O, May, good riddance

Well it wasn't all bad, what with this gorgeous weather, some running & hiking, a road trip to a wedding, those lovely betrotheds & friends, & plenty of flowers & pets & a husband who makes breakfast to take out on the patio.

But of hospitals I've had enough, and bad news too.

It started in April, really. An uncle died, & though I barely knew him it hit Mom hard & only days after her own cancer diagnosis. Then Jake died (& we still don't know how), & Craig got lost, both hometowners. Hardly knowing what we were doing, we flew to Texas for the surgeries, stayed through the complications & tried to sleep despite all those beeping machines. We drove a rented van full of women back and forth and back and forth and back, along 287 to Fort Worth, twice a day. We answered the phone sometimes, forgot all the strangers' names. We were glad to be sisters.

Last week we relaxed a bit, finally at home. Then this afternoon, Mom's saying how terrific she feels, when WHAM--two aunts (her sisters) rushed to two hospitals with divergent & serious complaints. (They're stable for now.) She got in the car, split into two by the size of the state.

It's all enough to throw a girl (& I can say that) pretty far off course. But here are some pictures (just the camera phone, nothing fancy).


Mom's canna lilies blooming


Mom's more cooperative dog


Mom's cat climbing a ladder


Um, don't eat these


The river today


A deer I surprised during my run today

On tomorrow

It's been a rough week for the homeboys, and I'm going back. Going back without going there, not revisiting rethinking redoing reliving. An urgent errand. My mom was supposed to come for a visit this week, come to us. But she needs us to go to her instead, amid a tangle of surgeons of cascading procedures the bills in a fat stack. To mow a lawn, to cook a meal, to change a dressing, to put a car in the shop. To hug a sister. To kiss a niece. To know the heat like a homestate. We think of Jake. We think of Craig. Our Mothers are insert cliche, all true. Think of yours, and tell her you mean it. Momma, we're on the way.

UPDATE: Thank you for your notes & calls, dear people! Mom is home now & doing better, though her meds make her a little nauseated. (Hopefully ginger can offer a fix; I'm going to get some now.) I should be flying home tomorrow afternoon, with back-up sister/aunt/RN friend to take my place as needed. Because there's a certain wedding I'm soooooooo looking forward to this holiday weekend. How in need we all are of a party! Yay love! xo, s

This Is What a Feminist [Poet] Looks Like

This Monday...

Got this coming up. This very vegan-friendly restaurant looks fab & the line-up ecclectic. Um, and how can you beat free wine & appetizers?

From the organizers:

The Inspired Word
MONDAY, May 4 @ 7:00 PM

Tierra Sana Restaurant
100-17 Queens Blvd & 67th Road
Forest Hills, Queens
New York City

**Free wine tasting! Free appetizers!
Awesome ambience and food!
A great collection of writers and their work!**

Performers include:

Babette Albin
Diana Arnold
Shanna Compton
Marron Cox
Roseann Geiger
Terri Muuss
Christine Timm
Lauren Willig

MC/Host: Marron Cox.
Assistant MCs/Hosts: Laura Moisin, Aaron Wimmer, Sacia Bodden.

By subway, take the local R or V to 67th Avenue stop (and it's right there between 67th Road and 67th Avenue along Queens Boulevard).

All you need to bring is your love for the written word, but...PLEASE try to do your best to support the restaurant, your servers, and the performing writers.

Best,
Mike Geffner
Founder/Organizer

Facebook event page to RSVP

Great things

1. Last weekend I lost my keys somewhere inside a one-million square-foot Costco warehouse store. THEY HAVE JUST BEEN FOUND.

2. Yesterday was my one-year anniversary of going vegan. BEST DECISION EVER. Never felt better, in both body and mind. (More on this later.)

3. It's a beautiful day. I am going outside to run.

4. I have not yet missed a day in the April poems game. I think this is only the second year (of 5) that I have made it this far without a stumble. So they're drafty, and not all keepers, WHO CARES?

5. My friends are fantastic. I LOVE THEM.

6. These five things are doing a whole lot to buoy me up from under all the crap stuff I am not posting. Much needed!

Second week of April...

...& all we have to show for it is more poems. This kind of wanton abundance must be bad for literature. WE DESTROY CULTURE.

Sure, whatever.

Danielle's poems
Sandra's poems
My poems
Jen's poems (at Ada's blog; check out Ada's & Jason's poem there too)
Anne's stuff

And new podcasts from Edwin Torres, Todd Colby (again), Peter Davis (again), Maureen Thorson here. Plus a bunch more coming up.

Things might quiet down for me this weekend. I've got dental surgery in the morning (the first of three, oh ugh) & will have a few stitches. Since I can't take most pain meds I might be feeling unbloggy for a couple of days. We'll see.

An Evening of Contemporary Poetry: Conceptual Writing and The Flarf Collective

An Evening of Contemporary Poetry: Conceptual Writing and The Flarf Collective
Friday, April 17 7pm
Conceived and organized by poet Kenneth Goldsmith on the occasion of the exhibition Jenny Holzer: PROTECT PROTECT

This reading presents eight writers associated with two cutting-edge movements in contemporary poetry: Conceptual Writing and The Flarf Collective. The followers of both movements employ technology to write their works, often using strategies familiar to the visual arts: appropriation, falsification, insincerity, and plagiarism. Fusing the avant-garde impulses of the last century with the technologies of the present, these strategies propose an expanded field for twenty-first century poetry. This new writing is not bound exclusively between the pages of a book and it continually morphs from the printed page to the webpage, from the gallery space to the science lab, from the social space of the poetry reading to social space of the blog. It is a poetics of flux, one that celebrates instability and uncertainty.

Featured poets: Christian Bök, Nada Gordon, Kenneth Goldsmith, Sharon Mesmer, K. Silem Mohammad, Kim Rosenfield, Gary Sullivan, Darren Wershler-Henry

This event is free with Museum Admission, which is pay-what-you-wish during Whitney After Hours on Fridays from 6-9 pm.

[Note: it appears that online reservations are no longer available, but tickets might be available at the admissions desk on the night of the event. Inquiries: public_programs@whitney.org or (212) 570-7715.]