Reading Bronchitis New Year's

While I'm recovering from bronchitis (going on 3 weeks now), I've been making my Spring syllabi and lists.  I'm quite the list maker and this time I've made a book list for myself and a list of area readings from which my students must choose one to attend. 

Excerpt from My Book List:

Down by the River by Edna O’Brien*
Sediment by Sandy Tseng*
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Marconi’s Cottage by Medbh McGuckian*
Stupid Hope by Jason Shinder*
Happy by Alex Lemon
Orchidelirium by Deborah Landau
The Ticking is the Bomb by Nick Flynn
Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson
Mayweed by Frannie Lindsay
The Mammy by Brendan O’Carroll

*=reading now

You'll notice that I have quite a few Irish writers on my reading list.  I go through periods where I jump in to something head first to study.  In the past, it's been post-modern American poetry, Plath, New Orleans writing, contemporary American spiritual poetry, ekphrasis.  Now, it's Irish writers such as Medbh McGuckian, Ciaran Carson, Brendan O'Carroll, Edna O'Brien, Roddy Doyle, and Frank McCourt.  I'm also a big memoir reader, hence Alex Lemon's Happy and Nick Flynn's The Ticking is the Bomb, both of which I can't wait to get my little mitts on.

As for the readings that I assign my students each semester, most of the are supplied by Brazos Bookstore, the Inprint/Margarett Root Brown Reading Series, Gulf Coast, and NANOFiction.  I'm especially looking forward to the following:

Mary Karr

January 11, 2010 - 7:30pm

Hobby Center, 800 Bagby St.

Nick Flynn

January 18, 2010 - 7:00pm

Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet, Houston, TX 77005, Tel: 713-523-0701

Will Donnelly, Briana Rochelle Olson, Rebecca Wadlinger

Friday, January 22, 2010 - 7:00pm
Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet, Houston, TX 77005, Tel: 713-523-0701

Dorianne Laux &  Patricia Smith

Monday, April 12, 2010- 7:30pm

Neuhaus Stage, Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue

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My syllabi for my 3 classes (Creative Writing I & II, American Lit II: Civil War-Present) are almost finished!  I hope my CWII class makes -- it's a once a week night class and it has been my experience that those are sometimes hard to fill.  However, 2 more people have signed up since last week, bringing the count to a whopping 4.  If you're in the area and want to take a CW course, let me know & I'll get you the registration information.

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I don't have NYE plans (still waiting on the bronchitis to subside), but my mom is having a NYD dinner @ her house to make up for the fact that I had to miss Christmas because I was sick.  Isn't that sweet?  She's making her delish chicken spaghetti & I'll be bringing everyone their presents -- including the little blue snuggie for her new dog, Joey (he's part dachshund/part chihuahua and as a result has a super thin coat of fur and is always cold.)  I can't wait to get over this sick & see everyone again!

Happy New Year!

128

My friend & one of my favorite Benningtonites, Adam Tessier, runs Our Daily Sonnet.  Here's Adam's take on the impetus of our daily sonnet.  Today's sonnet is #128, which Adam so kindly invited me to read for his site.  Check it out!

PLR Fall/Winter 2009 Coming Soon!

The new issue of Pebble Lake Review is coming soon!  In this issue are poems from Dilruba Ahmed, Rebecca Kinzie Bastian, Amber Clark, Nick Courtright, Lisa Fay Coutley, Weston Cutter, Paul Dickey, Nathan McClain, Ashley Anna McHugh, Heather McNaugher, Iris Moulton, Michael Ogletree, Steven Schroeder, Julie Marie Wade, and Fritz Ward.  The Fall/Winter 2009 issue of PLR also includes reviews of Rachel Zucker's Museum of Accidents, Sandy Tseng's Sediment, and Idra Novey's The Next Country.

In Case You Missed It. .

The reading last night @ Kaboom Books was great!  Thanks so much to everyone who braved the damp fog long enough to come out and support the reading, especially my dear friends and my video-recording husband.  It was also a joy to read with the wonderful poet and my friend, Andrew Kozma.  In cased you missed it, here's a recording of me reading my poem, "Cockroach," aka my "Houston" poem:

We afterpartied @ this great little out-of-the way Mexican restaurant, Teotihuacan Mexican Cafe.  We shut the place down:

Texas Blizzard!

t rarely nows in Houston (obviously), so when it does it's a great event.  Northerners may scoff, but down here when it snows, schools let out early and everyone comes home to enjoy the  soft white dusting that will inevitably stick for only a few hours or so (if that).  This year, Houston broke a record: it has now snowed for two years in a row (Dec. 10, 2008 and Dec. 4, 2009).  Houston also broke another record as yesterday was the earliest snowfall ever recorded here.  Some places got up to 4 inches!  I was so happy that I only teach TTH classes and that Jeff was off, because we kept running outside to play in it and take pictures, then come back inside to make cocoa and watch the weather reports that kept rolling in.  It really was wonderful and I think it got all of us down here in swampland in the Christmas spirit!  Here's what the snow looked like from my house:

Junk Shelf

Sometime I miss the harried routine of grad school, which when I say (write) it out loud, you'll think I'm crazy: reading 5 books a month, writing (on average) 6 poems and 2 annotations.  I felt so productive, so in tune with things. 

Then came graduation, teaching, the end of the bubble.  I'm a scatterbrained reader right now.  What's on my shelf?  A ridiculous hodgepodge that I'll pick up depending on my mood.  Let's see:

1.  Stupid Hope by Jason Shinder

2. Lit by Mary Karr

3. Dearest Creature by Amy Gerstler

4. America's Queen by Sarah Bradford

5. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

6. Cheerful Money by Tad Friend

7. Martha Stewart Living (Holiday Edition)

A completely nonsensical list, indeed.  However, I find that by reading a wide (often nonsensical) array of things leads to inspiration not otherwise found.  I hate going to party and everyone's gathered around the drinks and so-and-so is saying how he just finished Aristotle and is now tackling all of Dante and Rilke when you know he's wedged a Sports Illustrated and the newest Dan Brown novel in there, too.  My little secret: I like to incorporate "junk food" reading on my list during my winter break.  I feel that it helps cleanse the palate, so to speak.  This time, my junk food is the Jackie O. biography and Friend's memoir.  And, of course, Martha.

What's on your shelf?  What's your "junk food?"

72 hours of Green Tea & Vitamin C

To the woman and her daughter who coughed and sneezed on me at point-blank range this evening at Target: cover your mouth!  Do you know how gross (not to mention possibly contagious) it is to be hacking and sneezing in close proximity of someone?  I would rather spend my Thanksgiving holiday with my family eating yummy bourbon pecan pie, turkey, and Paula Deen's stuffing instead of having a 103-degree fever spooning a box of Kleenex and a bag of Halls cough drops.  Please have a little class next time you feel the urge to cough and sneeze your petri-dish self all over someone's face and their basket of paper towels, makeup sponges, and wrapping paper.  Thank you.

Nutcracker Goodies!

This was my very first time to go to the Nutcracker Market and I had a ball.  I went with my mom, my sister Lorie and her step-daughter Sarah.  We all shopped 'til we dropped!  The entire Reliant Center floor was covered with an assortment of cute little "boutiques" offering everything from scarves and purses to homemade fudge and Christmas decorations.  The food at Reliant is over-priced, however: $21  for two small BBQ sandwiches, chips and one Coke that my mom & I split.  I spent way to0 much money, but I'm in love with everything I purchased:

I especially LOVE this houndstooth cropped jacket (with pink lining!):

and this cute initial ornament and fleur de lis candle holder:

I'm now quite exhausted from our all-day long shopping spree (hey, it's for a good cause: tickets go to fund scholarships at the Houston Ballet Academy) and I still have a party to attend tonight!

Ahead of the Curve

I like get ahead of the curve with my Christmas shopping.   Truth be told, I hate malls and anything of the sort, which is why I do 98% of all of my Christmas buying (even some decorations) online.  I like to get everything ordered early so I can spend more time actually enjoying my friends and family, cooking/baking, down time, and sitting on my couch reading & enjoying the twinkle-trimmed tree. 

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Another busy weekend:  Nutcracker Market w/ my mom, my sister Lorie, her step-daughter & her boyfriend, grading, a friend's birthday party, dinner w/ a friend, home renovations, etc. etc.  Whew!

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My name is Amanda, and I've officially become an ebay-aholic.  Seriously: Lilly cashmere twinset for $9.99 (NWT), black Lacoste polo (NWT) for $3.99, Burberry London pink silk top (NWT) for $10.99, Lilly crocheted pink sweater for $3.25 (NWT), and a Kate Spade cosmetic bag for $3.50 to name a few.  (NWT = new with tags still on them).  It's ridiculous what you can find on there!  If you haven't tried out eBay, you should!  It's like vintage/re-sale shopping but with (most likely) better bargains and a wider selections.  One thing I won't ever do, however, is gift from eBay.  I think that's a little wierd and cheesy.

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An interesting opinion piece on writing titled, "Why Do Writers Write?" over in the archives of the NYT.  While on the subject of random, interesting articles,  I recently read a great, albeit troubling piece in the New Yorker recently about NYC schoolteachers (well, NYC's "worst" schoolteachers).  It really made me think about the entire education system and the students I see in my classes today who are a product of that system.  It's frightening what they don't know, haven't retained, or where never taught in the first place. 

Nutcracker eBay

The semester is quickly winding down & the reason I know this is a) even Walgreen's is playing Christmas music and selling those tacky giant tins of stale popcorn, b) it's reached the point in the semester where my students have their very last reading quiz (Tuesday!)  and c) the new Nutcracker Yankee Candle!  I'm so ready for my winter break and I've already been peeking around and doing some early Christmas shopping.  I like to get my gift-shopping done early.  One thing that I purchased for a gift is the book Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans which is a collection NOLA recipes lost during Hurricane Katrina. 

I'm also enjoying the season with books like this one and this one and seasonal tea. I'm also really getting into making homemade cheesecakes. So far, I've made a pumpkin cheesecake, which was a-mazing.
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Jeff and I are busy with home renovations. It's a ton of work. We're busy with the kitchen and guest bath at the moment and should be finished in time for the holidays. Jeff is also completing building the built-in bookcases in the reading room.
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I am glad that the manuscript has a lovely home at Red Hen (though the publication date seems SO far off!). I am working on other projects, including poems for a second manuscript. I will be reading some of them (both old and new) at the NANOFiction Reading at Kaboom Books here in Houston on Dec. 8 @ 7:30 PM. If you're in the area, I'd love for you to stop by!
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Inspiration is everywhere for me, lately. For the moment, it's Jason Shinder's newest, Stupid Hope. Jason was an amazing poet and greatly missed by the Bennington community. Here's one of the poems, also seen at poets.org:

 

Little America by Jason Shinder

 My friend says she is like an empty drawer

being pulled out of the earth.
I am the long neck of the giraffe coming down

 to see what she doesn't have.

What holds us chained to the same cold river,
where we are surprised by the circles

we make in the ice? When we talk about the past

it is like pushing stones back into the earth.
Sometimes she digs her nails into her leather bag

 to find out where my heart is. The white sleeves

of her shirt are bright with waves when I visit.
When we lie, we live a little longer—

which is unbelievable. If you love

someone, the water moves up from the well.

Writing Halloween

No one tells you that the year-year and a half following grad school is full of searching and tumult.  At least that's been my experience.  I sent out to dozens of book prizes and had many near-misses, swallowed myself in teaching composition and creative writing, and wrote a handful of good poems.  It was not a prolific time and I often wondered if the fires that were so present and so bright during my time at Houston and Bennington College were waning.  However, a new schedule and yes, accolades, have helped generate new vigor, new hope, new poems, and for the first time since June 2008 I can see in the distance, beyond the own lonely shadow of my piles of papers to grade, the clickety-clack of the keyboard, the grief of my recently departed cat, Casey, and the cups and cups of dark, dark tea. 

In the past week, I've received the following poetry-related news: my manuscript, Glossolalia, has been picked up for publication by Red Hen Press.  My poem, "Tether," was chosen as runner-up for the RHINO Poetry Magazine's Founders' Prize and will appear in their next issue.  Finally, my poem "The Thundering," my "Liam" poem was chosen as the winner of Bellevue Literary Review's 2010 Marica and Jan Vilcek Prize for Poetry judged by Tony Hoagland and my poem "The Bottom Drawer" was given an honorable mention for the same prize.  Both poems will appear in their next issue as well.

I'm grateful for people loving and reading poetry, for people reading my poetry, for poetry itself.  I'm grateful for my friends and family who want to call back when they're not at work so they can squeal their support with me.  I'm grateful for my hands, my keyboard, my tea, my husband, for each set of eyes that help me along.  I'm grateful to be out of the post-MFA program funk.

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Halloween is my favorite holiday.  This year Jeff & I went to Eric & Sam's Halloween party dressed out in fratitude: me as an ADPi and Jeff in pastel pink and blue RL complete with popped collars.  I had an ADPi koozie to complete my outfit that I found for a steal on eBay.

Fall

I know it's early, but the wind is skittering the leaves outside and the first (slightly, this is Texas after all) cool wind is in the air and already I'm looking forward to the approaching fall, most importantly the joy of the Nutcracker Market after Thanksgiving, and the Houston Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker.

I look forward to turning leaves and pumpkins and pies and nutmeg and pretty bows and curling up with books and tea.  I love this season -- the start of school and the "bouquets of sharpened pencils."  I'm now in my 5th semester of teaching and so far, so good (even though a few students have not, unfortuantely, caught on to the idea that you have to actually turn in assignments in order to pass a college course).  I'm teaching 3 classes: composition I, composition II, and a creative writing workshop. 

I've also been writing more than ever (have slowed down a bit in the past two weeks because of the beginning of the semester, but hope to get back on track next week).  I've also started submitting again (individual poems & the manuscript), so we'll see. 

Dolce Vita

It was great catching up w/ my old high school girlfriends Jennifer, Danielle & Chrissy last night over a (4 hour!) dinner @ Dolce Vita.  The restaurant has great ambiance even better gourmet pizzas—try the prosciutto & arugula pizzas. Delicious. It was funny/scary: at one point we were talking about how next year it will have been 15 years since we graduated high school! Even though I'm only 32, when I think of how I've been out of high school almost 15 years, I feel like I should somehow be older than that.  I had a great time, great food, and that's all that mattered, though!

SATX

I had so much fun on my trip to NOLA (think Cafe du Monde & yummy beignets, Jackson Square, a night-time carriage ride through the Quarter, shopping on Royal St., & amazing cajun food) & now it's time to head the short 3-hour jaunt over to San Antonio to celebrate Jeff & my 7th wedding anniversary this weekend! We will be staying at the lovely Riverwalk Vista Inn:On Friday night, we are going to have a bite @ Mi Tierra. On Saturday we are going to visit the Alamo, have drinks (free wine after 5pm!) @ the hotel, our celebratory dinner at Boudro's on the Riverwalk followed by an evening carriage ride. On Sunday, we will take in the Riverwalk shops & sights with a river cruise and then head over to El Mercado (the Mexican Market) for some shopping, followed by dinner @ Casa Rio on the Riverwalk. On our way out of town on Monday, we will stop over to visit the San Jose Mission. Must now go finish packing!

NOLA

I'm very much looking forward to my upcoming trip to New Orleans! I haven't been since Oct. 2001 when Jeff & I took a plantation home tour & visited the Quarter. I need a mini-vacation & having a girl's weekend w/ H. sounds absolutely perfect at the moment. Streetcars. The French Market. Beignets & cafe au lait @ Cafe du Monde. Live music & giant drinks. Laissez les bons temps rouler!