Mary Biddinger's Blog, page 20

Our Lady of Nothing to Say.

I took a bunch of photos yesterday, but still have only written one poem since 4/15 and I am beginning to worry. I have nothing to say! Why don't I have anything to say? Next week my summer class begins, and I may have even less than nothing to say then. I am drinking some unfiltered organic apple cider vinegar in the hope that it works as a creative tonic. If it works, I will let you know.

This may be a case of not making time to write. I don't normally need to make time to write. Perhaps I should give it a try.

Oh. K.

Very excited for the long weekend coming up. One more week before my summer class whirlwind begins.

Thankful to Verse Daily for featuring three poems from Barn Owl Review 5, by Kate Jenkins, Krystal Languell, and Daniela Olszewska. We start accepting submissions for BOR 6 (SIX! We are all grown up, folks) next Friday, which is June 1st. Submission guidelines here.

I have still only written one poem since 4/15. I am starting to worry, but I haven't had time to worry, so maybe I won't worry.

It's so thrilling that I have several literature courses around the bend. There's nothing I love more than having to set aside time to read.

Hello, summer.

It's not really summer, but we're steadily getting there. I am alternating between feeling lazy (or wanting to be lazy) and feeling ultra motivated. Sheba, above, can completely relate.

I just wrote a new poem, the first one since my NAPOtastrophy around 4/15. I haven't felt especially inspired lately. I'm not jotting things in my moleskine or thinking about poem lines. But hopefully that will happen soon.

Lately poem acceptances have been making me really happy. It's time to revise some poems that have been chilling in the junk drawer for a while.

My summer won't start for a while, as I am teaching a World Lit class from early June through early July. I looked at the stack of books for the class today, and got really excited just to read everything again. July through August: you belong to me.

That's the story in Akron, OH.

Saint Monica reviewed in Rain Taxi.

Thanks so much to the folks at Rain Taxi, especially Roxanne Halpine Ward, for this terrific review of Saint Monica. 

Far from the holy matron described in saints’ books, this Monica is just as confused, angry, and turned on as the rest of us. Biddinger’s tight and vividly detailed narrative poems speak to timeless themes of adolescence, regret, and desire, enlivening a historical figure and religious icon while painting a nuanced portrait of a character who is every bit as imperfect and fallible as everyone else. --Roxanne Halpine Ward

Yeah.

It's my birthday. Even Klaus can hardly contain his excitement. I am very thankful for so many things.

Finishlining

I'm so close to being done for a few weeks, and that makes me happy. Over the weekend I launched stage one of the big closet purge that must be done by early June (per self-imposed deadline). I hate getting rid of old clothes because they make me feel sentimental, even if they're a pair of 4T sweatpants with permanent grass stains on the knees. But I like paring down and cutting back, and based on my very slow grading, I also like things divided into small bundles.

I was super thrilled to find myself noted as the editor of one of the poetry presses publishing intriguing work, as mentioned on the Ploughshares blog. I will soon hunker down with a bevy of manuscripts and begin reading for the Akron Poetry Prize. Before then, however, closets and loose ends aplenty.

The frenzy sessions.

I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting there. I am trying to break my frenzy sessions up into manageable blocks of 3-4 hours or so. This semester has been unkind, at least at the end. So many things are changing, mainly my very happy departure from administration. It seems like a time to do additional (figurative) housekeeping, too.

In poem news, many thanks to The Rumpus for posting my new poem, "A Children's Story." I also had a brief interview and a new poem at the Black Lawrence Press blog last week. Thank you for letting me hang out in the spotlight, folks.

Next week, once I'm able to, I will take some time to rest. I think I've earned it.

The Business.

Right now I am having one of those "Wait...this week happened?" moments. But apparently days one through five that I utterly feared are almost done. So now just one more week of this. I can do it, right? At least I'll be home a little more next week. This weekend I seriously need to repair myself. I need to finish the book that I've been reading for six months as of today. I also need to pretend the house isn't messy. I need to chill.

Hopefully the next time I report to you will be closer to the end of this wild few weeks. Today is the last day of classes, and that's a good thing.

Chilly in Akron, but that just makes me want to work harder.

National Poetry Writing Dropout Month

There's a reason why I prefer to write a poem a day during months that are not April. Between this week and next, I will be spending way too much time away in finery and not at home with my family. Readings, graduate reading, readings, other stuff. To think I scoffed at the notion of the cruellest (sic) month. I'm in the belly of that beast and treading.

Right now I would love to go home and bake cupcakes and then frost them elaborately. Instead, I need to sit at my desk and focus. I thought this would all go away when April shook its lamb tail for the last time, but instead it seems that the lion has two heads and survives on chocolate covered espresso beans.

I've been doing a lot of thinking. Poeming is at a halt, for the sake of sanity. When you arrive home from a 13.5 hour day of work, at 9:30 pm, the last thing you want to do is sit in front of a computer and upbraid yourself for having nothing profound to say.

In happier news, I will be reading with the lovely Jennifer Chang on Monday, 4/30, 7:30 pm, Main Classroom 134, Cleveland State University. I'm revising poems for the reading right now. Instead of doing other things.

This is a photo of a tiny bunny statue just chillin' in somebody's landscaping. That is where I would like to be in a couple of weeks.

Crutchlessness.

If people tell you that the penultimate week of the semester is a breeze, do not believe them. It's the opposite. Just the other day I was thanking my lucky stars for a semester with so little conflict and drama and trouble. We were all healthy, the house was okay aside from the furnace going out, etc. But this penultimate week has brought my NAPO to a halt, stalled my projects, snarled my to-do list, and basically un-rocked my world. Hoping things look up, and quick.