Maybe you are wondering about the heading for this post already; I’ll get to that, but first:

• Here is a terrific interview with the poet (and memoir writer) Sandra Beasley
• I have a poem in the new issue of Barely South the online journal from ODU
• There is some publicity out for the Couplet Literary Festival I’ll be presenting at in Wilmington on Feb 4th (SO EXCITED!)
• If you are looking for some things to watch I found P Star Rising, 6 Days to Air and How Beer Saved the World (and I’m not a beer fan, but neat to see how they shaped history/facts to fit their narrative) all pretty interesting on Netflix for very different reasons (warning on 6 days – it is about the makers of SouthPark so you know the language you are gonna be getting!)
• Today was a good week of classes, albeit a short week which meant condensing and unusual prep times. My composition classes were working on critical reading/critical thinking skills and vocabulary fun (via modified Scattegories) while my British Lit students practiced their literary analysis skills using Fairy Tales and my online students were asked to sign up for Submishmash, Worpdress and to look into print and online literary magazines because they will be thinking on the world of publishing this semester.
• I also managed to draft at least one poem this week and I sent out one submission package with some acceptances coming in so not bad on that front. I keep trying to move forward, including the word that Sibling Rivalry Press will publish my 2nd full length poetry collection in the Fall of 2013!

So how do I get to the so what portion of this post? Well, it is this poem below. I believe I may have posted an earlier draft of it here actually. My issue with it – what causes me pause – is the very question: so what? Maybe the poem isn’t terrible, per se, but what is it doing? Why would I bother including it in my submission packets and/or next collection (of course I’m working on what’ll be a 3rd collection or a 5th chapbook – 5? really? whew!). When do you decide the poem was fun to play with, but isn’t something to send out? Let’s discuss!

–by the way – I did decide to retire the poem. It didn’t have enough going for it. Sometimes you have to write stuff that you don’t keep

Looking forward to seeing your work in progress and/or to hear your thoughts on mine. It is time to discuss whatever writing items you want to discuss.

And now I’ll be back to grading