Mary Biddinger's Blog, page 15

Ordinary time.

After this semester, I promise never to allude to being bored and unchallenged. Every minute has been double-promised and triple-encumbered. It's kind of sad when you are looking forward to leaving town for AWP because it will be so much less stressful than home, but that's how I feel right now. However, things should be looking up soon. It's hard to believe we're finishing up WEEK 5. Where'd time go?

In other news, BOR 7 is at the printer. Woohoo!

Today's postcard

This is pretty much the scene here today. Cold, colder, coldest. 

The shortest month

February arrives with more of the same. Snow! Cold! School cancellations! People who say neither please nor thank you. An acute lack of poems, or time for poems. Emails proliferating like carpenter ants. A glimmer of hope called AWP Seattle on the horizon, but right now feeling distant. February, you are short and mean (so far, at least). 

Dance Card: Friday, 2/7, Emilia Phillips reads in Akron, OH

I'm so excited that Emilia Phillips will be reading from her rather amazing debut full length collection of poetry, Signaletics, next Friday (2/7) right here in Akron, OH, for the Big Big Mess reading series. This event is not to be missed, and there's a great lineup of readers. 
In other news, thanks to Memorious for anticipating A Sunny Place with Adequate Water. Black Lawrence Press is now offering a discount pre-order price: details here. 
Finally, much gratitude to American Microreviews and Interviews for this review of O Holy Insurgency. 
Also: it's FRIDAY, and 35 degrees! 

Dealing with the universe and its (cold) mysteries.

Hey, we're probably going to have fewer nuisance insects next summer, thanks to this cold. And right about now I'd probably be super stressed, with the semester in full swing, so perhaps the universe planned this all along and coaxed the district into closing school and the university into cancelling and all of us into our houses for a reason. It's hard being held back and basically prevented from making progress. I'm trying to think of this as a surprise gift.
One month away from AWP Seattle! So much to plan and pack and to wrap one's head around. BOR #7 to finish up. Dance card to fill. If you're going, I hope to see you for this. 
Peace out from polar Akron, OH. 

Hot stuff.

Sometimes there's just nothing like a kettle. Got out quite a bit today in order to make this a "normal" day where certain small people could become tired. Hungry for the space of being able to go to work and answer queries and breathe. Keep alternating between, Hey, this isn't so bad and Get me out of here. 

Winter in Akron, OH (continued)

Lots of snow, big freeze on the way, campus shut down until Wednesday (ahead of time, too!). What's a cat and her two bored kittens to do? Watch movies. Do some cleaning. Catch up on sleep. Freak out about how busy February is going to be. Make a crock pot full of soup. 

Winter in Akron, OH.

So this is the scene here today. Started out with some little dry flakes this morning, then turning to big chunky flakes and gusty. It's hard not to reminisce about the snowstorms of my youth, back when this kind of winter was typical (unlike last year, when we didn't get enough snow to make a single snowman).
Love the cozy, but not the feeling of falling behind. Kids home = no peace, no work time. Thankful, however, for a new furnace and being together. 

The polar

This winter isn't kidding around. I keep thinking fewer bugs, fewer bugs. It's strange when the sky is bright blue and the world is exceedingly cold. Cozy season, if you can find the cozy. 

Today's postcard.

Hey, I'm wearing a scarf! And it's really cold. Week two of sixteen of Spring semester. Here are my books. And a plaque!

This was technically a "short" week but was not short at all.

In other news, I am mailing the contract for my fourth full-length collection of poems, Small Enterprise, to Black Lawrence Press today. That's enough to melt a few snowflakes.