TO BLOG AGAIN . . .

I am a poet! I am! I . . . ma’am?

I am a poet because of the pleasure I afford as sight, sound, and intellection.

I am a poet because I

        phan your poeia


        mel your poeia


        log your poeia


I am I because your little dog knows herself.

Whenever I speak, who speaks?

I had thought death had undone so many.

The center can not hold mustard.


This is my blog, renewed. It begins on August 25, my mother's birthday, though she will likely never look at a computer screen in her remaining years. I blogged briefly and in dispersed spurts in parts of 2002 and 2003 (and if you scroll down far enough you can find some of those old posts), but this time I do it with more thought and more commitment to continue it for a good long while. I will attend it about once a week, with notes on books, poets, book arts, poetics, and related matters. Some of the posts will be from drafts of a book in progress, a critical/experiential book on poetry and poetics I hope to finish within the next two years, perhaps sooner. Once in a while I may post a poem, either finished or in progress. Usually I will post one note a week, but I might sneak in some spontaneous shorter posts now and then. The comments box will be open, but because my blogging has to fit around other writing, Chax Press work, teaching, design jobs, parenting, etc., I likely won’t be able to spend more than a half hour per week reading and responding to comments. If I spend more than a half hour on comments, and a couple of hours total each week on the blog, then I may have to use a timer to cut myself off and get on with other work and living that is here for the doing.

The blog will not be used as a promotional space for Chax Press, but I may mention little quirks and pleasures of working at the press now and then, and possibly give an alert when a new book is out, like now, letting you know that we have just released Joe Amato’s Under Virga, which is nothing short of amazing. You’ll find more about that elsewhere on the Chax web site (chax.org).

Enough intro, on to a book . . .

(About notes on books: I am extremely fortunate that many people send me books and a few people send me manuscripts to read. I probably receive enough to keep notes on books going for a very long time. So this is not a plea for anyone to send me books, and if anyone does, there is no guarantee that I will write about them here; in fact in most cases I will not be able to write about them. That said, of course I love receiving books, & I even buy them when I can.)