Mary Biddinger's Blog, page 30

Snowscaper.

I'm not sure how I feel about the winter. I mean, I know I don't like it. But sometimes I think that's because it's inconvenient, and it makes things difficult. I would really miss it if I didn't have it. I've been feeling (already) pretty revved up for the new year. I always like New Year's because it helps me organize a lot of abstractions. I'm kind of at this mini-crossroads right now deciding whether I will solidify the ms I've been working on and send it out, or if I will chill for a bit longer instead. Just looking at all of those deadlines has me a little riled. I need to give this some serious thought.

I am taking a real break from my university work. I thought it would be difficult. Ha ha. We had an awesome Christmas, and I am ashamed to admit that one of the (silly) highlights was having the house to myself for a few hours in the evening, wherein I cleaned the shit out of the place and put everything away. Almost everything. But now I have a clean house, and some good things to look forward to, including not waking up early to get my daughter to school for another week.

So I guess if you have to have a winter, you should be thankful for having one like this.

Even if the Browns did not win, and your cheeks are all red from the cold.

Historical society.

That's really all the calendar I need.

Disorientatrix.

So I'm not working right now, but somehow my time is totally eaten up anyway. And I had all of these grandiose plans, right? Every junk drawer in the house organized, etc. And none of it is happening. Getting some things done in tiny increments between pulling cats out of boxes and agonizing about assembling certain items that will need to be assembled before 7:00 am on Saturday. My kids are home for Christmas this year, so I am far less sulky than I would be otherwise. And there are really good things afoot, you know? I am realizing this was a very good year. I don't have any writing goals right now, but I'm not aware of it enough to be inspired or concerned. I do want to send more poems out. I need to write them first. Such a dilemma.

My biggest problem may be not knowing what day it is. What day is it? What year is it, for that matter? It's pretty cold out there, but I've got wool, so everything should be just fine.

Where you won't find me.

1. In this--or any other--Toys "R" Us store.

2. In my office. Either office. Any of the three offices.

3. On the answering-end of any email regarding: the letter of recommendation you meant to ask me for, but didn't until now, and it's due in 10 hours; cialis, viagra, etc; administrative questions about any of the entities I am involved with; special offers for gifts that keep on giving; the mysterious funds I have inherited; random rants and whinges; etc.

4. Baking cookies. You can buy them already baked!

5. Taking advantage of Super Saturday sales.

6. On a vacation getaway. This vacation is figurative, not literal. We are not taking a cruise to Mackinac Island, or similar.

I'm on winter break until January. I will be spending my time working on BOR 4, attending various CYO basketball games, scraping Play Doh out of hardwood floors, and loafing.

Although Snowtastrophe 2010 shut down school for two days, it was nothing at all like this. We have maybe four inches out there right now. It'll be a white Christmas. I am hoping for some big-ass flakes (and not terribly brutal temps) for when I prove my insanity and devotion at the Browns game on 12/26.

That's all from Akron as of now.

Babes, woods, etc.

There are some good things about living in a midwestern polar wasteland, I guess.

Rampant cheer.

I may not be able to take a decent picture of the moon, but this photo proves that I can indeed photograph snowflakes.

When not busy photographing snowflakes, Mary Biddinger is juggling two books to be sent off to the printer, final grades for undergraduate poetry workshop, various and sundry administrative matters, waving her fist at the weather, and making resolutions for 2011.

Sometimes I wonder why anyone ever settled in a place like Ohio. Even though I moved here by choice (twice), and didn't grow up here, Ohio is the land of many Biddingers. But why? Did the winters remind them of the old country? Were they just a lot hardier than their frail little great (x ?) granddaughter?

I am trying my best to make this winter break an actual break.

That's a pre-resolution.

Yeah.

[Where] Do We Go [Now] ?

We've got some top-shelf gloom happening here in Akron, Ohio today. But at least it's kind of warm gloom. If you have to have gloom, it might as well be warm.

This time of semester I feel like I'm skidding on a patch of ice. I did manage to catch up on my grading, though, and that was a relief. So I'm skidding on ice but not spilling coffee on myself in the process.

Just when I started feeling better from pneumonia, my kids came down with a cold, and then (surprise) so did I. This morning at 4 am I thought I was a goner. Right now, though, I believe I will survive. Perhaps this is just the universe underlining my resolution to take better care of myself in 2011.

I usually prefer the even years to the odd years. I did get tenure this year, and got my second book of poems picked up, but you know, I kind of have hope for 2011, too.

Lots of hope for 2012, namely no longer being an administrator and being a teacher and editor again. Just a teacher and editor. Oh, it sounds so heavenly right now.

I haven't been very creative lately, but I'm starting to take more pictures (and see pictures everywhere--so distracting), and I reckon I am going to be like a loaded poem gun come December.

Hang on to your [ - - - ]

Hello from the headquarters of a person who can breathe. She can also talk and sleep and eat food. She can take pictures of the moon. It's hard to take pictures of the moon. I mean, really hard. I want--I mean, she wants--to take a lot of pictures. Perhaps this is to compensate for the lack of poems lately.

She is already making her New Year's Resolutions. One can be summed up as : Get the Fuck out of There.

By "there" I'm sure she's referring to the office. Not Dodge. Dodge is just fine, for now.

The person who can breathe, she realized (from the time when she couldn't breathe) that she can get a lot more done at home. As a bonus, she can get these things done with cats nearby, which is almost always a good thing.

The person who can breathe, she's not happy that her kids will not be home for Thanksgiving. However, the person can breathe, and has thereby made some fun holiday plans, including a day (Friday) dedicated entirely to laziness. So if you are fixing to email somebody who can breathe on Friday, please forgive her if she does not reply. It is not because she is waiting in line to purchase electronic gadgets at a bargain basement price.

Updated BOR contrib list here, and a list with some good friends on it here.

Thanks so much for all of the well wishes on the book. The person who can breathe feels tremendously grateful, and thoroughly oxygenated.

O Holy Insurgency

My Exile in Lungville was seriously uplifted by the tremendous news that Black Lawrence Press will be publishing my new collection of poems, O Holy Insurgency, in summer or fall of 2012. They've been an absolute dream to work with on Saint Monica, and have taught me a lot as a book series editor as well as a poet. I feel much more comfortable shouting other people's good news from the rooftops, but I wanted to share this here because I am so damn excited about it.

O Holy Insurgency is dear to me personally, which made sending it out for publication a terrifying prospect. It's also hard because I'm a poetry book publisher, which makes me overly-informed about some elements of the process. I am very glad that it's found such a good home. I feel like I can breathe a little (and now I literally can, thanks to modern medicine).

If you'd like to read some of the poems from the book, you can find them online at diode, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Verse Daily (via The Journal), The Rumpus, Thermos, ducts.org, and likely some other places that I'm forgetting right now, due to the excitement.

Thank you so much to all of my spectacular friends for all of the support as I worked on this manuscript. Here's a little blog flashback to July 2009, when I was up to 49 pages of the ms.

Now back to the real world. Thanks again, everyone!

Tall, dark, and branchsome.

This big guy lives behind me with his friends and some wires. It was windy yesterday and he took off all his clothes and threw them in my back yard. I wonder if he's regretting that decision right about now.

In other news:

I'm on the mend. I'm not coughing so much. I have tried (especially per Lyle's advice) to get more sleep. I took some measures (new alarm clock, revamped bedding, etc) to get Ray to stop waking me up every three hours. I think lack of sleep is much to blame for the current state of things.

The Monkey and the Wrench is getting paged, and it looks gorgeous. I am so excited. The design features real monkeys. Well, drawings at least.

The past few weeks I was wandering around wondering when I'd ever get some good news of my own. I'm probably the only person who has ever felt like that (ha ha). I may have even said it out loud. I'm pretty sure nobody was around.

I'm having one of those days at work where I am totally distracted and borderline useless.

Let's just say that I got some really good news today, and that I'll share it soon.

I've already told the big guy who lives behind me, but he's not going to let the cat out of the bag, or the bird out of the hand, or whatnot.