Spring

A gummy sky, sick feet faltering

through Shaw’s. Picking between

two compact parking spots and

the indecisive fever of traffic

take the place of passion. I don’t

have a response anymore to leaves,

the acres of calling in them, the petals

unrolling for why not me? In another

spring I fell in love, walked slowly

through cemeteries feeling something.

The dog darted into the street and stopped

just short of traffic and it was an omen,

as was the drunk smiling daily to and

from O’Brien’s, books left on my

doorstep, my cynicism finally turned

to something more like a question with

raised ears, faltering, falling, not

quite getting up but trying.

Titular

Not a Buddhist, exactly, but there’s

a blue chair inside me and its former

occupant is strolling the grounds,

lost to orderlies and prefects alike.

There’s a light rain starting, new magnolias,

a robe that could be a nun suit or a

johnny, grass sharp if she wears no

sandals. Of course there’s a difference

between craziness and enlightenment, but

history does not give us these examples.

Sometimes, pacing my rooms and lost

in a fantasy about human possibility,

I leave in a trance, go to my car

and drive with music on, and am only

brought back when I finally hear

the voices of strangers: petty, normal,

talking about money or housing.

By a pond I recognize the panic of birds

and the frog floating dead is my language.

Beside myself I try to save myself.

I do it by scarf or needle, pulled from

a world or a part of one, a paradise.

I'll be posting some of my NaPoWriMo poems here this month. All poems are dedicated to Frank O'Hara. Here is one:

Mouse

Under the fridge hum

I hear its scratchy life

and jump. I stop all

thinking so I can feel it

breathing there. Downstairs

Richard helps the tenants

bring in the old stove, so I

hear also their floored-over

voices with the wind outside

which is blowing much too

hard and cold for April.

In the face of neighborly

pity, I admit I am a

curmudgeon, childless

while other houses explode

with infants, flowers. And

yet there’s a saggy wealth

here somewhere: pleasant

doom in the corner

of every drawer, a giddy

displacement, a shaved-

down saving of myself

and with it the memory

of gravestones yesterday

that marked the pulses each

body tried out once. Mouseless,

I swoop inside myself now

in this moment with everything

I can’t see, take one last

flying leap through my lungs,

and land tenderly in a leotard

at my own feet, astonished.

Greetings From the Midwest. Part One: Chicago

I am having so much fun doing my readings out here. As predicted, I haven't taken many pictures, and the ones I did take didn't turn out very well [Danny's is still so (charmingly) dark!]. I'm getting ready to head to Bloomington in a few minutes, so maybe I can persuade my mom to take a few pictures at my Boxcar reading tonight. I'll write this in installments so that those of you who are interested in my shenanigans don't have to read it all at once.

So anyway, my trip started out with a very early ride to Logan on Wednesday, October 13. I landed in Chicago in the middle of a thunderstorm, while the very gracious Paul Martinez Pompa circled O'Hare over and over again. We got to Triton College only a few minutes late, and I had so much fun with his lively and adorable Intro to Poetry lit class. The energy in the room is certainly a testament to the amazingness of Paul's teaching. After a very brief reading, I answered their questions and talked poetry with them for nearly an hour. I signed some books and even got a couple of hugs. I was a bit blown away by their interest in Post Moxie, which they had just finished reading in class. They asked me some tough and interesting questions. One of the best parts of the morning was catching up with Paul, as I barely talked to him at AWP this year.

The sun finally came out, Paul took me to my hotel, and I tried my best to chill out for a while before figuring out how to get from the airport to Wicker Park. Two hours later, the blue line deposited me right in front of Margie's Candies, and I had a nostalgic walk around the old hood before seeing the familiar beanpole of Joel Craig waiting outside of Laguardia Restaurant, a Cuban place in Bucktown. Nice reunion with Marc Rahe and his sister Kara, as well as some very yummy food. We headed to Danny's after that and I was so happy to see Paul again, sitting at the bar. The reading was so much fun. I drank about one beer too many, but hearing Marc read from his collection was very emotional, and I loved reading to the very attentive and poetry-loving audience. I met some cool people too, including an Iowa Writers' Workshop student named David who was an early reader for the Sarabande contest! Somehow I got back on the train and back to my hotel, where I crashed until I had to get up to get a shuttle to West Lafayette. More about that reading in the next post!

Reading Photos

My reading at the Coop was really fun. I was one of the youngest people in attendance, with the average age being around 65. I did my first live Q&A with Post Moxie which was a good experience for me. Because I wrote the book so quickly, I sometimes feel like I'm still learning what it's all about. Talking about it helps me to learn. The audience was very polite and attentive and interesting. My very good friend Heather Madden took these pictures.

Reading at Harvard Coop, Thursday September 23

Hi everyone,

I will be reading at the Harvard Coop in Harvard Square on Thursday, September 23. No pressure to my Boston friends who have been attending my readings diligently; I'm sure there will be plenty of undergrads stumbling in on their way to Charlie's Kitchen for the evening (hmmm...maybe not). Anyway. Me. Poetry. Books for sale. Two weeks from today. Thanks and maybe see you there! Maybe we can go to Charlie's afterwards.

Midwest Tour scheduled!

My Midwest tour is now scheduled! I am very excited about every venue. It will be good to return to the homeland. Here are the dates and venues:

Wednesday, October 13

Danny's

1951 W. Dickens Avenue

Chicago, IL

7 PM

Thursday, October 14

Purdue University

Locations TBA

Q&A 4 PM

Reading 7:30 PM

Friday, October 15

Von's Books

315 W. State St.

W. Lafayette, IN

7 PM

Saturday, October 16

Boxcar Books

408 E. 6th St.

Bloomington, IN

7 PM

Tuesday, October 19

Prairie Lights Bookstore

15 S. Dubuque St.

Iowa City, IA

7 PM

Thank you to my friends who know people (Marc! and Dad! and Joel--thanks for knowing yourself!) and Sarabande for helping me put this together. It's the perfect tour for me: tiny and comforting. Besides reading, here are some things I can't wait to do:

-Drink some great beer at Danny's! and hang out with Joel

-Go to Quimby's, Myopic Books, and Earwax in Chicago (is Earwax still there?)

-See my parents and walk the dog in the woods

-See the beautiful fall colors in Southern IN (yes, we have trees there too!)

-Meet the Purdue MFAs

-Go to Soma in Bloomington and get a PB&J smoothie

-Go to my old B-town neighborhood and sit on Julia's porch and pet her dogs

-And in dear Iowa City: go to EPB (English/Philosophy Building) and feel the memories.

Also: Hamburg Inn, the Foxhead, George's, and the Deadwood. Stare in sadness at the place Great Mid used to be. And most importantly, see my friends!