Distinctive

I had my thesis defense today. My panel consisted of Claudia Rankine, Jennifer Grotz, and Lacy Johnson. It lasted a little over half and hour and the questions were difficult, but thought-provoking. I was nervous going it, but it all went well. I received a "pass with distinction and honors."

What am I going to do now? First, put the magazine to bed, start reading a new book (any suggestions?), and then continue working on the manuscript. I'm so glad my thesis work is completed! I have my honors dinner in mid-May and then all will be done.

Gettin' a Brand New Bag

Have you seen the stuff over at American Apparel? They have a lot of soft cotton/jersey organic clothing/accessories at really great prices. I want this bag to tote (no pun intended) around Bennington this summer:

I finished my thesis manuscript last night. It's 46 pages of poetry. My defense is set for Tuesday at 12:30 PM. I took the day off today. Tomorrow, back to work at Pebble Lake Review. The issue will be sent off to the printer's next week, which is a week behind schedule, but with my thesis work, it was bound to happen. So if you're wondering where your copy is, you will get it in early May. Bear with me! It's a GREAT issue and well worth the wait. Who's in it? Aaron Anstett, Barry Ballard, Jackie Bartley, Jeffrey Bean, Nicole Cooley, Alice George, Ilya Kaminsky, Andrew Kozma, Clay Matthews, Andrew McCarron, Sally Molini, Jason Ott, Addie Tsai, and John Woods, to name a few. Plus book reviews including Circle by Victoria Chang and Wind in a Box by Terrance Hayes.

PLR is reading submissions for our Summer 2006 issue (August). This issue will be on of our best so far: poetry from Denise Duhamel, Simon Perchik, Paul Otremba, and more. We will be reading for this issue until July 1, so send in your best work! See our website for current guidelines.

Off to sleep, now. And maybe some reading. I've got quite a list.

New Poem

CAST OUT


Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them
—Mark 5:12


We could not bear the buzz of so many—first a whisper,
then louder. Go into the river. For a time, we grazed
on the hillside, while the afflicted moved inside the tomb.
He filled his body with stones. His silence stared at us
from the mountain’s dark eye and we feared. That the morning
would bring him to us, that his hands would open up: dark
spread into where it never was, our mouths and coarse flesh.
Across the plains and scatter of tree-roots. When he lifted
his voice and asked for deliverance, we went on with our grass
and idletalk. Go into the river, again. We rushed the wave-
break, did not look back, not even as the first of us sank
into sand, and without wings or arms, began to drown.

In other news

Ellen Bryant Voigt called me this morning to congratulate me on getting accepted to Warren Wilson's MFA (poetry) program. Sadly, too late. I'm a Bennington girl, now.

Why Rejection Letters Are Not The End of The World

I've been cleaning house. I bought a file system and have been organizing: MFA letters, award letters, correspondence, acceptance letters, and rejection letters. I came across 3 rejection letters from 2004-2005 which made me laugh: one from Center (form letter), one from Mid-American Review (Thanks, Amanda--nice work here), and one from Harpur Palate(form letter). What's funny about these is that Center recently took a poem of mine, I won the 2005 James Wright Poetry Award from MAR and the 2005 Milton Kessler Memorial Poetry Prize from HP. Why rejection letters are not the end of the world by Amanda Auchter. Let's just hope I can turn around past rejections from The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and the like.

I did get a rejection letter from Slate today. Alas.

*

Big thank you's to Three Candles and The Eleventh Muse for nominating my poems, "Bluebeard's Last Bride" and "Clyde Tombaugh on His Discovery of Pluto" for Best New Poets 2006. I feel the love.

2nd Place & New Illuminattis

I just received notice that I have been awarded second prize for my poem "Jezebel to Her Husband" in the 2006 Common Ground Review Poetry Contest! It will appear in this issue:

I've been working on many new poems (averaging 1-2 a day, yesterday 3). I'm completing my manuscript, Illuminati, for my honors thesis (under the direction of Claudia Rankine, Lacy Johnson, and Jennifer Grotz), but I have big plans for it over the summer. Here's a sampling of what I've been up to:

from The First Book of Adam and Eve

FIGS


We called it the dark year.
The sword flamed

& we tasted its black irons. We emptied
of stars until our hearts

darkened. In the grove,

our leaf-strung bodies. How alone
we were without

our usual light, faces
we no longer recognized. How could

we know we were made of flesh

& want? That when God
sent the fire & the voice

to find us, he would never say
I saw how you touched. Instead,

long after we found ourselves
desert-deep, grieving, he gave us

two figs, fed us their near-
rot, their sorrowed skins.

What's in Your Nightstand?

Discman
St. Ives lotion
votive in holder
PETCO P.A.L.S. card
empty travel bottle
eyeshadow
2 highlighters
1 pen
cough drops
Vicks
red ribbon
animal print nail kit
cards (with poem ideas written on backs)
headphones
box of pearls
makeup pouch
Crabtree & Evelyn club card
silver tealight holder
stray tissues

Poetries Daily

I feel like I've been MIA. I'm working on my thesis and averaging about one poem every other day. This made me remember that it's National Poetry Month. What will your plans be? I suggest trying the poem-a-day project and signing up for your daily dose of poetry delivered to your email box via The Academy of American Poets: