This morning, I left the apartment without my bag and so the reports I needed to return to my students are still in the living room, as is the disk I saved my school work on and the ones with my most recent writing. Great socks!

Yesterday, I submitted five poems to one place and a short story to another. Did this online. Wonder when this will be standard. Realized while doing this, that I haven't done the work of submitting work in quite some times. A couple years ago, I made it my new year's resolution to submit something at least once a week. But I've obviously fallen off. Maybe I should amend that to once a day.

Got a nice email the other day from GW Review saying they have accepted my story "I've Been Killed Before" pending a few "close edits." They had about eight cuts they wanted to make. All but one, I felt, made the story much better, and the other didn't hurt the story, so I was quite thrilled. I wrote back immediately to say YES YES YES and THANKS SO MUCH. Still waiting for the reply.

This morning toyed with the idea of collecting poems (and maybe stories) that I wrote before graduate school and putting them in a chapbook to be submitted. I looked through some dusty contributor's copies and found seven pieces that didn't suck so much that I would be ashamed to see them in print again. Certainly (if I can find the notebooks and disks that I saved them on/in), I would be able to find maybe ten or so more that might make a nice small collection. Probably should do the same with pieces written during grad school, but I'm still trying to find a home for them and may end up using some in a longer book. Either way, I'll likely make a pdf file of what I have and post it on the site for the world to ignore.

Crapburger! The blog I just wrote disappeared when I posted it. Now I have to do it all over again. Oh well, practice makes less than imperfect.

Okay, I changed my mind. I went ahead and posted the poems. They need, perhaps a bit of work, and I would like to add some photos to some of them, but here they are:
"On Violence"
"To an unseen bird"
Chill
Enjoy!

Finally! I am (almost) caught up with grading. Has been a bit hectic, especially with the carpel tunel and having to write many of the responses by hand before typing them. Well, hectic isn't the word. Slow is. But going okay.

Have written three poems lately. Struggled with the sonnet, so I wrote a fifteen line poem with twelve syllable lines last Wednesday mostly during Alex's soccer practice. The tentative title is "Chill." Thursday or so I wrote a much freer piece, so far entitled "To an unseen bird." Some time (can't remember when) I finished a draft of the sonnet, right now called "On Violence." I probably should post these, but I think I would like to work on them a bit more. If nothing happens in a week or so, I may post them to the website.

Am looking forward to writing more this summer. I'm almost too anxious about it, worried that I won't be able to after all the planning.

Realized that two works, "Missing" and "Singing Each to Each," that were published in last year's The Alternative have been published on the Internet. I need to update this link on my publications page. For now, readers can link here.

Not a very productive weekend. Had to miss my doctor's appointment Friday, and then just couldn't get much going. I suppose I'm tired from the long week.

I did work on a sonnet. Wrote nine lines, eight I am happy with. Think I may want to write mostly sonnets for awhile.

Listening to King Crimson's new disc. Not sure what I think yet.

My writing is too fragmented these days. Need to be more disciplined about it. Do it at particular time or times of the day. Have noticed that just when I try to impose a sense of order on life (particularly writing, reading, prayer, exercise), something or someone gets in the way and I have to change the plans. This should not upset me, but it usually does. One of the keys to success in life is that one be flexible. But order is also important.

Have been thinking of a series of essays and prose poems that might take advantage of this fragmentation. Just getting down the time to write...sigh. Why complain? I often waste the time I have to do just that.

"Guess we'll repeat the chorus" (King Crimson).

...ok. I have written a couple of haiku and a poem called "Love/Work/War". Yesterday jotted a few lines the could be the lyric for a song. Something about guilt and cutting off hands and all. Who knows what will come of that?

Now, I have to wear splints at night for the carpal (sp?) tunnel. That's with the C-PAP machine. I probably look like some kind of creature all hooked up. Have to get home. More in the morning I hope.

Well, I haven't done too much writing lately. Maybe I've been too busy catching up with grading papers and tests and whatnot (It's always the whatnot that gets in the way.). I suppose I've jotted down a thing or two. Have to check....