yesterday was lovely. up!--spring cleaning--got a washer/dryer finally, over in the neighbor's yard--ran tucson--ran the stairs at that old parking deck downtown--joe lo came over--we went to MM's for dinner--puttanesca!--DD's mom joined us, she's lovely--watching downton abbey (horrified when William died)--lo & i went out on town--there's boxcar Jesse trying to hide from my camera--to bed decent--fresh week--getting stuff done!
tomorrow i start a new class, a 14 week 102. Jake Levine is visiting ADV PO: yeeeee! i'm excited in general about life. that's always nice. good stuff coming up. Abe Smith will come to town this weekend. Joe will be leaving, which will be real hard on me. the road does beckon, it does!
dd had her home broken into on wed afternoon. was awful, awful, awful. later that nite we had din w/ JH. i got up thurs, taught my class, then drove dd to albuquerque to do some med school residency thinking, as she has to decide the next month where she's gonna do her 3 yrs. she had a good morning at the hospital, & we had a good afternoon shopping/eating. im going to the dubtree gym while d's napping, then we're gonna eat & do some research on the nite life.
in other news: i got a speeding ticket at the az/new mexi border. lucky i was only 13 over cause that's not too bad, barely worth a pull-over, really. i couldn't southern my way out of it...sucks. anyways.
"Justified" returned last nite to F/X. I love Elmore Leonard. I love the character Raylan Givens. Joe & I watched it with joy even though it was quite violent.
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I'm loving ADV PO so far. I have 11 students: 4 returning & 7 new ones. All is well.
I'm going to dinner w/ JH again tonite. We're regulars at Casa Vicente.
Then Kaia & her band, including Joe, are playing at Congress.
i gave a reading last nite at antigone. i think it went well. thanks tucson folks for coming out. here are some photos afterwards. me & annie at dinner. the beautiful kristen nelson in her casa libre home. fun times.
below is what i'm stoked about. 2nd half of saints-49ers game just started. get em saints. but PACKERS will take it all.
ive been dining the last two nights with Jim Harrison & it's always lavish & so special. after so many courses, the owner of the restaurant sent over a brilliant spanish classical guitarist & JH asks him to play "Estrella Dalva" from of course the namesake novel Dalva & JH says to me in front of the fireplace we deserve this, we are poets.
& now i get in bed with a book after last night raising the roosters. see you all tomorrow.
yesterday i met up with maggie foree, one of my poetry students from 2006, now living in portland. she's an angel & a doll & i just adore her.
after that i had dinner with poet jamison crabtree who is just pure lovely. im trying to get him to come over & work at my house too & help me redo my cv before i send off to Visiting Writing Positions--a girl needs to look as good as she can on paper as well as in person, & i need major help on paper presenting myself. ok!
last nite i was feeling yuck so i took the time to photograph my couch sesh with my two old girlbear las (in between a lot of bravo housewives):
yes im a crazy cat lady: i wish i could have every cat in the world.
Pages of Shelly Taylor’s chapbook Dirt City Lions are all spread out on the horse less work table and inciting anticipation. Read this excerpt and this excerpt at Verse Daily, and thenpre-order your copy for $7. Cover art & design by Michael Sikkema. Books will be mailed in February!
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i'm so stoked ya'll. this thing is a 2012 gift: i just finished it last Sunday & this Sunday you can already order it. believe me, this is not how the poetry world (slow as all hell) usually works. please all of you i love & like a whole lot, order my book & support Horse Less Press. they've been super-kind & supportive to me.
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Other Voices Women’s Reading Series, Fri, Jan 13, 2012, 7 pm
Calling All Writers:An Open Reading will Follow. Come read a short piece of your work:
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry. Please arrive 15 minutes early if you’d like to sign up to read.
Refreshments will be served.
Shelly Taylor is the author of two chapbooks: Peaches the Yes-Girl (Portable Press at YoYo Labs) and Land Wide to Get a Hold Lost In (Dancing Girl Press). Black-Eyed Heifer, her first full-length manuscript, was published May 2010 from Tarpaulin Sky Press. Current & forthcoming work in Columbia Poetry Review, Catch Up, andBlack Warrior Review.
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today marks one year of the tucson safeway shooting. so many lives were affected. today we remember.
this author will be here soon! that's tom's new book & heifer side-by-side. tom's reading was spectacular by the way. i'm so glad i'm a poet & not a non-fiction writer w/ irrate liberal/cranky snowbird audience.
it's baby E's first bday. this place is peter piper pizza...which is as close to hell as anything in my mind. i even went to toys r us before the party for squishy dinosaurs for kids...i am SUCH a good auntie.
which also got me to thinking ab dawson's creek somehow, which prompted me to watch the season finale...the whole bloody thing (even Jen's death video--geez...) that then got me thinking ab peacock, my high school dawson--we lived for the show every wednesday--such excitement, were/are true besties. all this got me thinking about music. that old school dave matthews song (yes, i know) "i'll back you up" which is really pretty great--it stretches from like 10th grade to now for me & peacock. so i listened to that song awhile. & then somehow i got to thinking ab bryan adams (i know). we'll blame this nostalgic mood on War Horse. see below.
in other news,
joe & i went to the theater tonite, we took in a lil theater by way of the tucson el con mall, if you will. we saw War Horse & i was a major crybaby. thanks Spielberg.
joe wrote me a lullaby today but i can't upload it on my own--yes, i am not technologically savvy--so i'll get him to do it tomorrow. it's real purty.
i've thought a lot about why lions tonight & i got an answer from an old memory. of course...lions. i'll put it in a poem & post it here soon, once the thing is written out a little better.
in other news: i got a MAJOR nice kiss last nite. which got me to thinking about great kisses.
my favorite face in the world is below:
just in case if you don't know this ab me...i have a major guilty pleasure love-fest with bryan adams (and roxette...and ab million more cringe-worthy musics...).
Today was a major new year organization day being that I got the book out yesterday. Yeeeee! I did manage to do a lil shopping up in the foothills with Annie.
I also donated to my favorite online journal & now press, EOAGH. CLICK HERE to donate as well. 2012 will be a major year for this journal & Tim Peterson (Trace) is one of my favorite people, poets, & editors. Support!
i had a backyard party last nite. it was so lovely. i grilled peel n eat shrimp. joe made a spread of dips: the best hummus & bruschetta ever. a cheese plate with a maple glazed balsamic reduction. was wonderful. ab twenty lovelies passing through to hang out in the backyard which was so pretty--candles & a big ole chiminea fire. i love hosting lil get togethers in the backyard--it fills my lil house up with love. mm did a smudging ceremony that was meaningful. then we went to the bars for the countdown & a lil celebrating. around about 215 i started questioning where the universe placed my feet...a peculiar start to the new year. i shall not divulge but oddnesses. then i walked home in my heels & my feet still hurt today.
today ive been cleaning & then working on my resolutions & of course watching the Pack go 15-1. allllright allllright allllllright allllllright.
i'm going to send this book off soon. it's hard to say done & give it up. that's what i'm going through right now.
