Countdown to 2018 / What I Read When I Should Be Writing
It's probably not healthy or wise to think about this, but lately I've been overly concerned with the thought that the next time I get to be a full-time writer will be at the butt-end of this decade. As my colleagues post end-of-semester raves and rants on Facebook, I'm forced to acknowledge that this rare moment is almost over. I am a wee-bit depressed, to say the least.
This is a completely ungrateful and sorry-for-myself attitude to have, I realize. I know that I'm ridiculously lucky to have had this opportunity at all. I'm just wallowing in a little bit of post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas, pre-final-weeks-of-sabbatical depression, methinks. It's probably time to lay off the caffeine and get back into exercise. I don't have a lot of time left to wallow, after all. Just a few more sweet weeks of writing until I return to teaching. (And really, the teaching I kinda look forward to -- it's the committee meetings and grading that I would rather not deal with.)
So, in an effort to be more cheerful and positive, let's look at things that don't suck, shall we?
1. Flatirons by David Yezzi. Rock-climbing and poetry. Rock-climbing AS poetry. He's awesomesauce. Read the Q & A, too!
2. More Yezzi -- in the online magazine, At Length, which I was super-excited to discover this week. I especially love these collaborative Telephone Project poems. In addition to Mr. Yezzi (scroll to the end), #2 features Kimiko Hahn, Aracelis Girmay, Jason Schneiderman, Marilyn Nelson, Kathryn Stripling Byer, and Paula Bohince.
3. The Art of Listening by Henning Mankell, in the NY Times Sunday Opinion pages.
4. We Knew How to Love: Tuesday with Fanny Howe and Jericho Brown on the Best American Poetry blog. I'm more acquainted with Fanny Howe's name than her work, but I really liked this interview. She says good things; things that make sense to me. So, you know. Read it!
ADDENDUM:
5. Garden by H.D. (Let's just acknowledge that I'm not going to get much writing done today, okay? Maybe tonight?)
This is a completely ungrateful and sorry-for-myself attitude to have, I realize. I know that I'm ridiculously lucky to have had this opportunity at all. I'm just wallowing in a little bit of post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas, pre-final-weeks-of-sabbatical depression, methinks. It's probably time to lay off the caffeine and get back into exercise. I don't have a lot of time left to wallow, after all. Just a few more sweet weeks of writing until I return to teaching. (And really, the teaching I kinda look forward to -- it's the committee meetings and grading that I would rather not deal with.)
So, in an effort to be more cheerful and positive, let's look at things that don't suck, shall we?
1. Flatirons by David Yezzi. Rock-climbing and poetry. Rock-climbing AS poetry. He's awesomesauce. Read the Q & A, too!
2. More Yezzi -- in the online magazine, At Length, which I was super-excited to discover this week. I especially love these collaborative Telephone Project poems. In addition to Mr. Yezzi (scroll to the end), #2 features Kimiko Hahn, Aracelis Girmay, Jason Schneiderman, Marilyn Nelson, Kathryn Stripling Byer, and Paula Bohince.
3. The Art of Listening by Henning Mankell, in the NY Times Sunday Opinion pages.
4. We Knew How to Love: Tuesday with Fanny Howe and Jericho Brown on the Best American Poetry blog. I'm more acquainted with Fanny Howe's name than her work, but I really liked this interview. She says good things; things that make sense to me. So, you know. Read it!
ADDENDUM:
5. Garden by H.D. (Let's just acknowledge that I'm not going to get much writing done today, okay? Maybe tonight?)
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