Mustachetastic

I submitted to Blackbird today using their online submission manager (which is open, poets!). I'm not sure why, as it took them over 2 years to respond to my last submission, and they've never responded to the poems I handed off to the editor (at her invitation, as part of a dialogue with then-current Hollins grad students) in Spring of 2009. But then, maybe I do know why: I think they're the best online magazine out there, both in terms of content and presentation (along with, say, Memorious, though I love the content at places like Waccamaw and storySouth). So I'm willing to forgive their slothfulness, if only for the wonderful poetry and fiction they publish.

Lots of 'no thank-you's' recently, from Barn Owl Review and Kenyon Review. Was pleased to get a kind note (and notes) from the folks over at Beloit Poetry Journal and West Branch. It's exciting to have these new poems flying over the interwebs into the world, even if they're met with rejections. I'm confident they'll find the right homes eventually, but am (for maybe the first time) in no real hurry. I'm continuing to tweak the poems, mostly pruning them, but don't want to let a few rejections (from kickass journals, too) let me lose faith in the poems. I do my best not to send anything out unless I'd be confident enough to read it in front of a room full of teachers past and present. It's a pretty solid imaginary litmus test. A slow game, this po-biz, and there ain't nothin' wrong with grinding it out.

Reading in Salt Lake City in December to celebrate Best New Poets 2010 (in stock on November 4th!). Utah, anyone?


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The 100 Best Signs at the Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear


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...
Time then to unload our wagons and marvel
How many items have come through intact,
Though an heirloom bowl has a hairline crack
Running rim to rim. However lonely we feel
As the wind ruffles the tall grass, we'll agree
The spot should begin to feel like home
After a little labor, a little time.
...

("Pioneers by Carl Dennis, via Verse Daily)


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Wish I had cable so I could see Conan come back. But I like my digital converter box, I like my rabbit ears.

(via Knife City Creamery)