Marly Youmans's Blog, page 109

Report from the Gulf of Spam

I jettisoned word verification to make comment-posting easier on the blog, and warned that balrogs would devour spam from here on. Being rather busy, I had not clambered down into the Gulf of Spam to see how things are going until now. Word from below is that the balrogs are now quite fat. They wear UGG boots at all times, take way too much ambien and other drugs, and have no problems with

Ashley Norwood Cooper & Alicia Stallings

In the middle of an unusually busy Saturday, I took a break to see poet and recent MacArthur Award winner Alicia Stallings, who stopped to see Ashley Norwood Cooper on her way to Ithaca College. Alicia is a fine poet, and Ashley is a fine painter. It was a lovely visit, which I memorialize here:



Ashley Norwood Cooper (L) and Alicia Stallings

You can learn more about Ashley and her paintings

The echo chamber

On Camille Paglia, "How Capitalism Can Save Art"

While I don't agree that there are no interesting new works in visual arts, and I also don't agree that there are no influential painters or other artists, I did find much of this article relevant to both visual arts and writing.

As for artists, try looking for those who are not "of" the trendy, commercial art world. Look in unexpected places. (

O festive day!

http://alisonscakes.wordpress.com

For recent book news, check the A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage and The Foliate Head tabs above. A new page for Thaliad will be up as soon as pre-orders begin.

Ignore me otherwise--today is my daughter's 21st birthday, and so there is much wrapping and decking and lunching and caking and welcoming of visitors and so on to do!

Congratulations to the finalists--

Guest room decor, 2012


Much of my year was taken up with reading (and sometimes rereading) 316 books for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature, along with panelists Judith Ortiz Cofer, Susan Cooper, Daniel Ehrenhaft, and our fearless leader, Gary Schmidt. I am honored to have been asked to judge, and I enjoyed being part of a harmonious group. I am looking forward to meeting

The Chartwell Day, 1

I'm belated in fulfilling a promise (hello, facebook!) to tell about my lovely day that began with my husband handing me a feather from a Mozambiquan lilac-breasted roller. In the afternoon, we abandoned the three children and wandered out of town, ate lunch at a café where we had been once before (curried chicken on homemade raisin bread and a double chocolate cake for me--any day is better with

Moment

Rain on the autumn leaves . . . Inside, my husband hands me a feather from a lilac-breasted roller, plucked from the ground in Mozambique. Given the bird, it might be almost any color, but this one is black, cobalt blue, and sky.

For new poems, see the prior post. For 2012 books (novel and two poetry volumes), see the A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage and The Foliate Head pages. A Thaliad 

the acutest Angle

Angle, that slanted-toward-the-formal poetry magazine edited by those industrious poets, Janet Alexa Kenny (NZ) and Philip Quinlan (UK) has leaped on metrical feet into the world with a great TADA! If you are a person who cares about poetry, you just might like to visit. The issue is dedicated to poet and founder of interesting 'zines, Paul Stevens. You may download and browse the contents 

the acute Angle

Angle, that slanted-toward-the-formal poetry magazine edited by those industrious poets, Janet Alexa Kenny (NZ) and Philip Quinlan (UK) has leaped on often-metrical feet into the world with a great TADA! Should you be a person who cares about poetry, you just might like to visit. The issue is dedicated to poet and founder of interesting 'zines, Paul Stevens. You may download and browse the

Autumnal: my busy-bee day--

I scrubbed the front of the house (disgusting, dirty, buggly-uggly) under the porch and the porch ceiling and raked leaves and cut down my garden and weeded and planted cardinal flowers for next year and gave my daughter a driving lesson and just wrote a little story. Trala! Why can't every day be like this? Think I'll revise a few poems before midnight, maybe toss in a little meditation and