Mid-Quarter Shuffle
Oh, weary weary weary. The Fall weather has settled in for good and there are a world of things that need to get done around the house.
Our current routine affords us so very little time to rest . . . to breathe. What with taking the two-year-old to daycare, dropping the infant off with his grandparents, shuttling back and forth between jobs and meetings, I haven't been graced with much opportunity to sit down and reflect.
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So what's been happening--well, I managed to send off a few packets of poems to various journals who take online submissions. I've been sending out my "Dear Empire" pieces. I definitely have a few more of 'em in my system, and it's looking like a very significant long prose poem sequence. As it stands, it's past the 100 page mark, which means my press options are a little limited. What I don't know about the work is whether it's ambient or narrative--by ambient, I mean merely a sequence of mood pieces, or something to create a tone with subtle variations here and there. I'm not sure how I want to shape it. At this point, I'm thinking the narrative might go against the spirit of the work. As far as I see, the scale is far more crucial than the plot of what's taking place.
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Other than that, kids. Daycare. Training a TA and teaching classes. The day to day has really got me hustling. My two-year-old, as I've mentioned previously, is having a rough go at daycare. Part of it, I suspect, is his slightly slower language development. I think he's a little self-conscious about speaking, although he speaks all the time at home--full of three and four-word sentences. He may be feeling too much pressure on him. Or, he may just not like daycare.
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Had a wonderful few weeks with guests for my ENG 236 Asian American Literature course. Barbara Jane Reyes chatted with them via Skype for a bit. After which, many of the students responded with a "that was cool." I also had local folklorist/story teller Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor come by to talk story in response to Barbara Jane's Diwata.
I'll be asking Craig Santos Perez to chat with my grad students this coming week. Hopefully he can do it.
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Heading down to Portland this Saturday to read for the Loggernaut Reading Series. The theme is "Turn" and I have to select pieces that speak to this theme. I mentioned to Rick Barot that I'm contemplating crafting a poem about a werewolf.
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Current Spin:
Hard to see her, but the drummer's a-maze-ing.