Sunday, May 25, 2008

15 days of hell

Not to mention crap. Have dragged my sorry ass back to 30:30. It's one of those rounds where every poem is a just placeholder since three-fourths of my brain is either raiding the playfirst site (again) or youtubing senselessly.

Have been very good today though: (a) went through the Press 1 subs and sent my "votes" to the PA gang, (b) after more than a month, remembered to call my sister, (c) submitted some poems around, and (d) hey, am actually blogging now.

The Bundles manuscript is still undergoing corrections and edits. The compound nouns are driving Valerie and me rather crazy. It's a learning experience though. Like coalmine (not coal mine) and bunk bed (not bunkbed).

First ever interview (in English):

Susan Smith Nash's interview with A is up at E-learning Queen. Yikes. Only goes to show that in this world, not only vampires get interviewed.

Recent print publications:

• Received my copy of Orbis #143 — which includes two sonnenizios, Airborne (on a line from Ros Barber) and Breakage (on a line from Jean Cassou).

This issue also has poetry by familiar names such as Neil Campbell, Alison Chisholm, Sarah Law, David Lawrence and Todd Swift — along with book and magazine reviews.

• My copy of Seam #28 also arrived. Have two poems also in this issue, The Plagiarist and Outdoors.

It is 73 pages, flat-spined, with a two-color card cover. Was really excited to read the poems of fellow bloggers, James Midgley and Rob Mackenzie.

Recent acceptances:

CEllA's Round Trip, a spankin' new 'zine accepted two poems, Addiction and The Official Miss de Bourgh Letter to Stalkers for their first issue (Spring 2008).

Much thanks go to Sean Lovelace (author of the ultimate drinking poem, So, This Is Drink) for introducing me to this terrific-looking journal. On a hunch, I also sent Valerie's stuff to the editor and was doubly thrilled when they also accepted her Eros in the Cafe, Annotating His Non-Illustrated Dream Book, one of my favorites in the Bundles manuscript. So excited about this!

OH. YES. Now I remember. The lovely editor called me Angela twice in her acceptance letter. Later, she admitted she didn't know what made her type that when she actually knew my name was Arlene. ***Twilight Zone theme song playing in the background here***

     Submission sent: 30 April 2008
     Reply date: 12 May 2008

• After years of trying, was overjoyed to receive my second acceptance note from DIAGRAM. Wheeeeee!

They accepted my longish poem, Shipwreck — the one based on this dream I had about entering a submarine and looking at all the dead people. It was eerie, to say the least.

     Submission sent: 12 April 2008
     Reply date: 14 May 2008

Thieves Jargon, another cool 'zine, accepted an oldish poem, Another RC Flyer Off Course for a future issue.

     Submission sent: 5 May 2008
     Reply date: 25 May 2008

[oops, editing to add this bit 26.05.08]

Dirty Napkin sent me a third acceptance e-mail for my poem, Relic. On receiving their first two e-mails and seeing that they've removed my submission from their database, I thought this went into the rejection box — but it seems that they reply to each work individually. It might be a good idea to keep that in mind when submitting to them.

They made me do a recording for this, too. They gave me a third excuse for drinking myself hoarse in front of the microphone. To give more depth to my reading, I wore a party hat. In private.

     Submission sent: 14 March 2008
     Reply date: 16 May 2008

[Existential question for the day: If you're not drunk, what's going to happen to you?]

A's Official 30:30 Song:



Was going through an REM phase when I came across this video at YouTube. Tickled me silly. That furry yellow monster at the back is a creepy incarnation of my brain — which goes (same intonation, same whine percentage), I AM SO SAD! as soon as it sees me settle down to write my daily poem. Come to think of it, these monsters look every bit like my little gray cells... at Carnival time. They make the same happy/sobbing noises in Dolby Surround in my head.

Hope this video brings a smile to someone's day. C'mon, monsters! You don't have to cry, we can be happy! YEAH! Teehee.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

New issues of The Pedestal Magazine and Press 1

Am clapping-my-hands-happy to announce that the 21 April 2008 issue of The Pedestal Magazine is finally up.

It's quite late, I know — we've had to struggle to get it out because the site was hacked, declared DOA, resurrected... and on the third day, as in Jesus H. Kerist, was dead again. Am relieved to say that the current reincarnation of TPM is looking as blue-violet as ever and not the least bit zombified.

The new issue features fabulous work by Elizabeth Bruno, Anne Agnes Colwell, Michelle Kyoko Crowson, William Doreski, Stewart Florsheim, Matthew Gavin Frank, James Grabill, Sarah Law, James Midgley, Tayve Neese, Gailmarie Pahmeier, David A. Pitcher, Frances Ruiz, Hannah Silva, and Joshua Michael Stewart.

Secondly, the May 2008 issue of Press 1 is also up — featuring the fantastic photography of Metin Demiralay, with exciting poetry by L. Ward Abel, CL Bledsoe, Barry Denny, John Grey, Sarah Kolbasowski, David Mills, Susan Smith Nash, Maurice Oliver, Tom Savage, Melissa Shook, and Davide Trame.

With my mental grasp of arithmetic, I think that after putting together two issues I'm supposed to celebrate with two bottles of wine and drink both simultaneously from my pint-size beer glass until it (the glass) appears to double before my eyes. Hee.

Recent publications:

• A poem, Laguna Palace, Mestre is up in the Winter 2008 issue of Convergence. Was thrilled to see that Davide has a got a poem in this issue, too. Yay!

• Another poem, Time with Frieda is up in the 3rd issue of 34th Parallel, plus two photos of (ewwww!) A (though am rather fond of this one, photography-wise).

Recent acceptance:

Iodine Poetry Journal, an NC-based print journal, accepted my (hehe) lascivious Petrarchan sonnet, Artichoke for their Fall/Winter 2008/2009 issue. All this iodine reminds me of that time my sis passed out in the bathroom and woke up with an apple-sized bruise (sans skin) on her knee — a sure warning against over-imbibing... but after two bottles — of wine, of iodine — who's keeping tabs?

Anyway, overseas writers may send submissions via e-mail — which is always a treat. They have really good response times, too. Very nice professional manners.

     Submission sent: 18 March 2008
     Reply date: 30 April 2008

Talking of Petrarchan sonnets

This little bunny lasted five days in 30:30 while attempting to write 24 Petrarchan sonnets based on Chopin's Preludes. After the 5th sonnet, the whole idea began to reek of serial murder... and I just had to re-install Civ 4 in my laptop so that I could go on a killing rampage. Ooooh, bliss.