Today, the Times reviewed a Rae Armantrout book. Progress?

Today, I have been having the breakdown of the of not fitting in. I learned that an old aquaintance won the NEA. This person is someone who I always felt competitive with, for reasons other than poetic. This person was a GREAT short story writer and an average poet. This person won for poetry. What is it that makes a person win success in the art world? What is the criteria? Is it merely taste? Good looks? Being in the right place at the right time?

It is currently Lent -- two more weeks. I haven't given anything up, but I have begun to consider where I sin. My husband says that envy is my worse sin, and I know it's true. But how does one not feel so slighted by the world...how does one keep floating along. How does one focus on what one has.