Confession Tuesday - Juggling Edition

Dear Reader:

It's been a marathon of MLB video games, 3 more submissions, one rejection and one new book to poetry library since my last confession.

I confess that some of the submission platforms frustrate me. Not all, but some submission protocols  make it impossible to withdraw say two poems and leave a third for consideration. Or any combination for that matter. The only recourse is to withdraw everything sent to them at the same time. I do appreciate the places who have put enough forethought into the process to allow for individually withdrawing work from a batch that was sent.

I got out to a reading Friday night. I haven't been doing enough of that. There was a time when I had two to three evening poetry events on my calendar each week but I've gone through a period that I simply tried to not be away from home so much at night. I confess some of my pull back was due to the fact that I was just out there too much. A person can do that you know. I'm wanting to strike more of a balance this year.

I confess that I very much wanted to attend AWP this year in Seattle but it is just not to be. My wife has suggested I start saving  now to make sure I can make it to Minneapolis next year. There are so many awesome poets that grace the Northwest landscape that it would be nice to meet some of them in person. Sure some may be at AWP next year but  there are a number of people with new books that are being launched at the event this year. I confess I'm a little sad about this.

I've been juggling poems this past week. That's right, it's not enough that I'm a poet, now I want to be an entertainer too. Okay, not really. I'm not really tossing  poems or anything in the air and catching them, but I am trying  to organize work; make a poem fit  here and there with other work in a manuscript. At times it's enough to make me want to throw everything  into the air and stand back.

Hey, did you know that it's only 18 days till Giants Pitches & Catchers  report to camp? Just typing this here makes me smile.

I've finished reading Suzanne Frischkorn's book Red Paper Flower and I'll write a review of it in a few days when I can carve out some time to do it. I will say up front I loved it and I confess I must read more of here work.

So many books, not enough time or big enough budget. (sigh)

That's it for this week....

Not Writing Daily?

Not writing daily?  Even 15 - 25  minutes devoted each day is a prescription for growth in your writing. Besides, it establishes writing as a habit. Do more when you can, but give it at least 15 minutes each day.

The Mag 204: Winter Comes to the Old Mill

The Mill - 1964 - Andrew Wyeth

The old Mill is lost

in my snow blindness

eyes watering 

from the cold

looking through the wetness

the blur is magnified 

by the power of headache

that splits my forehead

my skin curls from the cold

and once inside my arms reveal

a pattern of raindrop goose bumps 

up and down the extremity of epidermis 

exposed

Michael A. Wells

The Mag 204

Saturday - Potpourri

Last night I was at the Downtown Neon Gallery  for Music, Poetry and Art. It was good to hear  David Arnold Hughes read, I had not heard David in a while. There was music & other readers as well. The event is co-sponsored by The Writers Place and produced by Martha Gershun.

Yesterday, I added a new poetry book to my poetry library; Red Paper Flowers by Suzanne Frischkorn  I'll update you on the book in a day or two.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY....

"The best poets inhibit the world with quicker senses then most of us. In town or country, they see, smell and hear more." - Margaret Drabble The Forward Book of Poetry, 1994

Confession Tuesday - 4 Day Weekend Edition

Tuesday & time to confess. Won't you come with me to the confessional?

Dear Reader:

It's been one concert, three accepted poems, 4 rejections, one disappointing football game and two new books since my last confession.

All and all I can't complain much about the past week.  I've
had disappointments but those have been balance by the good and the result  is a week that offered a lot to be thankful for.  I confess that I turned the weekend into a four day weekend by taking a vacation day Friday and adding MLK day and Presto - like magic four days off!
It was had to go back to the office today, but it wasn't  too tough of a day.

Over the week I accumulated homes for three poems and 4 rejection letters. I'll take that ratio any week. Perhaps this is why I came out of these four days feeling a poetic high. Lots of writing done. and it may sound funky but  I decided my home office (where I write) could no longer be called my office. Having an office at my regular job I hated the duality of the word office as it  interchanged in meaning from home to workplace. So I though about it and decided my writing  room at home would henceforth be known as my writing studio and not an office. As trite as this might sound to anyone else, I confess it was a big deal to me.

Watching the 49ers - Seahawks game on Sunday was a disappointment. I wanted the 49ers to win but I confess it was a good game to watch. Both teams played hard and there were perhaps two plays in which the outcome hinged.  Of course one was the tipped pass in the end zone that was intercepted.  Either of these teams could have won this game. I confess that I was proud of the way San Fran played in a very tough venue and the way the defense held Seattle in the red zone.

I received two books in the mail this weekend. I confess I could be a book slut. There are few things that turn me on like getting a new book in the mail. Right now I have so many that I want and I have to be really careful in budgeting my resources given the size of my want list.

While this is not a secret if you have read my blog posts for the week but I am a big Kenny G fan. Friday night Cathy and I attended the Kenny G concert at the Kansas City Center for Preforming Arts. I cannot begin to tell you how awesome that place is. Last time I saw Kenny G was at the municipal auditorium back in the late 1990's. Acoustically I have never seen a place like this. Kenny was magnificent. I confess I felt blessed to hear him again in concert and was especially excited to share the experience with Cathy. Last time I went by myself.  I do take a lot of grief from my kids about Kenny G. I keep telling them I'll make them listen to him at my wake. They remind me when I'm dead I won't  know if they are there or not.

So my week was really a positive one overall. I know they can't all be like this, but I confess that I appreciate both the downs and the upside of  life. Without the downs there is not as much to appreciate on the upside.

Amen!

Kansas City Area Poetry Events Coming Up

I-70 Review Contributors Meeting
Tuesday January 21st, 2014
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Central Resource Library
9875 W. 87th ST.
Overland Park, KS  66212


Music - Poetry & Art 
Downtown Neon Gallery
Friday, January 24, 2014
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

1921 E. Truman Rd.
K.C., MO 64127



Writers Place Salon - Open Mic
Monday, January 27th, 2014
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
hosted by Sharon Eiker

3607 Pennsylvania
K.C., MO 64111

HADARA BAR-NADAV, WAYNE MILLER, AND COREY MARKS - Reading at The Writers Place
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

3607 Pennsylvania
K.C., MO 64111

MAG 203: Arise

Musician in the Rain by Robert Doisneau

Melancholy skies smear this day

to dampen plans—

The human spirit resilient 

as it is, goes on.

Traveling about, final brush strokes

to canvass, standing under an umbrella.

There is music to be made, 

the day gets no sympathy from the symphony.

There are glum mouths to be raised 

like recovering sunken ships.

The spirits will rise

it is the arts that awaken us;

it is humanity

at it's beast.

Michael Allyn Wells

Mag 203