More Amazing News

A couple of days ago, my contributor's copies of Best American Poetry 2007 came, and (I can tell you this without feeling self-conscious, since we're not in the same place) I cried because of how absolutely cool it was. Heather McHugh picked some amazing poems, and it's incredibly humbling to have mine included with them. Copies of it aren't on bookstore shelves yet, but I recommend it, more for the selections by Kazim Ali, Robert Hass, Ben Lerner, and many more, than mine.

More to amaze: it looks like Jonathan Caouette, the director of "Tarnation," might be coming to the Ragtag Theater in Columbia, MO, for a showing of his film, along with his being available for discussion. Jonathan is an incredibly friendly guy, who immediately said yes to the possibility, and Paul at the Ragtag was great about promising to fit him in for April, 2008.

The most amazing thing to happen lately: my mom, a wonderful, 60-year-old woman with a great sense of Presbyterian values, and enough of a sturdy grounding in tradition to have raised me and my three brothers to all fly right, love God, and eat nutritiously, got her nose pierced. I'm still in shock :). Rock on, Mom. And you. Have a great day.

After a Long Hiatus

It's been forever since I've blogged last, and you, who are reading this, have definitely been missed. Things have been wonderfully busy, and look like they'll keep on being that way, except even more wonderfully, in this year of the Mizzou Ph.D. program.

The journal of radical formalism will possibly be edited by Steve Schroeder, instead of myself, which will work wonderfully, since Steve has the expertise, the prowess as poet/editor, and the time. I'll be assistant director of Mizzou's Center for Literary Arts, a really cool job which will lead to yet greater opportunities, I'm sure.

Another exciting development (of many) is that I've successfully lobbied the wonderful Shannon Petrello to do visual responses to poems of my Edward Weston sequence. It's a rare opportunity for me, since she's a really talented photographer, who has done wonderful things with collage.

Yet another is that Tom Mandrake, the amazing illustrator whose work includes some of the most current issues of Detective, is considering working with my Batman sonnet novella. He's a very busy guy, but has graciously offered to take a look at them.

The symposia on Elliptical poetry, too, are coming wonderfully ahead, thanks to Joan Houlihan and many other, very helpful people. Colorado Review and Laurel Review will definitely be running a couple of them, and APR and jubilat are tentatively on board. The truly wonderful list of participants will be a real honor to work with.

Finally, writing is going wonderfully, thanks to reading (Keats and Walcott, with a nice sprinkling of Jessica Fisher's beautiful book) and a very good life. Hope yours is, too.