Have now officially begun reading...

for the PNG Erotic Supplement. The list is still quite long and I'm stopping today at 9 November 2005 submissions.

Thought I'd start early since come January I'll be judging the winter poetry contest at Desert Moon Review.

What I did between yesterday and tonight:

• Finished reading the PNG Italian submissions
• Prepared the new PNG Italian issue layout and graphics
• Untangled the large knots that had accumulated in my hair since Christmas eve
• Made myself some horrible-tasting green tea
• Rounded up Marginalia poets for the PNG English Jan-Feb issue

The last one took me all afternoon -- had to read months and months of daily poetry at the House of Thirty.

In short, I am preeningly pleased with myself and begin to think that I *do* deserve to show off my paunch at parties.

Webpage transferred and updated

Yay! Have left the Goobertree site for good and can now be found at:

http://www.leafscape.org/aang

I couldn't access the FTP server anymore and was VERY displeased with the iPowerweb support team who weren't bothering to read my e-mails: they merely scanned for keywords, like "FTP" or "subdomain" and then copied-and-pasted their replies from the help manual when my problem had to do with a login problem -- which, I assumed, was changed while I was away and needed to be reset. DUH!!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!!
We ate and drank with gusto near the fireplace (not ours).

House-cleaning has been suspended for the holidays... as well as the daily one-hour treadmill marathon I promised I'd do in order to fit into my slinky New Year's Eve gown -- but, as my tender husband consoled me,

By then, everyone will be too drunk to notice your paunch, honey. HAH!

Update on laziness and acceptances

Have finished revising my AVE poems... finally! That is, until I get more input about what to change, omit, etc. (New Year's resolution #2: join a critique workshop -- seriously).

Received recent acceptances from the following 'zines:

• PomPom (Issue 6)
• PulpBits (2006 Anthology)
• Poetry Ireland Review

Just got the Poetry Ireland e-mail tonight -- such a big surprise! I sent six poems last August and despaired about ever hearing from them. Have been pestering them with subs since... ahem, five years ago. Maybe seven. More or less regularly. So, persistence *does* pay. Especially when accompanied by fake lashes.


Also, the Orbis editor, who's been so nice in her comments, has decided to keep one of the last poems I wrote in November to be "considered for publication" in a future issue... which is good, I think.

Have also received my copies of Rattle #24. Wooohooo! It's such a treat to read.

I think I forgot to mention in my pre-New Year resolutions that I also need to get my Christmas shopping done. Hah! Only 6 more days to go. Should I panic? Naaaaah.... I am, so far, calm and collected (stamplike).

Back from the dead (again)...

and trying not to panic at the load of unreplied e-mails in my Inbox. Haven't yet begun reading for the NG erotic supplement... though the submissions are looking nicely stacked.

Pre-NewYear resolutions:

• Finish the AVE poetry book with Valerie
• Hang my dad's mega-sized paintings in the living room
• Wrap up the January issue of the Italian NG on time (hah!)
• Answer most, if not all, the e-mails in my Inbox
• Update my website publication lists and links
• Will not be lazy... will not, will not!
• Will drink green tea to stay awake
• Will not invite the cleaning lady to come on the preconception that I can clean up after myself, my husband, the singing mini-Christmas tree and our dust spiders.

So there!

IBPC, Arabesque Review, call for subs, etc.

Heh! Thanks to Jude, I got the first whiff about my poem, Doing Time placing 3rd in the October 2005 IBPC. Wooohooo!! Never expected that... after around three years of being nominated more or less regularly I sort of lost hope. Hee.

Three poems, with rather messed up line breaks, are up in the Arabesques Review:

• At random
• The 30th Secret Love Poem
• Crumbled leaves

And it's now official: I am editing the February 2006 Erotic Supplement of Poems Niederngasse. Here's the cheeky call for subs:

Niederngasse turns up the heat this February!

The focus of our supplementary issue is erotic poetry: the sensual, the provocative, the intriguing. There are no limits when it comes to literary forms, sexual positions or gender preferences.

Submit up to 3 poems to: niederngasse@yahoo.co.uk

Deadline: January 15 (with replies on or before January 25).

As further invitation, guest editor, Arlene Ang whispers steamily: "Darlings, make my hands sweat to cuff your works to the PNG bedposts!"

Lynn Levin's lovely review of my book is also up in the current issue of Niederngasse.

Had begun my PD4P round and quickly dropped out: I came, I wrote, I sucked. Pooh. Very distracted -- by niece, by knitting, by grass-cutting and by cleaning the infected ears of my two German Shepherds.

Pre-departure post

Leaving for Manila in less than 19 hours. Been good today: packed my luggage, maintained kitchen cleanliness, pored through the poems in Blueline for inclusion in the Marginalia section of Niederngasse... and yes, finally finished revising my AV&E poems.

List of recent ayes and nays:

• Acceptance notes: The Aurora Review wants three poems and Pemmican has scheduled my poem, Hot tubs for their Spring 2006 issue.

• Rejections received: ForPoetry.com (nicely apologetic), Hanging Loose (form letter) and The North (handwritten note, see below):

Dear Arlene Ang
So sorry to take so long & in the end not to take any poems from your Sept submission. We were tempted by 'The 34th Secret Love Poem' -- which ACUMEN or ORBIS magazines might take?
All good wishes

I know I've said it already, but let me say it again: the Brits send the most heart-warming rejection slips. I hoard these personal notes more than love letters. They also have, more or less, the same handwriting... which makes me feel as if I'm dealing with only one person -- all these years -- secret-admirer-wise. Hee.

• Update on language skills of my 10-month-old niece: Ma, Pa and Eeeeeeeyoooouuuaaaaaah. Very verbal, in fine contrast to all the bouncing puppies I've raised in my life. Teeehee.

Underground Window issue

The November 2005 issue of Underground Window is now online with poetry by Emily Waples, Ann Berkman, Joseph Armstead, Harold Lorin, Bruce Milne, Simon Perchik, Carol Carpenter, Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti, Ana Monnar, Evan Saltmarsh, Jeanpaul Ferro and this frisky old goat. The poems are terrific; it's great just to be part of the gang!


Rejection slip from Red China Magazine last night -- which isn't bad. They replied (within 6 weeks)... which is already something. Yay!

Still mincing my list poems and making some nice pies. Creative part of brain no longer active...

probably the result of sniffing too much degreasers, calcium-deposit sprays, detergents and ethyl alcohol. Went on withdrawal this morning and ended up on my hands and knees to clean the kitchen.

Fellow came to check the boiler afterwards and approved (silently) of our decorous disorder. Heh!