Husband and poetry update

Yay! Husband is now back from the hospital.
Being still under observation, he has to prick his fingers six times a day to check the glucose level before and after insulin injection. We're all hoping it's temporary diabetes -- due to stress, infection, antibiotics and prolonged excrutiating p-a-i-n. Crossing my fingers on that.

Spent the whole week going to and from the hospital... just checked my mail twice before crawling to bed. Hope to catch up with my e-mail soon!

In the meantime, a mass smiley hug to everyone who's offered good vibes and hugs --

Recent Acceptances:

Half-Drunk Muse accepted my poem, I'm caught deep in the dye of her for their upcoming issue. Watch the response time below and grow your seasonal veggies appropriately... teehee:

   Submission date: 28 December 2005
   Reply date: 4 May 2006

A UK-based print magazine, The Frogmore Papers accepted two poems: Hangover and Chocolate Pudding for their September issue (#68):

   Date mailed: 3 April 2006
   Date received: 4 May 2006
Double yay! Or as Spock would have it:

The bad news first, then the good news

This is something of a mass e-mail again. My husband was admitted to the hospital last Saturday and I haven't been myself ever since. It's nothing serious... but he was in a lot of pain.

They discovered he's diabetic, too -- which was quite a blow. He's been through three doctors these past two months and no one noticed this in the urine test even though it had always been under their noses.

They've jammed him with all sorts of antibiotics and, thankfully, he's better tonight. It turned out to be an abscess... which burst and *that* made him feel much better. Yay for that!

The good news:

My poem, Franklin in the Garden placed 2nd in the Orbis 135 Readers Award. Such a thrill, since the competition was fierce. I also get 15 GBP slapped on my slimy hands. Sure brings a bit of sun to my night.

Adroitly Placed Word and 4 Things About Me

Recent Publication:

I have 5 poems now up in John Vick's Adroitly Placed Word:

• Crag
• The Psychoanalysis of Pain
• Figure Study in Gray
• Nigel Loves Michi
• Arthur

Included are recordings of my yukky voice.

If I remember correctly, Nigel Michi was the poem that started it all -- the Nigel craziness, that is. Michi has poems here, too -- the one entitled Angie Nigel is, erm, particularly interesting.

The Four Things About Me:

Since it seemed churlish not to answer Michi's tag and being in a playful mood ever since resigning my editorial post, here are my answers. Whoever reads this must consider him-/herself *tagged*. Hee.

Four jobs I've had in my life
(nothing that ever lasted for more than a year)

1. News correspondent
2. Translator
3. Bio/bibliographical chronologist (for my dad's book)
4. Web designer

Four movies I would watch over and over

1. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
2. Oscar (my brother made me watch until I learned to love it)
3. Little Mermaid (teehee, ditto... memorized all the songs by heart)
4. Little Shop of Horrors (teeheehee, ditto -- I'm in love with the plant)

Four places where I have lived

1. Quezon City (Manila)
2. Venice, Italy
3. Marcon, in the province of Venice
4. Spinea, always in the province of Venice

Four TV shows I love to watch

1. House
2. Colombo (hah, I admitted it in public)
3. Murder She Wrote (hah, I can't believe I'm admitting *this* in public)
4. Lost (but we're like a year behind here in Italy... after reading the transcripts online, I sort of -- erm -- lost interest)

Four places that I have been on vacation
(the ones I remember fondly)

1. Sydney
2. Hong Kong
3. Bali (brem bali, brem bali!!! slurp)
4. Paris

Four websites that I visit daily
(the first two same as Michi's)

1. google
2. answers.com
3. wordreference.com
4. hyperdictionary.com
Four places I would rather be right now

1. Any English bookshop
2. At La Petite Périgourdine, 39 rue des Ecoles, Paris -- eating those potatoes fried in duck fat **drool**
3. In a workshop with Leonard Gontarek
4. In Pursky Muska, planting pine saplings

Four friends who I have tagged who I think will respond

1. Ethel
2. Angie
3. Nigel
4. Ellen

Tryst, Wicked Alice and other news

Wheeee!! I'm in the current issues of Tryst (The Undoing of Lace) and Wicked Alice (The Fictionalization of Nigel).

Niederngasse Italian news:

Well, I've sat on it for months. And have finally decided to resign as editor. Sigh... and yay! I'm all bunny-ears happy with this decision.

What I'm Frying with Other People:

Have volunteered to help with Steve Schroeder's project to build a searchable, sortable Publication Database. More info can be found at his blog. Thanks to Nathan for spreading the word! Hope others jump in... it's fun or pleasantly masochistic (depending on how your analyst looks at it). Hee.

Recent Rejection:

The editor of Alba: A Journal of Short Poetry sent his personal condolences:

   Submission date: 18 January 2006
   Reply date: 18 April 2006
   Thoughts: Eeek. I suggested this site to tons of people as a beginner's market... hopefully, they've had more luck. Actually what I mean is -- hopefully no one will want my neck in case of rejection.

The Potomac & Fireweed

Hope everyone had a nice Easter. We just went to the in-law's house for a light supper... as in beef lasagne, white asparagus with hard-boiled eggs, various veggy side-dishes, strawberries in lemon juice, the traditional colomba and one (1) bottle of prosecco. All very light and healthy. I slept until noon for reasons of digestion. Naturally.

Recent Publications:

I have two poems now up in the Spring 2006 issue of The Potomac:

• Coroner Kui Pours Wine in the Dark
• Single Hung Window

And, just noticed that the March issue of Fireweed has included my second-ever graphic poem, Like Turned Tables (or, An Astrological Chart Based on the Common Ashtray as It Appears in Dreams). Gary, the editor, commented that he liked the fact that the ashtray is dirty. Even though I worked one whole day to get the photoem done, I had to look at it again to notice that... which sort of sums up my housekeeping skills. Hee.

Recent Acceptance:

Poetry Salzburg Review has accepted my poem, Taking Risks with RC Boating for their Autumn 2006 issue (#10):

   Submission e-mailed on: 2 April 2006
   Acceptance received by post on: 14 April 2006

Very quick response times, considering this is a print magazine. Very professional manners, too. Payment is one complimentary copy -- though they don't state this anywhere. I hear that they're quite severe with guidelines... so take extra care and follow them to the letter. Otherwise, . Hah!

Recent Rejection:

Received a nice no from Spork Magazine:

   Submission date: 15 February 2006
   Reply date: 17 April 2006
   Thoughts: Hmmmm. I like editors who put up a fight.

I've been tagged...

by Nathan into revealing 7 things about me. Anyone reading this... please consider yourself tagged as well. Hee. It's a trap.

7 things to do before I die

1. Cure migraine (mine)
2. Go back to writing poems
3. Read Joyce's Ulysses
4. Live in Paris or London, maybe both
5. Learn another foreign language
6. Do the headstand position
7. Have at least one good relationship with a living plant

7 things I cannot do

1. Keep the house clean
2. Go a day without laughing (yes! from Nathan)
3. Type 100 words per minute
4. Remember where I put my things
5. Throw away the trash before it decomposes
6. Stop freaking out at the sight of worms
7. Have a phone conversation with my family for less than 15 minutes

7 things I say often

1. Hee
2. Ah
3. Aw shucks
4. F**k (in three languages)
5. That whatchamacallit (in three languages)
6. What a riot
7. Ciao

7 books I love

1. Jesus' Son (Denis Johnson)
2. The Key (Junichiro Tanizaki)
3. Steal Away (C.D. Wright)
4. How Things Are on Thursday (Ros Barber)
5. Hannibal (Thomas Harris)
6. Descriptionary (Marc McCutcheon)
7. Phantom (Susan Kay)

7 Movies I can watch over & over again

1. All of Me
2. Léolo
3. The Godfather I and II
4. A Fish Called Wanda
5. Meet the Parents
6. Four Weddings and a Funeral
7. The Addams Family

Okay, it's now official...

I've become a Forklift, Ohio operator. They sent this ultra-kewl ID along with the funniest publication contract I've ever signed. They mentioned possibly offering lodgings to their operators. Yay! I'm calling Mum... and the rest of the family and my husband's family. Anyone else wants to transfer to Cincinnati?

Whatever became of A?

Hubby still doing poorly. No cure for orchitis apart from bed rest, I'm afraid. Am mostly puttering around in the kitchen or doing the grocery. Twice or thrice I bit my nails in the GP's waiting room.

Have -- wheeeeee!! -- finished revising 28 poems for the Bundles of Letters including A, V and Epsilon manuscript which I'm doing with Valerie Fox. She presently has three quirky poems from the book at sonaweb. Deadline is coming up fast and I'm fairly in a panic.

Have also *learnt* how to do a PDF file. I'm quite thrilled about this. With Valerie living in the US and me here -- it seemed the best way to set the book layout and fonts from my computer to hers... MS Word files create havoc with the pages especially from Mac to PC.

Am also putting together the *late* April issue of the Italian Niederngasse -- which features the breathtaking photography of Jill Burhans. Thanks to Sarah (again) for the link from her blog (and psssst, "Jesus' Son" is *outstanding*!!)

What else? There are tons of unanswered e-mails in my Inbox: more than half of these think I need Cialis or Viagra. Someone shot my muse in the hiney. She's gone, leaving a bloody hiney print on the scanner glass. No other sign of the hair brush. For two days, my door keys disappeared. The garbage in the kitchen gets more rowdy by the day. I'm learning a lot about painkillers.

Recent Publication:

A new revision of an old, endlessly rejected poem, Weather-wise is up in the current issue of Eclectica.

Teehee. If you scroll down, you'll see Michi doing funny things with Nigel.

Recent Acceptance:

HiNgE Online accepted five poems for their Spring 2006 issue (#38):

• A is for Bermuda Triangle
• There's a green tabby
• Blood oranges
• moon
• The Lucky-Charm Plant Murder Story

The last one is about my much-advertised relationship with the plantarium, of course.

   Submission date: 10 February 2006
   Reply date: 3 April 2006