{ event museum }

Yay. We've finally got a bit of sun today... after days of fog and rain. As my vampire sims would say: Bleh!



Recently Published Poems:

• Marshal Song Enters the Servants' Quarters
after a Night of Gambling, His Pockets Empty

is now online in the current issue of The Pedestal Magazine (Issue #32, February 21 - April 21, 2006) -- which features poetry by Kristin Berger, Sam Byfield, Charles Fishman, Michael Homolka, Jennifer Jerome, Ellen Kombiyil, Peter Krok, Kristine Ong Muslim, Martina Newberry, Marina Lee Sable, Toni E. Scales, Jan Steckel, and Catherynne M. Valente; and fiction by J. Brundage, Antonios Maltezos, Eric Stoveken, and Jesse Waters.

• Accepting the Loss of Winter Boots

has been included in the winter 2006 issue Crescent Moon Journal since I co-judged their Winter Contest. This is a beaut of a journal -- elegant layout and warm winter colors. A lot of Blueliners here, too now that I look at it.

Some Reasons Why I'm in Such a Good Mood:

Went to my favorite Sims supermarket last night at mod the sims 2 and came home loaded with groceries. Now we have fish to fry:


Steak to grill:


And wheeeeee!! A pie for dessert:


Life just gets better and better... for my Sims, that is.

Posted by Arlene at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Incredible but true!

Recent Acceptances:

• poeticdiversity has accepted three poems: "Fish", "Love and Benny Hill" (previously published in Iota) and "Allhallows Noon" for their August 2006 edition. They've got pretty long response times, but they *do* reply.

   Submission date: 6 October 2005
   Reply date: 20 February 2006

• Forklift, Ohio are, in their own words, "quite taken with" my instructions on How to Give Your Poem a Masterpiece Body Odor, and plan to include it in an upcoming issue.

   Submission date: 1 February 2006
   Reply date: 20 February 2006

Publications Received:

• Poetry Ireland (issue 85) which included three of my poems and, doing the banana dance here a nice 32-euro check -- the hefty part will, of course, go to fund EA Games because the Sims 2: Open for Business expansion pack will be released on March 3rd. The remains will be used to purchase fresh milk for my husband's coffee (half of which I drink, of course, being his other half).

• Orbis (#135, Winter 2005) with my poem, Franklin in the Garden -- first drafted in Blueline's House of 30. Really thrilled by this copy which has terrific poems, magazine reviews and many calls for submissions. Off to do the mutton jump of joy!

Posted by Arlene at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Hah. And they really do -- inspired by the precision of Jude's blog, thought I'd offer more detailed information on the places I've submitted.

Recent Rejections:

• Thieves Jargon

   Submission date: 30 January 2006
   Reply date: 17 February 2006

   Editorial Comments: I think you have some good stuff in there, but our submissions are really high right now, and I don't think I'm going to be able to find the room to fit any of them into an upcoming issue. I'd like to hope that wouldn't discourage you from hitting us up again at some point in the future...

   But I'd Say: It's still worth a try though. Maybe it's just the editor's nice way of saying no, which could be a yes to others.

• H_NGM_N

   Submission date: 18 January 2006
   Reply date: 18 February 2006

   Editorial Comments: Thanks for trying us with these. It was a tough call on some of these but we'll pass on this batch. Try us again sometime.

   And I'd Say: Yes, yes. This is one kewl 'zine!

• 10th Muse

   Submission date: 17 February 2006
   Reply date: 18 February 2006

   Editorial Comments: I have read them and have decided not to use them in the magazine. Sorry to disappoint...

   But I'd Say: I'd still give this print journal another try... because with a response time this fast it's worth it!

What I've been up to (apart from writing):

• Mailed poems to jubilat, Conduit, Backwards City Review and Georgetown Review. This is something of a record for me to be sending stuff by post to print journals, but I've recently inherited tons of unwanted foreign stamps from my dad's collection and licking these on my SASEs gives me a ticklish pleasure. Hee. Well, the truth is since we've gotten a laser printer, I'm looking for any excuse to use it -- hearing the zing-zing noises it makes sort of pulls me into a chirpy disposition for the rest of the week. It's subliminal, I think.

• Have added a weatherpixie to my blog. Teehee. And am spending part of my computer time checking out the girlie to see if she's taken off her coat -- because she does! And when it rains she carries the cutest umbrella. I say it's the coolest thing since... uh, the invention of shower curtains.

• On Friday, I fried the computer's hard disk. When my husband came home, virally infected and flu-ish, and pushed the "on" button it emitted a plink that said: I'd rather die in peace now, please. My good man has managed to revive it during the weekend and warned me to puh-lease close all programs first before turning it off... and threatened to cut off my fingers if I start plinking all sorts of keys every time it goes into deep thought while exiting from the Sims game.

• Have also updated the Leonard Gontarek site.

Plantarium update:

Have noticed a second leaf growing (1 centimeter) at the base of the first leaf. Yay! Otherwise...

   Major leaves (2) growth: 0 millimeters.
   Color: greenish brown.
   Prognosis: not good, but not bad either.

Posted by Arlene at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I was tickled to discover that my leafscape e-mail has a SpamAssassin... and how it took Michi for chainsaw practice (details here).

It censored her naughty message to me after identifying her as:

X-Spam-Level: *****
Content analysis details: (5.9 points, 5.0 required)

Even from the score she received, it's clear that she has a... ahem, problem with length.

Recent Publications/ Acceptance:

• Two poems in Astropoetica (Volume 4.1, Winter 2006):

   Mother Earth on a Starry Couch (read)
   The Astronomer’s Last Nights (read)

• And a poem, Seven Years of Bad Luck in Shearsman. (issue 65 & 66).

• Such a thrill! The Pedestal Magazine has accepted my poem:

Marshal Song Enters the Servants' Quarters
After a Night of Gambling, His Pockets Empty

Very quick turnover rate; response time: one week to one month.

(Michi, when she reads this, will probably snicker about the length... of my title).

My Own Personal Problem with Length:

• Plantarium growth: 0 millimeters.
   Color: green.
   Prognosis: depressing.

Posted by Arlene at 7:07 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

that Poems Niederngasse's erotic supplement is now online:
http://www.niederngasse.com

The issue features poetry -- which I swear (with undies back guarantee) will make your extremeties sweat for the rest of the day. On board, we've got Bambi Barker, Greg Braquet, Patrick Carrington, Sabine DeLuca, Richard Fein, Valerie Fox, Michaela A. Gabriel, Leonard Gontarek, Maryann Hazen Stearns, Quentin B. Huff, Craig Kirchner, Miriam N. Kotzin, Josef Lesser, K.L. Monahan, Jessy Randall, Amber Sawyer, Francis D. Smith, S. Thomas Summers, Karen Suriano, F. Richard Thomas, Jennifer VanBuren and John Vick.

Plus, an interview with Sean Farragher by Elizabeth P. Glixman and an essay by J.T.Best on Robert Frost's After Apple Picking as a chauvinist lust poem.

Recent publications received:

• Mudsong and blue crow by Michael Spring: these are two beautiful poetry collections which I've had the honor of being signed by the author. Love the breathtaking and polished imagery -- which is why he won the 2004 Robert Graves Award (Imago Poetry/UK) in the first place.

• A Generation Defining Itself: In Our Own Words (volume 6). Finally!! On one hand, it's a . On the other hand, it's a because the customs people made me pay 5.50 euros to receive it. Grunt. Can't wait to read it though... noticed a lot of prize-winning/-nominated works in this anthology.

• How Things Are On Thursday by Ros Barber: Yay! I ordered this months ago through Amazon.com, but after three weeks of waiting for it, they sort of crossed it off as "unavailable". Duh. I've been wanting to write a review of this exquisite collection, and the author was kind enough to send me a copy.

Recent acceptance:

• Carousel accepted my poem, Conceptual for their issue 19.

Very long response times -- this batch was submitted on 28 July 2005. But they did send an immediate acknowledgement that they've received it. Nice, professional manners... though I wish they could be more communicative. But paying markets are often like that, I'm afraid.

Site updates:

• Mine: 2006 publication credits

• Valerie Fox: our collaborative poems (after months of revisions and editing)

Personal News:

• Plantarium growth: 0 millimeters.
   Color: green.
   Prognosis: not good.

• Recent obsession: interviewing myself and the questions & answers re-arranged alphabetically afterwards, as in --

   Non-refillables: would you care to comment on that?
   Naturally. I didn't mean to smell of mildew while waiting (unhappily) for the bus.

   Off the record, weren't you repatriated for falsifying REM?
   Oh, you mean eavesdropping? It's a pre-ordained setup in my preferences.

   Please explain in less than twenty words your stand on world peace.
   Poor Simonello. He never saw the trebuchet.



• Which sort of led to the discussion on whether I am taking -- or not taking -- any medication.

Posted by Arlene at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

... and I've managed to squeeze some quality time with my Sims. Or should I say downloading objects for my Sims. Hee.

News and updates:

• Red Booth Review has gone on hiatus. Booohooo!!
The news saddened me -- it's such a terrific journal and I'll miss reading it on a regular basis. I'm also rather sheepish because I sent a lot of people to RBR, but here's the brighter side of the coin: W.T. Pfefferle is also the poetry editor of Georgetown Review which is a print magazine always on the lookout for new writing. Submissions are only via snailmail, but it's worth a try.

• Three poems are up in the February issue of Unlikely Stories:

     To Colonel Mustard in the Billiard Room with the Wrench
     A Kind of Tomorrow
     Like Electricity (my first experiment with photographic poetry)

• Davide Trame kindly nudged that we both have poems in the latest issue of Bonfire. Haven't received my copy yet. Will have to read the contract again to see if I'm meant to receive one. Hee.

• Based on hearsay, am also supposed to have a poem in A Generation Defining Itself: In Our Own Words (Volume 6). Haven't received my copy yet....

• Might be because our doorbell and intercom have gone kaput. I discovered this by chance when I returned home last Thursday -- without my doorkeys and, of course, without my cell phone (based on the presumption that my husband would open up). Had to climb the gate, go through the garage and bang loudly at the door before he realized I was 20 minutes late in coming home. No post in three days either.

• Plantarium plant green again. Have put height markers on the glass to check daily growth. Hee.

Posted by Arlene at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post