Christina's comments (member since Jul 12, 2009)

Christina's comments from the MFA Poets group.

Congratulations, ladies both.

Congratulations, ladies!

Thanks, ladies -- on both counts.

I reiterate: apologies for dropping out of sight all this time. I'm still dealing with my kidney thing, doctors' visits, diagnostics, etc. Somehow I've been feeling unsociable, too -- solitary and tongue-tied, listless and lackluster. All the ideas and responses that were spilling out of me as I read the book just seem to have evaporated somehow. But thanks so much for your responses, ladies, and forgive me for not holding up my end of the discussion.

Ruth, yes, I was struck by the urbanity of Nabokov's wit and how erudite and often poetic his observations and allusions are. This seemed to me part of the characterization -- Humbert rather than Nabokov speaking. However, the Nabokov's postscript, "On a Book Entitled Lolita," seemed written in much the same voice. What do you think? Are they one and the same?

Pamela, what a wonderful observation! When you have time, please do say more. I'll look forward to your thoughts. In a related vein, I was struck by the suspense and deeply regretted having first seen the movie. Nabokov hints, and teases, and addresses (us?) as "ladies and gentlemen of the jury." A virgin reader, I think, would have been driven mad by it.

Happy Belated Birthday, Ruth! Many blessings for joy and success in the coming year.

Congratulations, Nina and Jan. I rejoice with you both. And apologies for dropping out of sight for so long. (I'm still dealing with the kidney ailment, ongoing diagnostics, etc, etc.)

I, too, have one of each to report. Tin House rejected the batch I sent them for the forthcoming Hope/Fear issue (reporting time: 2 months). However, The Minnow, a new ejournal for haiku, senryu, etc, plus short poems, "nano-poems and nano-fiction," accepted the entire batch I sent them, including a couple of reprints (reporting time: 1 week! -- yes, really).

I should mention also that The Minnow is still reading submissions for their Fall issue. Take a look, if you're interested: http://www.theminnow.org/

Blessings & best wishes to everyone,
Christina

Woo-hoo! Heartiest congratulations, Pamela. I read and loved your 3 poems on the site, especially "Shuckswitch Road" with that remarkable turn to "sand, drought; camels/" then "Children, the tender swelling/ of their bones.... " If these are representative of your manuscript, it would have to be a winner.

Congratulations and best wishes on its future success. Hope it sells like Cialis.

Blessings,
Christina

Well, one of my concerns, especially with email submissions, is that it never got there in the first place. That's happened to me only once (as far as I know), but you, know how it is: it only takes one instance to start the paranoia machine working. Thanks for your feedback, Ruth.

Thanks, ladies, for kind thoughts.

It's been 15 weeks since I submitted (via email) to The New Yorker. That's a month-and-a-half longer than they held my previous submission. Is it too soon to query them, do you think?

Ordinarily, I don't query until at least 6 months have gone by, and, after all, it is summer. They may be short-staffed with people on vacation. However, I do have a couple of other places I wanted to send that sucker. It's a seasonal poem, and the season's fast approaching. What do you think?

Having just finished my first reading of Lolita, I'm in awe of Nabokov's style and technique, but especially his ability to first seduce and disarm the reader through his narrator's wit and charm, and then to quietly slip in some repellent image or egregiously horrific incident, as if it were merely incidental. That juxtaposition of the hilarious and the horrific intensified the horror for me, much as salt intensifies the sweetness of chocolate. The poignance was almost unbearable at times.

That's one thought. Please feel free to share your thoughts on this or any other aspect of the book in this thread.

Blessings & thanks,
Christina

Thanks, ladies, for your responses, and apologies for dropping out of sight for a while. I've been dealing with an emergent kidney ailment, so I haven't really felt up to communicating much. Still feeling drained and listless.

Pamela, if you'd like to share your thoughts about Lolita, I'd love to hear them. I'll start a separate thread for the purpose.

Congratulations, Ruth and Nina! Yes, I'll look forward to seeing the link, too, Nina, and, Ruth, let us know if it's ever republished online or if you decided to post it under your own writings later. An intriguing title!

Jan,

Oh, how mortifying! That would infuriate me, too. My sympathies to you likewise.

Yes, the Poetry Editor at The News suggested something similar. In my case, they shortened some lines and lengthened others. (Huh?) He does advocate for us in these cases but has succeeded in getting a poem republished with corrections only once in 20 yrs or so of running the column, and that poem's author was a personal friend of the Editor-in-Chief.

Still, even the most distinguished poets in our area continue to submit to the The News because it continues to be the best way to reach a local readership and publicize a forthcoming book or public appearance.

All right, I've definitely taken up enough space in this thread. Anyone else have publication news?

Blessings,
Christina

Thanks for your comments, Nina.

Would anyone out there be interested in a book discussion of "Lolita" under a separate thread? I'm about 3/4 of the way through now and would welcome an opportunity to process the experience when I'm finished. Or would that be too cumbersome?

Jan,

Thanks for your welcome and the kind feedback. I'm so pleased you liked these 2 poems regardless. After laboring so over my line breaks, it's especially irksome to find them ignored entirely in duplication. "Lot's Wife" is one of my personal favorites, too, yet it hasn't been reprinted as much some of my other work.

"Allendale" was wonderful. You are a master, as Pamela, I believe, has said.

Blessings,
Christina

So glad to hear you found it hilarious, too, Ruth.

My first exposure to Lolita was Kubrick's movie version: I was a hideously impressionable 11-year-old dragged along to the drive-in by my married sister and her husband. They fully expected us "kids" to fall asleep after the first feature. Needless to say, I watched the whole thing, riveted in horror, and was so grossed out -- not to mention traumatized -- I couldn't even dream of ever wanting to touch the book. For nearly a half-century, I've assumed all the raves the must be attributable to sheer prurience. Azar Nafisi's recent lecture rebroadcast on NPR intrigued me enough to give the book a try. What a surprise! What a delight!

Thanks, Ruth. "Xylotomous" was a bit of stretch, but if ever there was a time to claim poetic license, I concluded this was it.

Actually, I shouldn't have sent that Bflo News poetry page link. I forgot that the online version screwed up most of my line breaks in both poems. Maybe tomorrow, I'll repost them both here, as they originally appeared in the print edition.

Speaking of screw-ups, I also forgot to congratulate you and and everyone else here on your recent publications. Kudos & best wishes to all. Jan, I loved "Allendale," and Pamela, my favorite of the 2 was "Reading Keats in a Japanese Garden." An evocative and compelling title.

Heather,

Twenty-five books? What a feast!

Actually, I'm a great admirer of Canadian arts/literature/media, living, as I do, on the American side of the Niagara River. This is going to sound unfortunately like Sarah Palin, but what the hell: From my front windows, I can literally see cars and school buses driving along the Canadian shoreline. Yet, somehow, it's never occurred to me to visit our dear neighbor's used book shops. (Before the Dept of Homeland Security was created, we Western New Yorkers used to run over the border for lunch on a whim. They have the best Chinese in these parts!)

Well, thanks for the recommendation, Heather. If I ever get around to getting my Enhanced Drivers License, I just might make a book run to Ft Erie, or Queenston, or Niagara Falls, Ont.

Not much besides nail-biting going on with me at the moment.

Back in March, I had 2 short poems in The Buffalo News poetry page:
http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment...

Last Winter, I had 3 poems in the erotica anthology, Nickel City Nights:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61304...

And in the Fall/Winter issue of Nimrod International Journal, my poem "Love Song" was a Semi-finalist for the 2008 Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry.

Right now, I'm waiting for my annual slapdowns from River Styx and The New Yorker. It's been over 3 months with TNY - a personal record for one of my submissions. I choose to take that as an encouraging sign. Wish me luck?