Some thing weighing on my mind

Photo: K. Iuppa

Now that's February 7th, it's time to celebrate, the pressing program reports, evaluations, schedules are complete and handed in on time.
Now to turn my complete attention to my classes and upcoming events and writing.

My January tally for acceptances:
1 Review, 8 poems (mostly prose poems).
It's exciting to see issues launched online or
arrive in my mail box. The newest issues of Poetry East and The Raleigh Review have just arrived. Both are lovely-- covers and designs. So pleased to be included among such fine poets-- poets I have been following for many years. It's thrilling. Glad that I will have the luxury of reading these issues slowly. I often wonder how many people read their journals
cover to cover? I love looking at the trajectory of the issues, noting the editors' sensibilities, artistry. These are early Valentine gifts. A lot of love, and maybe some crankiness-- there's always a dash of cranky-- went into these journals. I often think about all the solitary hours that are spent by writers, editors. No wonder we all celebrate the realized work. It's our hour of connection to each other and the world. I read in the early morning and at night, returning to favorite ones to difficult ones to ones that won't let me go. This is how poetry has taken hold of my life. It's been like this for such a long time; and when I'm not writing, I get really off-kilter.
It's a malaise that can't be cured with a spoonful of pink. The brooding is like the cloud image above. Today, I'm relieved, but when I was turning in reports yesterday, I was given another time-consuming project. Hmm, will have to hunker down for this too. The sooner, the better.

I did receive a funny acceptance email last week that said basically this: "We're on again, don't write back, we're taking your work. More later." I could literally feel this email's urgency. I wonder what number email I was. The editor must have been chained to the computer for the day, dashing off notes. I'm so glad that the project is on again. It's a good project and I really wanted to write her back to thank her, but I didn't because answering yet another email would probably throw her overboard. I wonder if we wear off our fingerprints with all the hours of keyboarding.

Tonight I will be reading love poems at Writers & Books (see post below for details). If you in the neighborhood, stop by. The event is free and starts at 7 p.m.