I’ve been interviewed by quite a few people in reference to my work as a writer, as an editor (for Shape of a Box and Referential), but I thought it would be fun for you guys to interview me!
So here’s how this will work. Just post your question in comments and I’ll respond. They can be on ANYTHING. After yesterday’s post, what do I have left to hide anyway?
Subscribe to the comment feed if you want to see all the responses 
Everything I have come into contact with over the last week seems to be hot, burning, lit up.
Let me explain.
Recently I had a good laugh at the comedy special Aisha Tyler Is Lit and she was 100% R rated on fire (that’s my viewer warning). I had also just finished reading Collin Kelley’s chapbook After the Poison which is lit up with guts. He opens with a poem about Ronald Reagan and touches on the corners of so many recent life altering events: Katrina, the various desert wars etc. I can hear Collin reading these poems meaning that I can hear his literal voice, but also his strong ability to draw characters, and to have a cadence that would also compliment the spoken word versions of many of these pieces. These are the poems that happen after we’ve taken the poison, and they will not be gentle but they will be amazingly well written and thought provoking (even if they are making me want to write run-on sentences in praise).
So these images of light and fire just can’t let me go because next I’m watching a documentary about pinball called Special When Lit. I SOOO remember playing pinball when I was a kid, but I’m fascinated by the passion that people still have for a machine that is dying away.
And then, I was really burning as I finished Ocean Vuong’s chapbook Burnings which will not let your mind rest. These are the poems of a young man who came from a history of burnings (think back to the Vietnam war and those who had to die and/or flee), but has had to continue to find a way to let his own individual light shine through even if the poems he has to write will make some people cringe. They are graphic, honest, and so thoughtful well wrought. They are, yes, on fire.
Finally, I read this article while my brain was still reeling from the Amendment One vote in NC where I live, and voted. I also stumbled across this editorial by Rabbi Shmuley. I tend to stay out of most political debates, especially in the online world. Why? I like to remain flexible and open to discussion. I don’t want people to think I’m not open to informed debate and discussion. And yet, this time I will say this:
I voted NO on Amendment One. I said No for a variety of reasons but for one I do support a broad version of freedom especially the freedom to love because I think all of this should come back to love. People came to this country because they wanted the freedom to love and worship the god/God of their choice. They came here for the love of their families and the hope of making some money to better support them. People come here and stay because they love having a voice and a choice. I think if we are going to say that consenting adults can not choose to love and commit themselves to whomever they want then we have to do away with any law that protects what others choose to love.
As some of the Wiccans have been known to say: As it harm none, do what you will.
This is what lights me up: helping others have a chance to speak, to join the conversation, to be who they are, to find their tribe.
I knew I had quite a few things to do this summer but as I start actually working on them I realized I should share a few events with you guys in case you may be able to attend – or in case you know someone who is in the area who can attend. I also welcome any topics you think should be covered in any of these events.
Such a busy summer! I am trying to decide how much more to book for myself. In July I’ll be at the NC Writer’s Conference but I won’t be doing a reading or anything there. That is a different type of event, but I will have a night class in the fall that may continue to keep me from some events. I like the outlet, however, of getting a chance to read from time and especially to teach creative writing once in a while since that isn’t a part of my teaching day job I’m out there for hire! Or, as we well know, doing most of these for free.
Still considering teaching an online class this summer. Wonder if I’d have any takers for say $10? Hmmm
Howdy! And welcome to Make Friday Write! I do have two recent publications to mention. The first is that my final photograph is now up in Corium Magazine. I say final because I haven’t been sending photos out, and well, I haven’t been taken many photos because my Canon G10 started taking what looked like ghost photos or something. I did do a lot of research and I finally decided to get a more updated phone that has a good camera in it instead of getting an expensive camera AND PHONE. I don’t know if I’ll take anything that will be publishable, or if I’ll find the time to start submitting photos again, but I am happy to have a new phone. I bought a Samsung Galaxy 2 Skyrocket. Don’t you love these names? It has an 8MP camera which isn’t as good as my old G10 but is still excellent for one on a cell phone. I can do some SLR things like ISO (100-800) but need to figure out how best to handle AV and speed without having those specific settings. Hmmmm<
The other item recently published is a poem in the online journal Assissi. It is published via ISSU so you have to dig in to find the poem. It is titled “Little Borders” and is in the book that will come out next year. Trying to decide with that book if I want to pull some poems from my chapbooks to put in there as well. I did that with Paper House but I’m not sure if I will with this one.
Here is the poem I have been working on this week after being inspired by poetry I was reading. That always ties together
The Gate
-after James Cihlar’s poem in Smartish Pace
It started with a school project
without supplies or skills.
She thought of how her mother
and her mother’s mother
could sew so it was possibly genetic.
She cross-stitched lines
from Dante’s Inferno on cloth,
decided on pastel threads:
Abandon (tongue pink)
all hope (lint yellow)
Ye Who (grated green)
Enter Here (Chlorinated Blue).
And it was reinforced by the first
priest she’d ever seen, the one
he teacher brought to class
(a necessary middle man
to explain the conventions
of Catholicism necessary -
or at least helpful – for the study
of Algheri’s work)
to a high school Southern
protestant class. “No,”
he had to repeat, “we don’t
worship Mary. Yes we
are Christians..” She
was in awe of his calm
in the face of 48 teenaged
eyes accusing him
of blasphemy. It continued.
When she finally got her license
(third time’s the charm like
a biblical prophecy) she went
to a new church every weekend.
She compared the rituals -
so similar across the faiths
that she looked for the contrasts -
the different shapes of Jesus’ hands,
the number of hymnals chosen
over the length of sermon. And then
she remembered herself
playing church with her dolls -
never weddings – instead
she tried to make their little legs
bend into positions of prayer
way past the ability
of the limb’s design.
-
As always I want to hear what you guys think of what I am working on and I want to read some of what you are working on. Friday is the day to share Remember I will take down my poem and any work you post one week from today.
Time to round up some of the things I have – and haven’t – been watching.
Well that’s it for this current round up. I’m thinking of making my night class (if my schedule stays the same and things are constantly in flux at school!) themed around film since we have a long class period. The class itself is Comp 2 – Argument Based Research – and I already use a lot of video in that. I think it’d be great to bring a foreign film into the mix. Maybe to even take one like “Let the Right One In” where there are American and Foreign versions to do a compare/contrast . . . hmm
What stories are you watching?
It’s that time again: reading round up.
I actually finished two books on the Kindle recently. Even though I didn’t feel I had much time to read somehow having an e-reader can make the time fly by. I finished Mary Roach’s Bonk which was another fun scientific read and the fantastic memoir Talk Thai. I high recommend that one! The only real drawback I’m having with the kindle is sometimes I take notes while reading – like I do on paper – but I forget about them.
I also finished up some lit mags include an issue of Poetry East which I was thrilled to be in. I found a lot of new poets to admire. I added Susan Blackwell Ramsey’s book to my Amazon wishlist, for example. I also finished an issue of Smartish Pace. I’ve been a fan of SP for a while. I’ve submitted several times and I even had “ink” from them one year. This was the first year I subscribed and at first I wasn’t sure I was enjoying the issue, but the further I got into it the more poems I found making me go – AH! I was pleased to see James Cihlar, who worked for a while with “Referential,” in the pages. His poem even inspired – in part – the poem I hope to post tomorrow for discussion. And my office mate Jenny Beaver has a terrific poem in the current issue of Silent Revelations.
Oh wait! More lit mags. Great stuff – as always – in Hippocampus Magazine and I found another awesome poem to love in decomP. And, finally, how about this poem by M. Scott Douglass in “Redheaded Stepchild”? I’ve heard it at several open mics but glad to see he found a home for it. Well, one more, not just for Teachers.
On the paper side of things I finished two: Men Who Understand Girls a fiction chapbook from Folded Word Press an the YA novel Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson. The former is intriguing although I found myself wanting a bit more clarify with the really super short pieces. The longer pieces engaged me a bit more. The latter was a pretty solid read. I’ve read a lot of Maureen’s work and this isn’t my favorite, but not bad. It takes a fairly typical story of a girl who hasn’t been kissed and puts her in a very unusual scenario to solve that problem. The oddest thing about the book, for me, was that it was written in a limited 3rd person. I’d love to ask Maureen why she decided to do that. I kept thinking it was in 1st person so I’d get thrown off from time to time. Still a solid – what you might call – beach read.
What have you guys been reading? I’m also reading student evaluations of my classes right now . . . Will this end well?
Sunday I had the pleasure of reading as part of Malaprop‘s once a month poetrio series. Yep. That’s three poets!
I have to give a big thanks to the poet pictured here, Maureen Sherbondy, for pushing me to send in a copy of “Fat Girl” so we could read together. This was my second time reading at Malaprop’s but Maureen’s first!
I read some new work and at least one poem from each of my most book, but I did focus on “Fat Girl” since – when I reserved the event – I didn’t yet have copies of “An Amateur Marriage.” Copies of FG are now for sale at Malaprop’s if you – or someone you know – is in the Asheville area.
We did a small Q&A after the reading which I always enjoy and while I didn’t sign any books on Sunday I still had a great time reading. I love supporting bookstores so I want to offer a giveaway.The first person who comments that they have bought a book (preferably poems) from an independent bookseller (online or in person) will receive some wonderful fresh coffee from Malaprop’s! Yes. They have their own cafe. I suggest any of the iced teas (I had honey-vanilla) and the carrot cupcake.
This offer is for US only. If you comment that you did so I’ll email you to make arrangements for the mailing of coffee. If you purchase one of my books from an indie bookseller than I’ll send you the coffee AND another one of my books.
Yay for bookstores!
