monday monday monday

is lesson plan day. trying to make the beginning parts of 101--critical reading/thinking enjoyable.

thank you to horseless review's jen tynes for nominating "keylight" for the best of the net. that issue (#7, published back in March) was huge, so it's a real honor to be nominated. also nominated is my press-mate ana bozicevic, who is a lovely poet & person.

what else? ah! jim harrison & my reading for the tucson festival of books is slated for march 14th at 4. yeah!

also: missus mara v got soaptrees together & out. yeah!

also: my toes are a lovely green.

and. i miss my mama.

and. i want some thai food.

and. i dont look forward to 5am.

bing!

vikings 24 - seahawks 13

today is sat! / but it feels like sun...weird!

(my beautiful rouch & my sugarbear lyla g)

ooooo i woke up w an itch to travel. i wanna go to LA to see family. i wanna go to the canyon & write & drive & clear out every space in my head with canyon.

instead, ive printed off guest passes from every gym in town, am definitely going to find one in the next couple days. if you know me, you know ive used the doubletree since graduate school & have never had to pay. & i love my dubtree--it holds such good memories w my mjia mara...but! they've started locking their gym door, so im forced to do something now. i absolutely dont want to pay a monthly gym fee, but it's looking like i may have to. today is la fitness--which sounds so not me. at least it's a free workout in a gym!

tucson is wonderful now. there've been slow rains & overcastness that's done me good for writing. i woke up w a lot of urges other than traveling--im now wanting a pulled pork sandwich & also i want a spread of tapas! goodness i am going to have to workout.

ms grita speaks squirrel

it's true.

had first almost-fall fiction wksp group planning meeting at mms. cheryl kidder was there. we ate puttanesca, lil arugula salads, & french bread w havarti & dill. yummy.
& wine wine wine! i left there w a huge owl & webber grill (thanks mm! & wine given gifts) for my backyard which mm & i rearranged yesterday...in the rainfall. curly hair!

tonite im going to k & m's potluck. hopefully w renee drew laura, hopefully morgan will be there. it's a full on writerly weekend you can tell.

ms laura little burnt for me new music. im liking the edward sharpe (best show i ever worked behind bar at congress), okkervil river, & magnolia electric company. in tucson we have gooood music coming up: cocorosie (ooooh im so excited), edward sharpe, of montreal, & tallest man on earth. delightful.

this is 'dont fade on me' by mag elec co

i had my first day of classes today

& it was a lot more tiring than i anticipated. my first class is at 710--it was super-fabulous, i felt spry & real good. 15 min break. then i teach my second class--both are 101s--& it was roooooogh. i said the same stuff right again & by 10 i was officially zombie. & now nap.

more w/ andrew brown / sunday

photos by andrew brown

lil monsoon

lil goldfinch / sasstrid / happy / blue eye

gear up / lil shell & the viks

i am detox monday as far as having too much fun goes. im having dinner tonite w one dan h, my darlin 'knows everything about music' person in town, does booking at congress, a gem, one of my local fav people for sure.

drew krew & i had a lot of fun on friday (whiskey & czech film?...hmmm) so i detoxed all saturday. yesterday i detoxed sunday til i went to bison to meet andrew brown for afternoon 'i need professional looking photos a-sap' which was so much more fun than i thought it would be. i was not so photo shy i usually am, prob cause of andrew's lovely sparkly demeanor! had so much fun i took a lil tequila & had a ball at ches for just a wee. also i talked to one honduran mark & thankfully right before i tore skype a new one. i do not like techno. i did get in bed by 1130 like a good lil teacher who has, this week, first class at 710am, second class at 830, then pilates at 11. busy busy. i'll post pics as soon as mr brown waylays them to yours truly. in other big news, viks...gear up. yesterday's game was no indicator of our fall, no!

i heart metal heart. cat power.

It's a still Thursday nite, still too hot at 11.

The infamous now less than one hundred yards away, balled angry white lightning, the diesel under hood, welcome neighbor, women’s screams animal from your backyard & metal. When the dark enters the goldfinch, all thirty, leave the tree for where the sun goes & mama put old truck side mirrors there, vain pretty birds she says like women in feminine moments in the bathroom, change the bulbs for good eyebrow lines & reconfigure. When I hear your dogs bark from your yard, when I see the girl in the store with all the turquoise & black tight skirt, I know I’m done in for—bugs at the screen & lightning with the monsoon somewhere swung in behind the mountains still but coming, the rumble annunciation. At the intersection, I told myself go through downtown, I felt I should for my whole body unknowing, where we meet head on unknowing, & I wave to you & you do something with your body, whatever shock tightens or bereft, medicated so as to erase every memory you’ve had of hardness. Linnet the screen & the pincher, the neighbor’s son Gio figuring out man while manning the shovel. The last full day in the south LaRue entered the man high dog fennel for a rattler & came out empty handed, my thighs stuck to the seat of the truck waiting in wading boots hemmed snake. Morning pejorative but the afternoon levels as low tide I remember my feet there not long ago but I’m now on a different life now, one more softened as in a Sunday longing for nothing more than desert rain, Loretta Lynn Hymns, Thelonius Monk on the straightaway, bringing it home, brought beyond where I thought life would end, these newer parts, I dress as I would have ten years ago & lit candles to Mary.

today is thurs / my dad's birthday

i found the pic of granny taylor from which heifer's cover was made. here she is, for mamacita & daddy:



happy birthday daddy! i hope the heat's not too bad for ya in south ga--i hope your day is lovely!

---

i have faculty orientation today at pima, & i have my syllabi done...yeah!

tonite i'm wksping with jameson--should be great. blessed i am to have so many writer friends in this town. morgan & i finished poem one of our chapbook collaboration. i just this morn started the second & sent it to him.

also, i've been cooking a lot lately. & really good stuff. last nite i made a centuries old italian recipe that i lifted from food & wine--it is of course, a casserole--with potatoes, yellow bell pepper, onion, thyme, zucchini, tomatoes, & parmesan. it was delicious, i can't wait to eat leftovers here soon.

brett favre arrives in minnesota.

there is nothing else to say.

monday hello it's monday

ive been waking up early these days--bout 930 to get myself ready for the semester, where i will be teaching my first class at northwest at 710am. im doing well with it so far & am enjoying how much i can get done in the morning outside while it's still semi-cool in this heat trap i love.

i always get a facial on my birthday. 29 didnt see it's facial until today & it was a good one. a $40 one at pure aesthetics, the tucson esthetician training school. i got a glycolic peel & an algae mask. my face was beet red leaving but it's super bing now.

ive done yard work galore today & wrote my line/s for morgan & my collaboration chapbook which is going well. he writes a line, i write a line--give or take. we've already had a personality clash but it's all in good fun, as i write speedy & morgan not so much. i adore morgan, i adore how he writes. this thing is actually fun & im all up in it.

speaking of yard: i put two goldfinch socks up in the backyard & had like 30 there yesterday early evening, & two hummingbirds at the feeder, & there was light rain too. perfecto.

i am ingesting h2o to the hilt cause my mija mara v & i are going to hike our asses off. and then i will eat & do nothing cept write these syllabi ive been putting on the back burner. i hate these stup composition books they make us adjuncts teach--though i try to keep positive about it, considering the fact i have unlimited range on photocopied handouts, which i will use the hell out of. these students will read good literature, they will. that said, i CANNOT wait to teach poetry.

it's sunday hot, red pandas (fire cats) mating/having babies on the tele, astrid lazed out on the couch, good sumatra, bout to go for workout

today is sunday! sunday! i love you sunday!

i went to casa vincente last nite & had the best dinner--mussels,shrimp, late vegetable stew, potatoes, yum bread, & red sangria. best of all great conversation. my friend danielle is in med school, doing her internship rounds out at the va, & is just so smart & wonderful--it's so necessary to have friends that are so ambitious & wonderfully giving & smart. i had a ball. then i came right home & did some work. im not so much into socializing/going out anymore. ive been back in tucson for 9 days & ive gone "out on the town" only one of those...on friday...& it was so blah that i decided id not go out again for a good long while. it's so good to see friends & catch up, but i think i'll be doing more home entertaining than let's meet at the bar kind of thing. i think it's finally that time in my life when the out & about boozing/socializing slows down & i truly truly get down to work on writing, have my novel & my second book of poetry both out in a couple years. here's to hoping.

~

i sold some clothes i never wear to buffalo exchange & i bought two gorgeous turquoise rings that are heavy & lovely & make me feel real good about myself. funny how fashion & things to adorn oneself can have such affects on how one walks about in the world. i feel luscious. :)

my new barrio home.

I'm pretty much officially done after a good week of interior design. here are just a couple pics. i love my new house & am so proud of it. it's tiny but it's home. i think the las are liking it so far--they're just so happy to have a backyard.



my writing corner



the entry from bedroom to backyard has an altar to mary built in the stone fence. mm gave me the candle.

next to last day in south. lily the deer, larue's deer.

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last day in the south: snake hunting with the one & only LaRue

pic one thru four: snake hunting--me & mama in our snake hunting get-ups. and larue whom i just love.

summer's end

pic one & two: me & sean, one of my bfs from high school. & our major salad dinner.
pic three: my summer beach.
pic four: lalas.

The University of Arizona Poetry Center Aug Newsletter

has a spotlight on local writers speaking about new books. I'm there. It's about process, so if you're interested in how I write a poem, check it out.

Thank you, Poetry Center, for including me on this.

Here's the link: http://poetry.arizona.edu/newsletter

Thank you, Renee, Poetry Center Education Coordinator, for making me climb a mountain yesterday. My legs are looking more fierce tho Im sort of limping about. Im not in shape like I thought!

Au revoir Ga, Hallo Tucson

It's getting that time I'm gonna need a decision...

Where are you 4? I'm getting anxious to know whether you're coming back or the dreaded NOT?

We should know something in the next couple weeks, hopefully sooner. I've been sitting on my hands, a patient Viking, trying to wait it out with optimism. Let's go Brett! I'm ready for 2010/11 magic!



"Count Vikings owner Zygi Wilf among those confident Brett Favre will return as the team's starting quarterback this season.

"Right now, he's the starting quarterback of our team," Wilf said Friday as he watched the Vikings go through their first practice of training camp. "So we're in a good position."

Wilf said he has talked to Favre several times this offseason, most recently a couple of weeks ago when coach Brad Childress was visiting Favre in Hattiesburg, Miss. The only time Wilf has been to Hattiesburg, however, was when his private plane picked up Favre last August and brought him to Minnesota.

Childress and Wilf have given Favre all the time he needs to make a decision in the hope that he will return.

"We did the same thing last year, and it turned out to be great for everyone," Wilf said. "I think the same approach of understanding who he is and that his decision is his and his family's. He's our starting quarterback, and we look forward to having him this year."

Hallo August--& Back Room Live

I got some poems up at Meagan & Drew's guest edited Back Room Live along with other Tucsonan lovelies--Andrew, Whitney, & once Tucsonan, Zach.

The poems are free verse sonnet-type things using lang. appropriated from the Holy Holy, & written early June.

Sunday in south Georgia, flaming. I just took an afternoon jog around the high hayfield & almost passed out.

In other news: I am getting ready for Tucson. Hope there's some monsoon left for me!