the INLAID EAR

Work is light. Today, I submitted poems to Waterhouse Review and Rio Grande Review . It occurs to me to say why or how I landed on these among those listed at Duotrope.com. Using Duotrope is a great help, but it also is limiting to those presses that use it, which seems to be a handsome percentage, though clearly not 100%. Waterhouse had a really funny submission page. Not over the top, but just three or four little side-snides that made my chuckle. Rio Grande listed themselves on Duotrope as being interested in poems in invented forms, which is exactly what I do. I also like that they are bilingual. The acceptance ratio listed at Duotrope is 8%, so that feels like a good chance and a challenge at the same time. (You must subscribe to Duotrope to see the percentages.) Re: Rio Grande, also, the Duran Duran memory is a sweet one. Over the last week, I submitted 26 poems for consideration. If my average holds that means 1-2 poems printed from this arbitrarily batched batch. On...

Nearly nearly finalized letter to Cameron + Co. I am taking my time, making it clear. I have a good feeling about that press. Actually, I have a good feeling every time I submit work I realize. It is a certain faith that I find I can muster again and again. Yes! This is the good one! This is the match! This will find the editor at her or his desk in just the perfect mood to get what I'm saying, see the potential, fall in love with idea, want to see more, want to make it work. I feel it every time I click send. Received payment from Flapperhouse for my two poems "The fallow months" and "What's cooking." Token payment still makes me happy. And I'm glad those two poems, both favorites, found a good home. "The fallow months" I have really worked on over the months!

Submitted poems to Slice . Also took time to add submissions to DuoTrope tracking tool. I am not 100% with it because the range of my submissions is so broad. There are submissions like those for Like/Share art show, performance ideas, and the complete MS, which DuoTrope is less adept at tracking. But in general, it's a great too, and encouraging. So I'm glad I updated it. Posted a review of Alison Luterman' s new book "Desire Zoo." Read more of Rattle , a dang good poetry journal! Also drafted a more Rattle-style bio paragraph. Less about writing credentials and the "doing" of being a poet and more about what goes into poeming, living as a poet, the "being." Did more research and note-taking in preparation for my July 17 class at the Writer's Forum in Petaluma, including finding the editing issue of Writer's Digest from last year. Blogged.

Brought malted milk balls to writing jam, arriving home from the grocery trip just in time, though a few minutes late picking up Natasha Dennerstein from BART. Judith Scherr and Alan Phillips arrive for writing jam. We free write. We write bref double. We write Natasha's (Jungian) free association strings, then use that material to craft short poems or proses. I get some material to compost and quite enjoy myself. Natasha, Judith and Alan get good material out of the session. I enter my bref double in the bref double poetic forms challenge at Poetic Asides . Because why not? I will take Natasha's comments from jam to heart and choose to believe the poem has the right balance of subtle and overt. Except who but my Bay Area compatriots will understand the reference to the bakery Ariz Mendi? (luckily "the bakery" fits both the rhyme and syllable needs). "Long weekend to myself" I'm framing my apology for not checking every checkbox on the list ...

Hadouken! On January 21, I put my book out into the word. I pressed the button, launched the project. Hadouken! That's how I initially felt the effort. Hadouken is a kung-fu power move from the Street Fighter video games. Ryo seems to gather all his spirit and power and push it forward from his body in a wave of blue force that's strong enough to knock someone down. All the 30 years of writing poems, the decades of submitting poetry, the rejections and acceptances, the ongoing improvement, 20 years of professional copywriting, writing and performing comedy and poetry and music, teaching poetry, everything i know about writing cover letters and resumes, plus all the support and contribution and collaboration of artists, each with their own individual forces of brilliance and creativity, the timing just before Mercury retrograde, all the blessing of friends, of fellow poets, all coming together, all in a great energy ball ---- HADOUKEN! And I'm also imagining...