Taking it Easy

It's National Poetry Month. This is generally the point where I start listing the variety of activities I'm participating in — writing challenges or giveaways or daily postings. But I'm not doing that this year. Instead, I'm giving myself permission to take it easy. I may immerse myself in some of the unread poetry chapbooks on my shelf, or I might not. Sometimes it's nice to be allowed space to do nothing, if need be.

Besides I'm about to head out on a work trip to Treviso and Venice, Italy (I'm literally going to send this and run out the door). I've carved out a little room for exploration outside of working, so if you'd like to follow along, I'll be sharing some of my travels on Instagram. 

Announcements

My podcast interview with Isobell O'Hare, in which we discuss all this can be yours, her collection of erasure of celebrity sexual assault apologies, is up at New Books in Poetry. We had a wonderful discussion about the power of erasure poetry and how her wor engages with the #metoo movement to ignite conversation around the subject of sexual assault.

My poem "Belatedly, the Refusal" is up at Glass: A Journal of Poetry.

Stuff I Like

"When the news is grim, and the clamour of the Internet is harsh and cacophonous, I find it grounding, healing, and necessary to turn away from keyboard and screens, and be fully present in the tactile world: in the morning light sifting through the studio, in the rising of the wind through the trees behind, in the words slowly forming in ink on fresh white paper spread out on my wooden desktop," writes Teri Windling in her post on why there is no room for despair.

For the record, authors against book piracy are not "elitist."

Should you quit your day job? John Scalzi discusses day jobs, creating, and the end of the world.

I was greatly amused by this look at Lois Lane's love affair with coffee.

One of my favorite books from this month was The Rust Maidens by Gwenolyn Kiste, a stunning horror story in which young women in 1980s Cleveland begin to undergo startling transformations. You can also check out my full culture consumption for the month over here. 

Poetry: "3D Printed Brother" by Millie Ho, "The Afterlife Is a Room Full of Windows You Are Trying to Avoid" by Joanna C. Valente