Saturday, August 23, 2008

Oh my ears and whiskers...

... how late it's getting! as the Rabbit would say.

A is officially not on vacation or sic (sic) leave. She's been in 30:30 — which is a kind of Wonderland where the words, DRINK ME lead to a lot of rabbit holes. Like pretending to be in India without rabbits. Like playing (with Valerie) at being an imaginary reviewer of an imaginary children's book called Bunny Steals a Pirate Ship. Like using rabbit's foot keychains to bring luck into several kitschy poems.

So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake

• The Mad Hatter has disappeared with our Bundles ms and hasn't been heard of since. Good grief.

• On the other hand, Valerie has amazingly completed the schedule of our Bundles readings. Our appearances in Drexel University and Kutztown University have been solidified on paper. I've got a reading scheduled on October 19 with Leonard Gontarek at Robin's Bookstore and on October 21 with Valerie at Green Line Cafe, both in Philly. Will post our full schedule here before I leave in case anyone would like to come.

• The September 2008 issue of Press 1 has been prepared well ahead of time.

• At some point, my Stand 187 contract was signed and mailed back to the sender.

• Advanced birthday gifts were exchanged between the husband and myself: a fancy iPod for him; a cheap mouse, a 300GB hard drive and a laptop cooler for me and my long-suffering laptop, my so-called better half.

• My copy of Best of the Web 2008 finally arrived!! It's gorgeous — with really great writing from people whose works I admire: Benjamin Buchholz, Jared Carter, Valerie Loveland, Christopher Rizzo, etc. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover the writing of Carmen Gimenez Smith through her poem, So You Know Who We Are or rather the exciting dandruff in this poem — I've never seen such a sordid detail used so eloquently. Wooohoooooo!

Recent publications:

• Two poems, Alopecia and the grizzly bear and mortality: a study are up in Issue 17 (Summer 2008) of Arsenic Lobster. I'm particularly pleased by the amount and variety of animals in this issue — chickens, a star-nosed mole and potato eyes (which, after reading Joshua Diamond's poem, might as well be an animal).

• Discovered that my poem, Window Screen (plus mp3 recording) has been up for, quite possibly, ages in the Spring 2008 issue Pebble Lake Review.

• Have two poems, flashlight solo and The Model Particular in the Fall 2008 issue of Caffeine Destiny. Am really thrilled to be part of this terrific 'zine — one of my favorites — because I never thought I'd get into this issue. Fairy tale story below.

Is destiny or just Caffeine Destiny?

Once upon an August day, the editor of Caffeine Destiny wrote asking if she had recently accepted anything from Little Red Writing A because she had A's name on file for the Fall 2008 issue. A, being a meticulous kind of girl, checked her records and replied that what she had on file was a rejection, but was incidentally preparing another batch to send (she didn't know the 'zine was already closed to submissions until January 2009 — still giving herself a whack with the blunt edge of the axe for not rechecking the submissions page at the time). Instead of chocolates for her good record-keeping skills, the editor agreed to give A a chance to send over the batch before the month was out. The rest is happily ever after. With the peace broken intermittently by...

The funniest laugh ever:

While raiding Radiohead songs on YouTube, I stumbled upon this weirdness. I used to think my siblings had the funniest laugh, but this one just beats my family members to pulp. I'm so tickled pink.