mimsy and outgrabe

So in an act of complete self-indulgence this summer, I purchased two broadsides with the intention of framing them and hanging them in a place of honor somewhere in our home.   And then I was broke.  And then I was still broke, but I found a coupon that gave me a significant discount off the framing, so I had them framed anyway, despite the broke-ness. I was able to pick them up this afternoon, and I'm going to show them off here, as the last post of September. Featuring a fragment from Book of Nightmares . A signed copy! And 25/30. I. am. such. a. dork. They are now hanging above the couch in our living room. My entire family has to share in my nerdy fan-girl side, too.

First, two poems by Ish Klein. I'm not entirely sure what to think of her work as a whole, but I like this poem, "Fairy Tales from the Web," its quiet humor and especially its ending, and this audio poem , for which I really wish the Poetry Foundation had also provided text. While reading Ish Klein I discovered this lovely formal poem by William Meredith: "Five Accounts of a Monogamous Man." And then, surprise, surprise -- after finding that Contemporary Poetry Review piece I mentioned in my last post, I came across this article in The Guardian (via the NewPages blog) that talks also, albeit very briefly, about criticism (and its impending death). And now, I shall put away the laptop and go grade like a good girl. p.s. Oh! And one more: Have I mentioned my huge writer crush on Paul Lisicky? Here's Ocelot . This and three other short fiction pieces are available at Cedars . p.p.s. Damn. I keep being distracted . . . or rather, I keep looking fo...

Well, there's this interview with Joan Houlihan in the Contemporary Poetry Review about criticism. Some highlights: ...I see my own criticism as that of an ideal reader if we think of that reader as someone who: 1. Loves the art of poetry itself, not just individual poems; 2. Is well-read (and not just in poetry); 3. Meets the poem on its own terms, that is, without prejudice as to its form, content, style and unfolding; 4. Enjoys being intellectually and emotionally challenged; 5. Is drawn to mystery but put off by obscurity; 6. Is thrilled by masterful writing of any kind, that is, by the way a line is constructed, how it moves, word choice, syntactical grace; 7. Likes to learn something new (in craft or content); 8. Wants to be at least as engaged in a poem as in a successful magic act... —there’s not enough vigorous weeding.  Ideally, the weeding should be done by the educated reader, the customer who buys and reads the books, and not the critics per se, but ...

Welp, I spent this weekend going to the pediatric dentist and soccer games and then nursing a "vicious case of the sniffles" (A.'s charming and ü bersympathetic way of describing my head cold). Somewhere in there, though, I managed to do a tiny amount of laundry AND prepare the final onslaught of September submissions to magazines and book publishers.  I'm really hoping something good comes out of all of this submission-preparing, or -- when all of these magazines and book publishers start sending out their rejections around the same time -- I'm going to have a very depressing couple of months. Perhaps the advent of Vampire Baby will dull the feeling of rejection, though -- he/she seems to be amplifying all of my current emotions, however, so I fear that I may not take the rejection well and will end up burying my face in several tons of ice cream and/or candy featuring Red No. 40, at which point I'll blow up all Titanic-size and give myself a ...

Finally, as of this past weekend, I am finished revising, and proofreading, the fairy tale. No more numbers to report, unless it's to say that this week I sent out copies of the final version of my complete manuscript to four different first-book contests, and submitted individual poems to three literary journals. There is such relief in having come this far, and real satisfaction, too. It feels strange to be the only one of my writer-friends who has gone through the process of writing and working towards a book manuscript at least three separate times, since my early twenties, and have nothing to show for it. I never managed to finish a collection. I didn't even have a complete manuscript that failed the contest circuit and had to be squirreled away and mourned over and forgotten -- I always lost faith in my work before I could reach that point. To have managed to come this far: to have completed the work, to have the final product, and to actually still like it -- th...

So, for now, more numbers. I am really trying to spend every spare moment in the morning on this poem -- ignoring email, Facebook, my treadmill, those dishes in the sink from last night, and the fact that I haven't made the girl's lunch yet -- in an attempt to do this right, and get this revision finished in the next two weeks.  Hopefully, once this is done, I can write some reflective posts for this blog that are a little more interesting and useful to a general reader. For now, here's the diary of my progress: RE: Fairy Tale Poem Stanzas revised Wednesday:1 Stanzas revised Thursday: 2 Stanzas revised Friday: 3 Stanzas revised Saturday-Sunday: 1 Stanzas revised Monday: 3 Stanzas revised Tuesday: 5 Stanzas revised Wednesday: 2 Stanzas revised Thursday: 3 Stanzas revised (total): 65 Stanzas that need revision: 26 (That's right. My counting skills -- you know, those skills my four year old is acquiring right now -- are not so good. There are 91 stanz...

RE: Fairy Tale Poem Stanzas revised Saturday: 1 Stanzas revised Sunday: 6 Stanzas revised Monday: 8 Stanzas revised (total): 44 Stanzas that need revision: 45 Submissions prepared this morning: 1 Loads of laundry folded and put away last night: A gazillion (I'm pretty sure that's accurate)