to put on the to do list.

Marissa sent along this fun self awareness check in: http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp

and make sure you do the name one too. It's pretty accurate!

More Pinches

Shannon's back from Ireland and we're going...well, more like she's going to choreograph the steam sequence. We talked a little bit about the project yesterday. Maybe all this yoga will make me ready for my dancing debut.

I actually let out a fuck in yoga class yesterday and a somewhat loud one as I fell out of the pose and into the shelving in the back of the room. No worries, I'm ok.

Maybe Shannon should not let me be a dancer.

Will be reading at Gallery 324 in Cleveland on Saturday October 14th so now I have two Cleveland gigs. Mac's Backs the 17th, 7 p.m.

Little Pinches of My Week

On Sunday I went to Patric and Piotr's reading at Iota and on the way there my strappy sandal broke. Luckily Sandra had her chariot to take me back to DC.

The key to making a good Manhattan is a hint of cherry juice. I learned that from my father.

Small press publishing is challenging and much depends on the author to sell books. This morning I spoke with Naomi from Lotus and really felt what small press publishing was about.

Firehook bakery really does have great brownies.

I saw the pinch commercial and am obsessed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lZ9aHXnTXY

So Much for Not Being a Fancy Lady

Janeil invited me out for ladies lunch so I decided to wear a little black dress since we were going somewhere classy. I'm of course now back in my sweats as I work from home when not slinging swanky cosmos around. But it was cool to be out and about and fancy. Speaking of fancy, just bought a great wool suit (On Sale)--got love those post 4th of July markdowns, so I will be styling come fall. Made travel plans for Ohio, Portland, and Seattle and just found out I'll be reading at Emory University next February and have almost lined up gigs in Philly and Florida. Looks like this is going to be a jet set year. And speaking of jet setting, today I was reading Gioconda Belli's "From Eve's Rib." She's a Nicaraguan poet whose books began coming out in the 1970's. So far, I think she's kind of like Sonia Sanchez...sexy and political. Take this line: "And the books/ spread out on my bed are like men I've made love with in an/ orgy of arms and legs that awaken my passion for life,/ biting my nipples , my sex and filling me with a special/ semen made from letters fecundating me..."

Yes, we are the classier sex!

Contemplation after the Fourth

Last night I watched the DC sky fill with light from a friend's boss's rooftop. I have to confess I wasn't thinking about America unless thinking about America means not really thinking about it---what I mean is that our freedom allows us not to think about it. I remember being in Israel for their Independence Day and really feeling connected to the country even though I had only been there a few days.

There are so many things we don't have to think about here, or perhaps we think about the wrong things. Listening to the people I know here and the way they talk about work, politics, but not so much about family, love, and togetherness and the things that really matter. I often wonder if this is what living on the east coast does, though I know this is a gross generalization. So many restaurants and bars where open last night (not Kimpton!) and I wondered why. Back in Ohio it seemed like Belmont Ave. would close down and no one would be out...but out in their backyards. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic and not remembering correctly. This seems to be like one does when one goes from one thing to another, whether place, person, memory, or thing.

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm at a crossroads, not sure what the different paths are, but with the book and being here in DC, and quote on quote making a life here. It's funny, I always advocate for planting roots, but I seem to like to uproot myself fairly often. But I know I'm not going anywhere this time. Class has started and I'm really excited about learning about my new students and seeing what doors writing opens for them and I'm excited about teaching online. And Mendi left a note on my blog---what the internet does for creating community and bringing people together. And the book and all the wonderful people I've met through poetry and bartending. I guess this is what it's all about---navigating the waters, both familiar and unfamiliar. Yesterday Regrets Only: Contemporary Poets on the Theme of Regret came in the mail (www.littlepearpress.com) and I'm taken back to where I was in 2001, somewhere between Kent and New York City and trying to locate myself. Here's the observation I had: "The difference between drowning and breathing/ is how fast you move your arms."

Sweets to the Sweet

Yesterday the chef at 15 ria fulfilled one of my fantasies. He sent out the entire dessert menu. I had always wanted to order one of everything, especially after Lisa Loeb did it on Number 1 Single. This is one of the perks of being in the "industry." You know the important people in the city---not the movers and shakers, but the bartenders and bakers. You don't have to wait in line at clubs, the chef comes to talk to you and sends over things and those around you wonder who you are and why they don't know you. And the poetry world is offering up her pearls as well. Yesterday I found out that Remica's manuscript, Conversions won the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Prize, so her book will be coming out of Lotus Press (I'm doing a feature on them for the KGB Lit. Journal) and now the new Beltway:

BELTWAY POETRY QUARTERLY FEATURES THE “DC PLACES ISSUE”
Summer 2006 issue includes work by 52 poets

http://www.beltwaypoetry.com

The DC Places Issue of Beltway Poetry Quarterly, an on-line anthology of poems that celebrate Washington, DC, by naming specific sites in the city (streets, neighborhoods, parks, monuments, or buildings), is the first issue of the journal to go beyond the Mid-Atlantic region and include poets from all across the United States. And what a list of contributors! The issue includes former U.S. Poets Laureates Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, and William Carlos Williams, and former and current State Poets Laureates Joseph Awad (of Virginia), Fleda Brown (Delaware), Sterling A. Brown (DC), Linda Pastan (Maryland), and Baron Wormser (Maine). A complete list of authors can be found below. Hopefully it will include not only familiar names, but some wonderful new discoveries for you as well.

You can select poems to read from a traditional table of contents, or by clicking on our interactive map, a beautiful addition to the issue provided by Emery Pajer, a Pennsylvania graphic designer who specializes in custom maps.

The DC Places Issue was co-edited by Kim Roberts and Los Angeles poet Andrea Carter Brown. Brown writes in the issue’s introduction: “Every city has its history, but for no other American city is the struggle between local identity and national role so acute.” This presents both a burden and an opportunity for poets, who amply rose to the challenge to portray the city in its public and private aspects, in all its wild complexity.


Contributors: Karren Alenier * Elizabeth Alexander * Joseph Awad * Naomi Ayala * Elizabeth Bishop * Star Black * Derrick Brown *Fleda Brown * Sterling A. Brown * Sarah Browning * Kenneth Carroll * Philip Dacey * Peter Desmond * Thomas Sayers Ellis * Martin Galvin * Simki Ghembremichael * Brian Gilmore * Barbara Goldberg * Patricia Gray * Michael Gushue * Scott Hightower * Bernard Jankowski * Rod Jellema * Fred Joiner * Rosemary Klein * Joe Lapp * Mary Ann Larkin * Lyn Lifshin * Robert Lowell * Greg McBride * E. Ethelbert Miller * Sami Miranda * Miles David Moore * Kathi Morrison-Taylor * Yvette Neisser * Kathleen O’Toole * Linda Pastan * Richard Peabody * Patric Pepper * Carly Sachs * Gregg Shapiro * Evie Shockley * Dean Smith * Mark Tarallo * Hilary Tham * Belle Waring * Josh Weiner * William Carlos Williams * Terence Winch * Baron Wormser * Andrea Wyatt *

Read Beltway Poetry Quarterly at http://www.beltwaypoetry.com

Subscribe for free! Go to the “About Beltway” page: http://www.washingtonart.com/beltway/about.html

Laughing Buddha

Sometimes the straps break and sometimes you fall over. Perhaps it was too much dancing, too much of a load for them to hold up my chest, or perhaps a poor sewing job that caused my dress to come a bit undone over the weekend. Luckily Kjera was packing the super glue in her purse so nothing too unseemly happened. And today Shake Your Booty (the store in which I bought the dress) called and said a new one was on its way.

Today I fell over in high lunge with a twist in yoga. Both mishaps I laughed through--like the buddha, finding humor in our shortcomings. Conversely, the book goes to press today and we've been searching for last minute typos and mishaps. I hope we got them all, because I know I won't be laughing over these mistakes or taking them gracefully. It's actually been pretty stressful--the first time in which the book seems real, almost ready now. Sandra pointed out to me at Burlesque that I've been very hush hush about these poems, not reading them, not sharing them. Perhaps because I think they are a whole, not really meant for one at a time reading. I'm really thinking about what this means, the book, a body of work---and now being on the other end, a reviewer, I'm really interested in the whole of things, not just finding the gems, the coda poems. What I'm reading right now is Mende Lewis Obadike's Armor and Flesh. And really loving the concept of the kinds of armor we wear to protect and sheild ourselves, exposing the masks and what it looks like when we remove them.

Rain Delay

It's been a weekend whirlwind of changes and weather. Annie's married! That's where the pictures are from. Jonathan and I hung out in Coventry, where I used to hang out in college and going back, so many things have changed or moved around. I guess just another indication that nothing ever remains the way it was. Luckily the milkshakes at Tommy's are still the same and you can still get the best used CD's at Record Revolution. We drank a lot and ate a lot of cheese fries. Not such a common thing here on the East Coast so I definitely took advantage of that. But the best was seeing family and friends, because even through change, you grow together. All these girls make me realize how blessed we are to have each other. I think Melissa said it best when she commented in how different we all are, but how that doesn't matter.

We got stuck and extra night and came home to rain and more rain. My ivy is growing quite rapidly and I'm excited I finally have a plant I can keep alive. And in the spirit of growing and producing, my book goes off to press this week! Last night's Burlesque was also full of red pants and hot poetry so make sure you check out the blog. WARNING! Don't view these at work!

Mondays Just Got Hotter!

http://burlesquepoetryhour.blogspot.com/

~Get ready to shake off your Monday Blues~

The Rain Dance

Last Friday, Shannon convinced me to take her ballet class. Everyone else had slippers. I wore my socks. That should tell you how it all went down. Nonetheless, I really liked it. I felt pretty and graceful--when I was doing the stuff right. Which was maybe about half of the time. Next to me at the bar was this guy who comes into the bar--fancy that. My world is starting to get smaller. And wetter. Today I got stuck in a minor apocalypse and was soaked to the core. A kind lady shared her umbrella with me part of the way. This was more of a gesture as the rain was blowing all over and so it didn't really serve any purpose but to have someone else to walk with as we got wet. I came home and made some coffee and began my venture into the world of having a monthly poetry column. That's right, I'll be taking a literary virtual roadtrip as I highlight different presses and poets for the KGB Bar Literary Magazine. I'm really excited to get back to reading and unearthing. I already feel like I found so much. As writers, we often turn inwards and it's nice to see the good work that is out there. You know, we submit to magazines but only read the issues that we're in. But I suppose it all depend on the time you have and how you want to use it. How does one engage in the literary community and still maintain their own writing. I suppose this comes down to balance and who are we to tell each other how to do it. I know I don't have enought time for my own work. Yesterday I wrote a poem and it was the first one in few weeks at least. It came like they usually do---a moment crystalized--from a real story told to me yesterday and then the poem took off from there. I know that's so old school---to be "hit" with inspiration, and then the excited spiral as the poem leads you on the journey. Today in yoga we were told to embrace the what is and open our hearts to that inner voice--the one you don't overthink, the gut impulse or feeling---that the heart, mind, or body have a way of knowing that is just based on feeling (not logic or reason). After the rain hit, I curled up in my sweats and am in for the night with poetry. What a hot date!