Wednesday, September 06, 2006

School Days

Hooray! Kids are back in school, moms have 6 glorious hours - catch up on work, catch up on writing, catch up on hobbies, catch up on fitness, catch up on walking the damn dog, catch up on washing the windows (mine don't laugh), catch catch catch. Everything sorts itself out and Judy can relax on the couch, velour pillows beneath her head, and Judy can write daily in her brown spiral bound books. But - I'll miss the clean lake waters, the rocks, the sun. My daughter and I rushed into its arms today after school. But the water was chilly! It bit. The nights are colder now even though the days still makes us sweat. And I'll miss the lazy days with my girl, grade six now - my hours with her are numbered I know.

I've decided to purchase a camperized van. Westfalia or Eurovan is what I'm thinking. Make the most of my last few years with Jama - being self-employed, I can't get away for long times, but I think with a camper van, I could steal away more often. She's starting to like her bike more and more also - we can go on camping bike rides!

Right now I'm reading Pete Straub's new book, The Night Room. It's bizarre. But I like it. Less cerebral than his other recent works. Speaking of Straub, he has an eclectic website, lots of fun. Click here to visit

No news for me on the publishing front, or any front for that matter. My muse has flown. Temporarily, I'm sure. I think somewhere in the Land of Encephalon things are working themselves out.

I have place a permanent link to Submissions History on the bar at right, so I can keep track without repasting it all the time. Of course you are welcome to look through the page. It might be of interest to people wondering about submit/response times for various magazines.

I have a completed manuscript. I call it Crang Crang Crang. I have sent it to two friends and am waiting for their response. So far, nothing from them and it's been a few weeks. But, I get the odd manuscript from other poets and must admit it is hard to read a manuscript, especially one from a friend. I am considering entering the manuscript in the Cider Press and Philip Levine contests.

On The Waters for our Cliché Reality Contest, we have decided on a book: pseudophakia by Julie Carter. We will purchase the book when we have a winner (Deadline September 15) and have it mailed directly to the winner's postal address.

Thank you to all who contributed your chapbook links. We are going to continue to offer prizes in this manner so I will definitely keep your replies.

For your enjoyment, then, here is a poem from Julie's book:

Message in a bottle

Ohio folds itself like a green pleat
beneath my stride. The air is webbed with blue
and bluebottles that sail in birring fleets
from feast to atrophying feast. Tattoos
of chlorophyll and dirt disguise my shoes
in glyphs intended for another eye.
Three bobwhites spring out chuckling toward the sky
carrying the message from the mud.
I stop within the cycloning of flies
to see if they will codify in blood.

1 Comments:

Blogger Ivy said...

Hi Jude, I forgot to mention A Slice of Cherry Pie, which I edited and is out through Half Empty/Half Full Press.

3:24 PM  

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