Insomniac in Wisconsin

The Insomniac's Weather Report was reviewed by Athena Kildegaard at Verse Wisconsin! Thank you, Athena, for truly understanding my work! And thank you, Verse Wisconsin, for your support!!! Yay!!!

(If you don't have a copy, you can sign up for my Big Poetry Giveaway drawing!)

Flow Update

So it's been one week since I committed to trying to spend more time in flow by arranging my time into bigger, but fewer, blocks for activities, meaning I would do activities less often but with more intensity and for longer periods of time.

So how has this strategy worked for me? Well, to be honest, I haven't written a single poem this week. I've got a few lines jotted down and some amorphous ideas and stray words floating around, but let's just say it hasn't been my best poem-writing week ever.

To be fair, in the past week I started a new job with its accompanying learning curve, worked on projects for 2 clients from pre-existing jobs, edited a paper for my husband (a non-native English speaker), buried a beloved pet bird, had my kids home half days or entire days for a number of days, researched and wrote an 8-page academic paper for a class I'm taking, went cherry-blossom-viewing with my family, read several hundred pages of academic papers for another course, parented and did all the other household things I always do.

So it may not have been the ideal week to try a new regimen. On the other hand, I got a ton of stuff done! It just wasn't poetry. And maybe wouldn't have been on my old regimen either. I'll give it a few more weeks, but if poetry goes by the wayside for too long, I'll have to rethink this plan.

Anybody have any insights?

Call for Eastern Heathens

Asia Writes has a submissions call out for EASTERN HEATHENS, AN ANTHOLOGY OF FICTION INSPIRED BY ASIAN FOLKLORE. The deadline is April 25th, so that's coming right up.

Hat tip to novelist and short-storyist Suzanne Kamata, from whose Facebook page I learned of this call.

Channeling BOA

So I just ran across the BOA Editions Limited YouTube Channel. Who knew you could access readings by BOA poets such as Li-Young Lee, Keetje Kuipers, Craig Morgan Teicher, and Kazim Ali (among others) all in one place? For someone living in a region where poetry readings are few and far between (as I do), this is a find!

I'll bet there are other similar channels on YouTube. I'll let you know when I find them if you'll do the same for me!

Ode to Tax Season

Poems about taxes, compiled at The New York Times Sunday Review blog.

Check it out (but only if your taxes have already been filed; otherwise, back to work for you!)