I have just posted the first issue of Asphalt Sky!  It took a bit longer than I expected (as every project always does), but I’m really proud of the result.  Kate, Jo, and I worked very hard to find the best poetry, art, and fiction possible, and I think we have a lovely diversity of artists, poets, and storytellers.

I hope you check it out!  If you like what you see, I’ve opened submissions for Volume 1, Issue 2.  Please submit by September 1. Find out more at the submissions guidelines page over at our new and improved site.    Thanks!

On Sunday, I was hanging out with some friends, and one of my really good friends lent me the greatest book.  It’s called Look! Up in the Sky! and it is an anthology of comic book poetry.  As soon as he turned it over to me, I thought, I wonder if Jeannine Hall Gailey has any poetry in here, because she wrote an entire book of comic book poetry.  In fact, she is!  She has two of her poems from Becoming the Villainess in there.  I felt smart and in the know, for a moment.  Don’t worry, it passed.

Throughout the past couple of days, I’ve been flipping through the book, and it has some great poems in here.  I think it stretches the theme a bit, to include all sorts of heroes and villains.  But I’ve enjoyed much of the poetry inside.  My favorite, for now, is a poem by Samer Saliba called “The Pussy Doctor,” which describes what it feels like to grow up with a father who is a gynecologist.  (This is the the stretching it part — the dad is a hero, in the poem.)  The best line: “Whenever my dad saw me crying and called me a pussy, I had to take his word for it.”  Brilliant!

SARK, one of my favorite writers in the universe, has a new book coming out this August. I was disappointed with her last book, Fabulous Friendship Festival, mainly because it wasn’t an engaging topic for me.  But her new one is entitled Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper: Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories, and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It. Now that sounds like a book for me! 

August 5 can’t come fast enough!

After my post-nanapoopoo hiatus, my desire to write has returned.  Hooray!  In celebration of picking up the pen again, here is the daily quatrain I wrote this morning:

Heartbeat

Breathing next to me, the chickadee burns
time, searching for food. I watch her soft breast
expand and contract, double-time, marvel
at the machinations propelling her.

I still haven’t figured out how to run a poll on WordPress (if you know, please email me at 9to5poet at gmail dot com), so I have been remiss on selecting a new Poetry Book Club book for June.  With that in mind, I would like to do Time and Materialsby Robert Hass.  It was this year’s co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize…so it must be okay, right?  I’ll post the discussion post on June 9.  

Don’t forget, next Monday we’ll be discussing Rae Armantrout’s Next Life!

Yes, I am still here.  But, I feel like I’ve got a writing hangover, similar to that I experienced after NaBloWriMo.  Even though I tuckered out on NaPoWriMo 5 days early, I’m a little tapped out. I’ve also had to play some catch up on reviews (Page 4 of the PDF for my Uptown Girl review), so I’ve had a momentary retreat from blogging. 

However, I have been doing other things (yes, there are other things) including…

• Seeing a Twin’s Game with my hubby, as well as Mr. Horrorpants and his wife. The Twins are actually on a winning streak, although that phrase will probably jinx it.
• Enjoying the beautiful weather - it’s finally above 50 degrees.
• Recovering from the massive report I had to coordinate at work.  I am so glad it’s done, never to be coordinated again.  I hope.
• Reading my next book to review for Uptown Neighborhood News, State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy
• Watching Season One of The Riches– I have a huge crush on Eddie Izzard now.
• Finishing Asphalt Sky.  I swear to God it’s coming out soon. 

So life is good.  Just not very bloggable right now.  And that’s okay. 

Of course, I’ve been reading. My review of Rae Armantrout’s Next Life (78 pages) is up at read.write.poem. 

Then last night, I finished A Very Good Year  (276 pages) by Mike Weiss.  This is an interesting book — it follows the production of one wine (Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc) throughout its lifespan, from growing on the vines to being consumed by a couple of people.  What’s interesting is that Weiss balances the tutorial on winemaking with the character study of the people who are involved in making the wine.  You end up caring about the vineyard owners, the farmers, and yes, even the marketing guy.  At the end, there is a bit of suspense as we wait for the Wine Spectator rating.  I swear, I never thought that could be exciting, but it was.

So that’s what I’ve been reading. How about you?  Any recommendations as I swing into a (hopefully) less busy season at work?

Total For 2008: 3056 pages
Genres: Memoir (3), Essay (1), Graphic Novel (1), Non-Fiction (3), Poetry (4), Comic Book Anthology (1)

My worldly responsibilities got the best of me.  Unfortunately, I missed Friday through Sunday of NaPoWriMo, because I was working on other things. I think the problem for me was that poetry takes a bit of attention and I put my attention in so many different directions.  So, for now, I’m surrendering on NaPoWriMo, although I may crank out a few more quatrains on the bus this week.

So here is my final count for the project:

24 Poems Written
1 Prose Poem
1 Found Poem
12 Quatrains
4 Free Verse
1 Syllabic
2 Batches of American Sentences
2 Haiku
1 Ghazal

Overall, this is a darn good count and I’m proud of it. This is probably more poetry than I’ve written in 2-3 months, so I think that this project was still a success, even if I had to surrender with 6 days left.  Maybe next year I’ll go the distance…

Back at the beginning of NaPoWriMo, Christine wrote an article at read. write. poem., that summarized some experimental forms.  One of the forms she described was the Rothko, which a poet writes when looking at a painting by Rothko.  There are other artist-forms, and people commented on other possible permutations. 

After that, I thought a Frida Kahlo form would be cool.  Kahlo created self-portraits that relied heavily on her subconscious and her self-image, so I thought a self-portrait with flaws would be apropos.  I never wrote anything on it until this morning, when this poem occurred to me while I was showering. The subconscious is an amazing thing. 

Self-Portrait with Flaws
after Frida Kahlo

I am not sewn together or shorn.  I am
cobbled together and clunky.  I am unsmooth
and imperfect, a trembling vessel
riddled with dings. 
I am encased in shells, invisible
layers of lacquer and shine.  But I am also
spiderwebbed with cracks, thin fissures
zigzagged across my skin.  I am
permeable, though I rarely admit this.
Crack me open, like an egg
and you will find
the soft structure of my self
sleeping, unprotected, inside. 

On Sunday, my husband and I went on a cheap date to Como Zoo & Conservatory.  It was one of the first truly nice days of the season and we wanted to spend time outside.  Well, so did everyone else in the Twin Cities. 

Despite the crush of parents with strollers, asking their mute 2 year-olds,”Do you see the monkey? Over there? See it? Monkey?”, it was still a really fun time.  Many of the animals weren’t outside yet, although we did see a few of the large cats lolling in the sun.  Just like our kitties do, but 100 times larger. 

After the zoo, we traveled through the conservatory, which had some unbelievably beautiful flowers — which felt weird, since the grass outside was still brown. But it did make for some neat pictures and an incredibly rough quatrain, which I share in the spirit of NaPoWriMo. 

Note:  To see the pictures somewhat bigger, click on them.  To see them actual size, click on the expanded version. 

At the Conservatory

Waxy purple petals and trimmed green leaves
arching towards an artificial sky.  Sweet
cloying fragrance (piped in).  Manufactured
stone walkways, leading us through early spring. 

I’ll be honest, I’m running outta steam on this every day poetry thing and I’m glad there’s only 8 days left.  I’m hoping to get enough real poems out, as opposed to these little quatrains. 

I’m open to assignments…if you’ve got a good one.