Poems published and other stuff

Sketchbook published three of my poems in the newest issue. Definitely go check them out. I'm particularly proud of the haiku sequence.

I've also submitted three poems, one of which should be selected soon, for inclusion in this year's Bagel Bard anthology. More about that when it gets published in early summer.

April is National Poetry Month and National Poetry Writing Month and my goal is one poem, at least ten lines long, each day in April. So far I'm 1 for 1 and I've got ideas churning for at least another two right now. I think I'm in good shape to make it.

New post!

I just realized I haven't posted an actual update since April, and a lot has happened since then. Got a job teaching at a college, but not a full time one. Still teaching college English, which is awesome, and is definitely what I want to do with the rest of my career-life, but I have to find a full-time position somewhere. College would be ideal, but I'd like to teach high school too. Let's hope the state recovers some this year and starts hiring high school English teachers.

Open Mic

I went to a local open mic last night and read 2 poems from Evening Watch and a newish poem that I hadn't done anything with since I wrote it. Some of the poets who read were excellent. Some were good readers of okay poetry, and a few could use work. That's probably about the norm.

In any case, it seems like the poetry scene down the Shore, at least in this area, is about as insular as the Bagel Bards, but just about as varied in experience, although this group skewed younger than the Bards. There's another reading next month at the same venue and a few other venues around the area (Borders at the Hamilton Mall, a coffee shop in Bridgeton, among them) that I'll be looking to participate in.

The next time I go, I'll have a few new poems, too, as I wrote a few new haiku today that are in addition to the NaPoWriMo daily haiku I set for myself, as well as another poem that I'll try to polish before the next reading.

On top of that, Mignon Ariel King was kind enough to publish another poem of mine, Epiphany, in her U.M.Ph.!Prose online journal.

Hrm

Trying out this Windows Live Writer which is specifically for blog updates.  Looks easy enough, but it’s not like doing it the “old-fashioned” way was particularly hard.  Not that I’ve been able to really keep up with the blog anyway.  Working weird hours takes a lot out of you, and I just feel like a vegetable when I do have time to write.

 

That said, I am working on a new poem, finally.  The first in a long time.  Thank God something sparked an idea.

Work

Is exhausting. No new poetry in awhile because I'm just too damn tired after working overnight at Target to do much of anything useful. Haven't submitted anything in awhile either, but I'm going to revisit the haiku I wrote in April with an eye at writing some more and sending them out somewhere.