Now a word from our sponsor about Lisa Jarnot

A few days ago, I was thrilled to see that Lisa Jarnot put a mini-review of Derivative up on the Lisa blog, I have been friends with Lisa for about two years. During this time, she has been a relentless help and poetic navigator for me through the world of poetry. Lisa and I have different views on a couple things, but not many. She is a protester against the death penalty, an political idealist, an environmental activist, and a gay rights supporter. Lisa is the kind of person who is always looking to make the world better. She makes soap, she plants trees and prunes them, she knits hats to symbolize fallen soldiers, she tries not to waste food or electricity and, of course, she writes fabulous poems. Things we should all be doing.

In the world of poetry Lisa is not afraid to question academia. She seems intolerant of an concept of 'scenes' or 'cool' notions of poetry. She truly cares about poetry, not as a way for a job, money, or popularity, but as a crucial being in its own right. Poetry for the sake of poetry. Nothing else. It seems that this is a hard quality to find in some folks today, and many of us are too worried about getting in the 'right' magazine, getting the 'right' award, and having the 'right' people accept us. I, myself, divide the poetry 'world' into a number of facets: Ecco Press, academic, Iowa, Naropa, Fence, West Coast, East Coast, Middle Coast, and so on. I've felt accepted in some ways by all of them and rejected in some ways by all of them. I worry that many of us have, but aren't willing to go vocal on it, or run off and start our own scene. 

I think my tendency to fall through the cracks maybe for a number of reasons. Perhaps it is because I'm handicapped, but not handicapped enough to provide an interesting story. Perhaps it's because I'm too aggressive or too obnoxious or am conflicted about homeschooling and feminism. Perhaps it's because my work is too lyrical and too oblique and not oblique enough. I probably went to the wrong schools. Perhaps it's because of my father somehow. Perhaps, as Rebecca Wolff of Fence proclaimed, my work is just 'bad.'  

Lisa's support has helped me make it through this crazy life.

Ah. Home

We finally arrive home last night to a TON of work....poetry, cat pee, a new professor job (for me!) and Jim has already gone back to the factory. Rather than reading the list of twenty books that Jeff is supposed to read before kindergarten, he's glued to Chicken Run.

I have amazing stuff to report from the West...but it will have to wait. Meanwhile, I had a very telling dream about Jorie Graham. I dreamt that she told me she gave up writing poetry because there were too many starving kids in the world & she had to help them.

Speaking of superheros, the Lisa of LisaBlog has come back to Sunnyside and she's offering a workshop. She is the BEST teacher & serves popcorn and ice water with melon in it. If you're REALLY nice, she'll give you free soap. You need this class!

bad press is better than no press

Saint Elizabeth Street was lucky enough to be reviewed by Didi Menendez in her project to review online journals. I can' t do links, but her URL is http://didimenendez.blogspot.com/ I have to warn you, it's a pretty negative review! This isn't a problem. Some of the stuff Didi points out is right. But, I'm disappointed because she didn't critique the content, which is my area. This brings up a question. With regard to online journals, what is more important -- content or form?

In Lisa's class, we are studing old magazines. Arc2, Moby 1 (did I write it correctly) was McClure's magazine with one issue. It is simply blue cardboard-ish stapled togther thingy. But, who is in it: Levertov, Olsen, Creeley, Ginsberg, Duncan. Need I go on?

In other news, Lisa Jarnot's class is the highlight of my week. It reminds me of how far we can delve into poetry. The minute you finish reading something, you realize that you haven't read something else. It is so magical how diverse poetry is, how we all come at it from different angles, and we all have knowledge to share. I don't want to embarrass her, but I think Lisa is the third most knowledgable person I know personally. Well, or would it be second? Nathaniel and Dad are tied for first place.

Finally, I have piss-in-my-pants exciting news regarding my book. I'm too nervous to tell it here, but if you email me, I'll tell you!