mimsy and outgrabe

Photos from the Hyacinth Girl Press reading on Sunday afternoon: The ferry to Governor's Island was not exactly reliable, so it's kind of amazing I was there to read at all, let alone first. Our attentive and kind audience Dan Nowak, the first male HGP author, and editor of Imaginary Friend Press HGP Editor and Publisher, Margaret Bashaar listens beside the stage J. Hope Stein, creator of the Poetry Crush blog, reads from the Book of Crushes Lisa Marie Basile, editor and publisher of LUNA LUNA magazine, reads and battles a last-minute wardrobe malfunction (a VIDA t-shirt saves her)

Margaret Bashaar and Adam Penna before the reading begins Action shot! Yup, photos of readings are PRETTY exciting. (These are from the reading at Great Falls Public Library in Great Falls, Virginia.)

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 ...

HGP Editor Margaret Bashaar reads at the Strange Animals Open Mike. Niina Pollari and Juliet Cook listen to Margaret read.

This weekend A. and I jumped in the car and drove to Pittsburgh.  That sounded too spontaneous for a couple with two highly active children and a neurotic 80 lb yellow lab. Let's try that again: This weekend, after packing two suitcases, one for ourselves and one for our two children (who required multiple outfits for multiple temperatures -- "just in case" -- and a menagerie of stuffed animals), and after packing up the dog, who requires his crate and food and his new favorite bunny toy, and after depositing the children and the dog with their respective care-takers (Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt A.L. & Uncle B, respectively), A. and I finally hit the road on Saturday. Niina Pollari The impetus for the trip was the Strange Animals Literary Reading Series held at Hambone's Pub in Pittsburgh, curated by Sara Emily Kuntz. Sara asked Margaret Bashaar, editor and publisher at Hyacinth Girl Press, if the HGP authors would consider doing a feature o...

The Valentine's Day issue of Poetry Crush went live yesterday, and in it the Hyacinth Girl Press authors share their favorite erotic poems. I was kind of shocked to see my selection kick things off, but pleased, too -- Herbert's the shit! (Very eloquent, I know.) To be honest, I'd never really had a favorite erotic poem -- at least, I'd never called a poem one of my favorites because it was erotic, and I'm not sure many readers of poetry do, either. But this ended up being a fun exercise in memory and reading. I went back to my books -- opened up anthologies, searched my bookshelves for the authors and volumes I thought contained verse that might be termed "erotic" -- and eventually hit upon "Silk of a Soul" by Zbigniew Herbert. I almost chose "Rapture" by Galway Kinnell . In the end I didn't for two reasons. One, I suspected that someone else might choose a Kinnell poem (wrongly, it turns out, but someone did choose Sharon Ol...

I'm so, so thrilled to share this announcement that Hyacinth Girl Press, a feminist micro press, is going to publish the collection I've been referring to as my fable/"sow" poems in the upcoming year. HGP is a small, new, and energetic endeavor run by Margaret Bashaar, a poet and editor in Pittsburg, PA, and her handmade books and enthusiasm for poetry and poetry written by women are equally beautiful. This is a fantastic way to begin the new year. Did I say earlier that I couldn't quite get my head around 2012? This helps, certainly. And in other, slightly less thrilling announcements, I'm nearly finished with Chapter VIII (page 15!) of the fairy tale. Still haven't managed to complete any prep work for the new semester or even order my books, but I'm feeling fairly productive nonetheless. That is, I was productive, until the HGP announcement came out and now I'm all hyper and happy and jittery. Even still, I'm going to attempt to go ...