mimsy and outgrabe

Back in August, a self-described "reader of poetry" (and poet himself, although he didn't let me know that at first!) named Paul David Adkins contacted me through Facebook and said that he'd reviewed my chapbook for Luna Luna Magazine. I was totally flattered and very excited and checked the magazine quite frequently to see when the review would run . . . and, well, it didn't for quite a few months. I didn't totally forget about it, but I'd resigned myself to the thought that perhaps the editors of Luna Luna didn't find the review compelling enough (because of the subject matter, my little book) or that they didn't have room for it, etc. I came up with lots of reasons inside my crazy head. And then yesterday, quite out of the blue, I found this posted to my Facebook wall. It's a really thoughtful, generous review of my chapbook. I'm touched and flattered and happy to have my poems written about so well, and at such length. So,...

Today marks the end of AWP 2012 and what may be a brutal return to reality. We're checking out of our hotel this afternoon and flying back to our children in Virginia (and rescuing my mother, who's been run ragged by them, I'm sure). Tomorrow bright and early we'll drive back to New York, and then Tuesday I'll jump right into the thick of things by beginning the day with a guest lecture at Stony Brook Southampton, followed by a 50 mile commute to Suffolk's west campus for our "Professional Development Day," which promises to be as exciting as the title portends. But let's not start this post off on a negative note, shall we? The Wednesday-Saturday of AWP was filled with lots of interesting discussion, lovely moments and fun, unexpected events. I managed to see 2-3 panels per day, and even spend a fair amount of time walking around the Bookfair, where I picked up the following: The Gray Issue of The Fairy Tale Review (I've already read two...