Amusing myself on the 26th day (round IX)

Since I'm not much use at concentrating on anything today, thought I'd amuse myself by blogging. Haven't really got anything interesting to say about my life. But in case anyone suspects that I've been torturing cats with a pepper spray, I haven't. I've got nothing to be guilty about. Really. Here's a short rundown of what I've been doing with myself:

• Slaving over a novel (in verse) with Valerie — and doing it under the 30:30 shelter.

• Have waged a four-day war with maggots that came out of a huge fruit fly when I swatted it down in the kitchen.

• Looking up at the bathroom wall and waiting for a tile to fall on my head [four have come out... so far not one on my head yet.]

• Bribing Caesar with trinkets to blind him into believing I'm an efficient governor.

• Drinking.

• In bed with the laptop, doing things I can't admit in public. I'll let your filthy minds wonder about that. **snicker sesame oil**

Recent acceptance and call for subs:

• Right Hand Pointing accepted three poems: Please Meet My Navel, Bob-and-Anne's Seafood Carbonara and Fridge Note for their humor issue (#17).

They're still considering submissions for that issue. Getting the length just right is a bit tricky and quite a challenge. Make sure to check out the guidelines first — it's quite ticklish, especially the note about not wanting poems about pets (dead or alive)... but being attracted to natural objects that are embedded in someone’s head. So, think:

     Submission date: 9 September 2007
     Reply date: 4 October 2007

Publications received:

Was so surprised and delighted today to find a package of books Ellaraine Lockie was so kind to send to me.

• Mules of Love by Ellen Bass. Have only peeked briefly, but I've already got a soft spot for:

The Thing Is

to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you've held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.

* * * * *

Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.

Ain't that gorgeous?

• Thin Air Magazine (Summer 2007) is neat magazine, flat-spined with a glossy photo cover, containing an eclectic range of poetry, fiction and b/w artwork. They're also accepting work (only by snailmail though) until 30 November 2007.

• SLAB (Sound and Literary Art Book) is a lovely anthology — around 230+ pages with a matte card cover . Ellaraine received 1st place in their Elizabeth R. Curry Poetry Contest. Results and poems may be read here. They are currently accepting submissions via e-mail and snailmail. Check out the guidelines.

I was really tickled pink by the bios at the end — the editors had some really fun questions which I thought might be fun to share with fellow bloggers. Which is why I'm....

Playing this SLAB tag:

Anyone reading this, consider yourself tagged — unless I get you first.

1. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
Skipping yoga class.

2. How do you take your coffee?
I don't take coffee. I partake of the husband's coffee — with sugar and a drop of milk. What they call macchiato in Italian. As opposed to caffe latte, which is milk with a drop of coffee. Don't get me started on the many decadent ways Italians take their coffee.

3. Who were you in a previous life?
In the worst possible scenario, Jack the Ripper. In the best, Freud.

4. Who or what is your greatest influence?
It's cheesy, but I'd say, good ol' dad.

5. What is the worst film you ever paid to see?
Hannibal. And that was the last time I went to the cinema.

6. What is the best thing you can buy for a dollar?
A 90-cent stamp for one SASE. And hey, I've still got 10 cents! Isn't that a prime sample of my good budgeting skills? Hee.

7. What is the worst present you ever received?
Probably a lacy red underwear from the husband's niece. The bra was several sizes too small — I didn't know whether to feel smug (because my breasts are bigger that *that*) or insulted (because everyone thinks they're smaller than they look).

8. What is your favorite word?
Bucket. I'm practically married to it by now.

Eclectica poems and Umbrella acceptance

The October-November issue of Eclectica is now online. With poetry by Michaela A. Gabriel/Nathan McClain, Daniel Barbiero, Scott Urban, Ellen Kombiyil, Jayne Pupek, Oliver Rice, Les Kay, Ray Templeton, Theresa White, Kimberly L. Becker, Bob Bradshaw, Lafayette Wattles, Dorothee Lang, Jason Kelly Richards, Barbara De Franceschi, Paul Hostovsky, Jennifer Finstrom and mumblemumble [Aftermath and The heart stops momentarily].

Recent acceptance:

• Umbrella accepted a poem, Col San Martino and a sonnenizio on a line from Jarman, Open House.

     Submission date: 29 August 2007
     Reply date: 25 September 2007

Just for fun:

Discovered this ticklish Sims 2 video at YouTube — ticklish because I know the actual commands that were used to make the Sims do what they had to do on film. The melding of the two versions (English and Simlish) of Charlotte Martin's Beautiful Life is rather cool, too!

Secret Love Poems chapbook

Yay!
I was so thrilled when one of the Rubicon Press editors told me over the weekend that my chapbook, Secret Love Poems is ready to go to print this week. The cover art is by Oana Cambrea — who's been so kind to give us permission to use her image. Her works are simply divine!

Recent acceptances:

• Am scheduled to make my 13th appearance in Eclectica with a word challenge poem, The heart stops momentarily — and a sonnenizio on a line from Ros Barber, Aftermath.

     Submission date: 1 September 2007
     Reply date: 13 September 2007

• CommonLine Project accepted a rather ticklish fetish poem, Necks for Issue 011 (due out on November 1st).

     Submission date: 9 September 2007
     Reply date: 13 September 2007

• Will also have two poems, Liu Song Warms Himself By the Fire and Six Reasons I Never Write About Home in the debut issue (Fall/Winter 207) of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. It's new, but has nice professional manners. Quickish response times, too. They're considering work from or about Asia, check them out.

     Submission mailed: 14 September 2007
     Reply received: 15 September 2007

And on the 3rd day...

... after her birthday, A had a bit too much wine in the country and fell off the 30:30 wagon. A crawled out of her hangover and has gone back to square one (Round 9). A has sworn to anyone who would listen that she is never going to touch another drop of liquor. Ever again.

That said, A is pleased to finally announce that Issue 2 of Press 1 is now up and running — with works by FJ Bergmann, CL Bledsoe, Benjamin Buchholz, Leonard Gontarek, Janna Layton, Dennis Moritz, Andrew Mossin, Mark Sutz, John Vick and Ann Walters. All photography in this issue is courtesy of Jill Burhans.

Recent acceptances:

• Convergence accepted my poem, Laguna Palace, Mestre for their Fall/Winter issue. This is a neat little 'zine that started out in 2003 — discovered it while jumping from link to link and had a great time going through their archives. Fairly quick response times, too. It sure helped light up my cake!

     Submission date: 5 September 2007
     Reply date: 7 September 2007

• Cahoots Magazine accepted an oldish and previously published poem, After the Affair for an upcoming issue. Their response time (see below) is rather long. However, they seem to be moving towards getting out of print and going solely on-line — which might lessen the waiting period.

     Submission date: 21 February 2007
     Reply date: 8 September 2007

• UR-VOX sent one of best form acceptances I've ever received:

Thank you for your submission. Although we can't comment on each manuscript, we can at least spare you the platitudes (your writing is impressive) and salesmanship (have you seen the magazine?) of the condescendi. So.

Please don't be shocked. We accept your work entitled: air : lift, body : water and Divergences of the Sixth Sense to be published in URxVOX #5 in 2008....

Isn't that wonderfully cheeky? I had to blink three times (quite shocked, of course) before I believed it and did some witchy jumps of joy in the kitchen.

     Submission mailed: 2 April 2007
     Reply received: 9 September 2007

• Mimesis, another print journal, accepted four poems, A Driving Student Enters the Roundabout, Battery Park City, Locusts and Cordon Bleu for their 3rd issue. Yay! I'm doubly thrilled because this is such a gorgeous-looking journal.

Contrary to UR-VOX, they seem to accept submissions only via e-mail. Quick-ish response times, too!

     Submission date: 25 August 2007
     Reply date: 11 September 2007

6th Pushcart Prize nomination:

Just received word from the editor of Radiant Turnstile that he has submitted my poem, Mrs. D's Last Letter to Her Son (July 2007 issue) to the Pushcart Committee. WOWZA. I'm so honored... I feel I should hide behind the sofa until chased out by the dust bunnies and spiders.

Thieves and zygotes

I'm floating happily enough to say that Thieves Jargon has been resurrected. Issue 152 has now gone up, with my poem, Fishing dead bodies in water. You've got to be dead not to love this artwork by Stephen Elvidge featured there.

Have got a ticklish poem, Please Meet My Table up in the ever tickling 'zine, Zygote in my Coffee (Issue #93).

What else? Today is Day 5 of 30. I am in pain. In another two days, I won't only be in greater pain — I'd be older, too.

Back in 30:30

It's official. Have written my first poem in two months and posted it in 30:30. Its birthing was quite comparable to a tooth abscess.

Am running ever so late with correspondence and blog lives, but I do want to say thanks and a huge HI!! to those who left messages in my previous posts. I will catch up with everyone's blog. Eventually.

New website at Leafscape:

Am delighted to announce that I've finished Jayne Pupek's website. She's a brilliant poet/writer... but more importantly, she knows her drinks. At some point during the construction, we lost quite a bit of attachments and e-mails between us while drinking to each other's health. What else? The original photographer whose work we were supposed to use at the site stopped communicating with us. One of us suffered from double vision caused, in part, by looking at naked mannequins while the other began seeing ketchup on the back of fallen angels. Er. Um. Hic. Yes.

Acceptances and anthologies:

• alice blue accepted three poems — one: placebo, two: union and four: totem — from my approximative translations manuscript (unfinished). Yay!! Am so thrilled because (1) I adore this 'zine, (2) it publishes innovative, experimental work — not my "genre" at all, and (3) it's my third try with them. Persistence pays!

     Submission date: 12 May 2007
     Reply date: 28 August 2007

• Am likely to have my sonnenizio, Breakage in the Summer 2008 issue of Orbis. I say "likely" because the editor offered to read more of mine for the Winter issue. Because publised poets are required to wait at least a year before submitting again, acceptance in the Winter issue will probably wipe out my appearance in the Summer issue. Sounds rather long-winded put that way, but there it is.

Response time is a bit long, but the editor is considering work for the Winter issue (mailed in January 2008). If there's a season featured in your poem, make sure it's winter. Breakage is more of a summer poem, hence the wait. I didn't know about this before I submitted. Thought it might be useful and interesting for others to know.

     Submission date: 22 February 2007
     Reply date (after querying on the 22nd): 25 August 2007

• Was very honored and thrilled to receive an e-mail from Snow*Vigate Press saying that my poem, In the Woods—A Shot—Fraught with Barking Dogs which was published in Blue Fifth Review will be included in their anthology, Online Writing: the Best of the First Ten Years (edited by Kim Chinquee and Doug Martin). They're shooting for 100 writers to include and hope to have the book out by Christmas. WOWZA.

• Am thrilled to know that the anthology edited by Holly Hughes, Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose about Alzheimer’s Disease (Kent State University Press) is pushing through with publication in late 2008. Have signed another contract for the reprint of my poem, Five Minutes of Silence.

Publications received:

• Really thrilled to received my copy of ANON (#5). This is one of the most beautiful print journals I've seen — with a terrific array of poetry and prose inside.

• Was ecstatic to receive my copy of Staple Magazine. It's absolutely gorgeous! I was expecting it to be saddle-stitched with a card cover... so it was quite a surprise. The £10 check is a cool sight, too — not that I can cash it in Italy. Anyway, the table of contents, with some of my fave poets, is viewable here.

I'm not dead, you know.

Maybe a bit tipsy. Still breathing. Heaving, more likely. But can someone explain to me why am I wearing this party hat?
What? Oh. Yeah. It's because I have to toot the horn.

A is very pleased to announce that Issue 41 of The Pedestal Magazine is now online — with fantabulous poetry by Ros Barber, Ken Champion, Margaret Clark, Sarah J. Den Boer, Arun Gaur, Robert Gregory, Sandra Kohler, Mary Miller, Jarrod Minto, Andrew Mossin, Allan Peterson, Allison Shoemaker, Lynn Strongin, James Tipton and Yun Wang.

Have to admit it's one of the best issues I've put together... if not the best. Very strong poems, and the variety makes me think I've got a hundred eyes: the works range from formal to more experimental work, from minimalist to narrative poetry. Just rereading everything puts me on cloud nine. Hope it's a high for others, too.

Recent acceptances:

• THE SHop accepted my poem, The Day She Was Called to Identify the Body for a future issue. The note states: Poems are normally published within twelve months of acceptance. And I'll —uh— drink to that.

This Ireland-based print magazine accepts submissions only via snailmail. However, the good news is that they reply via e-mail — no need to worry about Irish stamps or IRCs.

Special thanks goes to Davide Trame for telling me about this wonderful journal.

     Submission mailed: 6 July 2007
     E-mail reply: 7 August 2007

• Poet Lore accepted a salvaged poem from the dead-and-obsolete-Scrying-Sand mss, To sweat in their Fall 2007 issue.

Have to admit that I did a happy dance while reading their acceptance letter on the way to one of the —uh— many parties we've had to attend this August.

     Submission mailed: 30 May 2007
     Reply received: 10 August 2007

Recent publications:

• My poem, Heritage and the Gorilla Suit is now up in the Summer 2007 issue (#6) of Tipton Poetry Journal. Really pleased to see so many familiar names, particularly that of fellow bloggers, Cheryl Snell, James Owens and Sandy Sue Benitez.

• Three poems: A Driving Instructor's First Copy of Jane Eyre, A Daughter Named Cialis and Portrait of What's-Her-Name's Husband as Loose Change — are also up in Issue 11 of Ghoti Magazine.

What has kept A from blogging:

• Laughing exhaustion due to watching too many reruns of Whose Line Is It Anyway?

• Sleep.

• Drink.

• Parties.

• Getting over hangover(s).

• Eating and cursing unseeded watermelons.

• Listening to Charlotte Martin while doing housework. A is tickled pink at discovering the Simlish version of Beautiful Life (University EP).

• Morbid dread of having to go back to 30:30. [A is so rusty she fears catching tetanus from herself.]

• Limping from a skinned-and-bruised knee (left) because of a fall caused by a %#&@*?$!!! sudden depression on a sidewalk in Tambre, Italy. Not due to drunkenness, of course... according to the official report.

• And recently, putting together the September issue of Press 1.