These are my creeks..I live here.

In Sonoma I'm a NOVELIST! (I love my hometown)

Val has a crush on me.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch..Val and General

I'm reading tonight at my home town bookstore Readers' Books in Sonoma, California. Our local newspaper said I was a novelist. So, I've been walking around feeling like a novelist lately. Mainly that means I'm taller. Novelist are very tall, right?

If you're in town, come out:

7:00PM
130 E. Napa Street

I'm nevous.

This is the official first reading of the second book, and well, wish me luck.

I can't wait for 2007. What's going to happen next?

You're pretty.

Jennifer "El" Knox had our Christmas dinner last night and read every poem that made us love poetry in the first place. We were very nerdy (and maybe had some glasses (bottles) of wine). But she did give me one of my favorite shirts ever. I can't wait to wear it. This is what it says:

The Closing of Coliseum Books

On Friday I went to Coliseum Books and bought a ton of poetry (maybe bought their remaining collection?). But the whole time I was in there I kept thinking about the death of bookstores. I adore bookstores. Adore. I worked in my hometown bookstore Readers' Books on and off from the age of fifteen to twenty. It was my home away from home (and it was across the street). I learned the language of books there, I lived in them. It's still my favorite bookstore in the world. (The owners, Andy and Lilla, are like family and secretly I think I'll just move home and work there for the rest of my life. Drink wine. Read books. Go see movies and Sebastiani Theater and walk in the park? Okay.).

Walking into Coliseum on Friday, my heart just sank. So many of the great bookstores are closing and filing for bankruptcy. I want to put my little arms around the store and say, "Sorry. Sorry we Americans to read anymore. Sorry books aren't as important as TV. Some of us really love you. A lot."

A lot.

I got my boooo -ks, I got my boooo-ks (insert celebration dance here).

Wooohoooo!

Life is hard, but books taste good!

I think reading your own book is like looking at naked pictures of yourself. It's really uncomfortable. And if you find one you like, it's STILL really uncomfortable. (But really, I've never looked a naked pictures of myself. It's a metaphor people!)

Pearl Editions did a great job. Merry Christmas to me!

THIS BIG FAKE WORLD!

It's finally here! My second bastard child, my odd little boy:

PEARL EDITIONS
is pleased to announce the publication of

this big fake world
--------------------a story in verse--------------------

by ADA LIMÓN


WINNER OF THE
2005 PEARL POETRY PRIZE


80 pages, trade paperback, $14.95, ISBN 978-1-888219-35-7

"The poems are stunning-the real deal.
- Marie Howe


"This big fake world is not a mere nosegay of poems but a solid world
(as real as it is fake, as any good work of art should be), a poetry
of story and voice, a narrative of fracture and repair, that through its art
becomes a whole—and a whole new thing."


—Frank X. Gaspar,
2005 Judge



"Part domestic fairy tale, part urban grit, part exposé of how making
a living and making a life are often pitted against each other,
this big fake world is a sophisticated exploration of manners, marriage,
and the fragile bonds that desire both creates and destroys . . .
Ada Limón has a gentle touch, and an intelligence that is quick, kind, and
precise toward her deftly drawn characters . . . the lives and
language of this book are radiant emblems of a truly discerning mind and
heart."

—Tom Sleigh

Available for shipping DECEMBER 19th! (By Christmas!)

Click here and order now from Pearl Editions:
www.pearlmag.com/pearled.html

Wonderful, Glorious Readings - Flip a Coin, Save Your Soul

This would be really hard for me to decide - unfortunately, I can't go to either, but still if I was free -- and I COULD go--mmmmm. They were all my teachers and I adore them. If you can, you should go and if you have super human powers..you should go to both. Tonight, stat, work on it.

Marie Howe:

Thursday, November 30th at 7:30PM
Faculty Dining Room (8th floor, west building)
Hunter College
68th Street & Lexington Avenue

Galway Kinnell & Philip Levine:

Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Galway Kinnell and Philip Levine will read from their most recent works on Thursday, November 30, at 7 p.m., at New York UniversityÂ’s Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge, 40 Washington Square South. A featured event in the NYU Creative Writing Program Fall Reading Series, the reading is free and open to the public. For further information, call 212.998.8816.

One side makes you smaller, one side...

The chefs - Turkey & Roll & Wine duty

My dad makes the best coffee ....

I'm thankful.

A good Thanksgiving poem....

Wild Geese
- Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Everybody needs a leaf bigger than their head..

and this

and this

I needed this

I think Walter is going to get his own series

Walter Gets Up for the 19,000th Time


Walter moved slowly to the mirror one day. His tail-feathers were a little less bright than usual. He tried to puff himself up. Make a man of himself. He thought of his earlier days when he was young and in love, he thought of the cold clasp of her clay-like feet. He pictured the beach and the watercolor waves. He wanted to go back there and tell himself not to waste time. To stand in front of the bird-dock and watch the bird-whales and tell her that he’d feed her forever, tell himself not to be so much of a fruitloop and a stopper. He wanted to know the ending to his life. He hoped he would feel better, more complete, he wanted to lick the mirror and still taste the salt of the bird-ocean, in his bird-life.

Now I think I want to be a country music star..who helps increase the poplulation of sandhill cranes.

I think I'm going to be a wild life conservationist.

Delayed

Flight delayed, I don't love airport bars THAT much.

Uh oh!

Finished with both work events -

At the airport 1 hour early - turns out my gate is right across from a lovely place called Tequileria.

Ah, I love airport bars.

This looks interesting - submit your work.

Call for Submissions


Junta: Avant-Garde Latino/a Writing

Latino/a writers have historically embraced
experimentation of form and craft as a way to explore
their culture. Even so, much of Latino/a writing,
published in the United States, has been limited to
particular approaches to subject and style that have
been validated by mainstream publishers. Rarely, if
ever, does the writing express the immense diversity
of aesthetics practiced by artists in the Latino/a
community.

In addition, the reality of a U.S. Latino/a
Avant-Garde is virtually non-existent in contemporary
literary discourse about "Latino/a Art" as well as
across the literary spectrum.

Sunstone Press, an independent publisher in Santa Fe,
NM is producing an anthology that will be edited by
poet Gabriel Gomez. The anthology will feature
Avant-Garde poetry and poetics by contemporary
Latino/a writers. The tentative publication date is
fall 2007.

The anthology will first appear at a conference in
Santa Fe, NM, scheduled for October 2007, and will be
available nationwide thereafter.

Caveat Emptor

It is not the intention, with this anthology, to
categorize and codify certain Latino/a writers as
“Avant-Garde” nor to establish any notion of a
preferred aesthetic. The objective is to interrogate
the very terms "Avant-Garde" and "Latino/a
experience" as intersecting locations of poetic
practice so as to bring forth work that bears witness
to our varying aesthetics as artists and thinkers. The
ultimate goal is to encourage both readers and
publishers to recognize the breadth of Latino/a
writing and thus deepen the public's understanding of
the Latino/a experience.

Guidelines:

Please submit up to five poems. Manuscripts should not
exceed 15 pages. Include a cover page with your name
and contact information as well as the titles of your
poems. Your name should not appear on the poems
themselves.

Writers are asked to submit only electronic versions
of the poems. Send as MS Word attachments only. Both
MAC and PC platforms are acceptable.

Submit work to junta.anthology@yahoo.com

Writers whose work is accepted for the anthology will
be asked to write a poetics statement no longer than
750 words.

Deadline

All manuscripts submitted by January 10, 2007 will be
considered. Contributors will receive two copies of
the book upon publication.

The California Clipper has very romantic ighting!

So much fun = Palabra Pura

We had so much fun, Jorge Sanchez was wonderful and a great crowd showed up.

Everything was lovely, a great dinner, a strong and funny reading. I heart the fact that
I was even invited to read in this amazing series.

Thank you Ellen Wadey, Fancisco Aragón, and all the folks at the Guild Complex as well as the Poetry Foundation.

Now, darlings, it's late and I should go collapse.

Thanks Adam Deutsch for showing up from Urbana-Champaign and being fabulous and driving all the way! I hope you get home safely!

Thanks to Romnin for coming out and being my new pen pal!

Ooooh and to Another Chicago Magazine for coming out!

Thanks Chicago, thanks Moon, thanks stars, thanks bed, thanks pillow..........

Safe & Sound

Well, I don't know about "sound."

I'm in Chicago, all checked in and ready to read.

I must say I'm looking forward to it - another adventure.

The reading on Monday was wonderful. Susan was a pleasure and a powerhouse and Abraham Smith just blew everyone out of the water. Lovely, lovely.

Then we all sang karaoke.

I mean, what more could a girl ask for?

Okay, so in Pittsburgh I had Flashdance on my mind - and here? I need to pick a favorite Chicago movie.

Any suggestions?

Chicago Reading!

I'm reading in Chicago! If anyone wants to come out, well, that would be lovely. This is a bilingual poetry series and all I can hope is they don't expect me to be bilingual. It will be poetry however, that part is certain. I'm looking forward to this as well as meeting Jorge Sanchez and Francisco Aragón.

PALABRA PURA Bilingual Poetry Reading Series

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Ada Limón and Jorge Sanchez
California Clipper, 1002 N. California, Chicago
8:30p.m.
Free Admission

Tiny Poem by a Tiny Girl

This is a great poem from my best friend's neice, I think we've got an Emily Dickenson on our hands (although she's already proven to be much more social).


RED

Red is the color of roses.
Red is the color of paint.
Red is the color of crayons.
Red is the color of some circles.
Red is the color of construction paper.

By Isabele Harnetiaux

Also, there's this!

Now, this reading's going to be a party!

Carlito’s Café

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m.

Pochisimo: Mexicano Americanos Readings in Nueva York

1701 Lexington Ave. NYC (Btwn 106 & 107 Sts, 6 train to 103st), 212/534-7168

For a little taste of Tejas and Califas drop by Carlitos Café to hear celebrated Mexican American artists read from their works. The line up includes Rigoberto González, Christine Granados, Erasmo Guerra, Ada Limón, and Sergio Troncoso, but there will be many more talented writers, poets and artists on hand to entertain.

Now, if only--

I could find some more time to write. I'm personally rooting for a 36 hour day.

I may have to actually give up and not have a spotless house prior to going to Pittsburgh.

Just don't tell my grandmother that I didn't scrub my house for three weeks before traveling for 3 days.

I'm looking forward to the trip - I don't know anyone in Pittsburgh except my publisher, Mike.

I like being a stranger.

I think this is going to be fun, don't you?

11/02/2006 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Reading by Ada Limon and Richard Jackson
Location: Mellon Center Living Room on the Chatham College Campus

Ada Limon, the 2005 Autumn House contest winner. She will also be available to visit classes Thursday or Friday afternoon if professors want to order her book.

Ada Limon is originally from Sonoma, California. She received her MFA in Creative Writing-Poetry from New York University. She has received a fellowship from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, a grant for poetry from the New York foundation for the Arts, and the Chicago Literary Award for Poetry. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her first collection Lucky Wreck was chosen by Jean Valentine as the winner of the 2005 Autumn House Poetry Prize.

Richard Jackson is the author of 8 books of poetry, most recently Half Lives: Petrarchan Poems published by Autumn House Press, and two prize-winning books of criticism. A winner of Guggenheim, Fulbright, NEA, Witter-Bynner, and NEH Fellowships, and five Pushcart Awards, he was awarded the Slovene Order of Freedom Medal for his literary and humanitarian work in the Balkans. He teaches at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and the Prague Summer sessions.

11/3/2006 7:30pm
The Gist Street readings are held monthly and feature local and national poets and writers. The series focuses on emerging writers either publishing in national journals and magazines or publishing their first or second books.

Tonight featuring authors Richard Jackson and Ada Limon.

Admission is $3. Some refreshments will be served, although this is a BYOB night.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch - my mom saved this goat!

Interview!

Kate Greenstreet interviewed me for Kickingwind.com and it's up today:

Go here: kickingwind.com - kickingwind.com - kickingwind.com

So that's fun.

My brother and his wife are in town and I'm going to try to squeeze them into some poetry readings, but I think I'm gonnna have to sneak up on them, like, O look this bar has a poetry reading going on...

I love this overcast weather, it makes me feel like I'm at the beach.

I thought Rigoberto Gonzalez was reading this weekend too, but I can't find it posted anywhere. Hm.

This is why I have to write things down.

I feel delicious. I just slept for 12 hours.

If I were you I would go to this reading on Sunday:

Zinc Bar Reading Series
Robin Beth Schaer, Joseph Massey & Franklin Bruno
Sunday, October 8 at 7 pm
90 West Houston (between Laguardia & Thompson)

Robin Beth Schaer's poems have appeared in Rattapallax, Denver
Quarterly, Guernica, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Barrow Street, among
others. Recordings of her work are featured on From the Fishouse:
fishousepoems.org. She works at the Academy of American Poets
and lives in New York City.

Joseph Massey lives in Arcata, California. He's written five
chapbooks: Minima St. (Range, 2002), Eureka Slough (Effing Press,
2005), Bramble (Hot Whiskey Press, 2005), Property Line (Fewer &
Further Press, 2006), and Areas of Fog (forthcoming in 2007).

Franklin Bruno is a singer-songwriter originally from Upland,
California. He has been a member of Nothing Painted Blue since its
inception in 1986. He writes music criticism for The Village Voice,
Time Out New York and Salon.com. He received a doctorate in philosophy
from UCLA and currently is a visiting professor at Northwestern
University. In addition to his own recordings, he has also worked with
the Mountain Goats, Jenny Toomey, and Calexico.

At long last - a post

Hola -

I've been sunk in a work whole all week and will probably be there for the next two weeks, but I thought I would say this:

The reading in New Haven was a blast. Jen and Shanna were fantastic and the bar was wild. Real low ceilings. You could hear people walking right on top of you.

Jen and I had some wine on the train. Then sandwiches on the way back. Nice, good looking crowd. I like Yale. I think I should go there. For free. And get a degree in kayaking or something.


I've been working on my website: adalimon.com

Yup. I'm learning how to do it on my own. Joel, my ex-boyfriend and computer whiz extraordinair taught me last weekend and now I'm still figuring it out, but at least I got a site!

It's really fancy.

I just finished my questions for Kate Greenstreet's first book interviews- on kickingwind.com. I hope I didn't sound to "mentally challenged."

Reading in New Haven, CT with Jenny Knox & Shanna Compton!

So, I secretly call this our "Reading at Yale." Is that okay? I feel okay with that.

Us ladies will be taking the train. I do believe that calls for some "wine, wine on the train.." (sung to the tune of Home on the Range).

Tuesday, September 19 2006

7:00pm

Jennifer L. Knox, Shanna Compton & Ada Limon read in New Haven, CT!

Tuesday, September 19 at 7:00 PM in New Haven!


Jennifer L. Knox, Shanna Compton & Ada Limón

The Ordinary Evening Reading Series
Hosted by Michael Schiavo & Ann Leamon
Anchor Bar
272 College Street
New Haven, CT

Series schedule: ordinaryevening.blogspot.com/

Jennifer L. Knox is a three-time contributor to The Best American Poetry series, as well as the anthology Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present. Her first book of poems, A Gringo Like Me, is available from Soft Skull Press.

Shanna Compton is not quite as tall as Jennifer L. Knox but she is the author of Down Spooky (Winnow, 2005) and the editor of GAMERS: Writers, Artists, and Programmers on the Pleasures of Pixels (Soft Skull, 2004). Her poems have recently appeared in Spork, the Tiny, Court Green, and the anthologies The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel, Digerati, and The Best American Poetry 2005. Please visit her online at www.shannacompton.com.

Ada Limon is originally from Sonoma, California. Her first book, lucky wreck, was the winner of the 2005 Autumn House Poetry Prize and her second book This Big Fake World was the winner of the 2005 Pearl Poetry Prize and is due out in the fall. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

New Moon

Promises regeneration and rebirth. Everything is changing. Make a wish. Write something.

Um, well, I think we're gonna have a lot of fun, don't you?!

Word for Word: Peter Covino, Thomas Sayers Ellis, and Ada Limón

August 8, 2006, 6:30 p.m.
Bryant Park Reading Room, 42nd Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues, New York, NY
Free
The Academy of American Poets presents its second summer of readings in the Bryant Park Reading Room, as part of the 2006 Word for Word Series. Free and open to the public, the series highlights emerging poets and takes place monthly from May until September.

Peter Covino is the author of Cut Off the Ears of Winter (Western Michigan University/New Issues Press, 2005) a finalist for the Publishing Triangle’s Thom Gunn Award. His chapbook, Straight Boyfriend, received the Frank O'Hara Prize in Poetry in 2001. He just received his Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing from the University of Utah and will join the faculty of English at the University of Rhode Island this fall. His poems have been widely published and anthologized. He is currently working on a translation project of Italian poets for an anthology on Contemporary European Poetry, to be published by Graywolf Press in 2007.

Thomas Sayers Ellis is the author of a chapbook, The Genuine Negro Hero, (Graywolf 2005), and a chaplet, Song On (WinteRed Press 2005). His first book of poetry, The Maverick Room, was published by Graywolf Press in 2005. His Quotes Community: Notes for Black Poets is forthcoming from the University of Michigan Press (Poets on Poetry Series). He is an associate professor of English at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and a faculty member of The Lesley University low-residency M.F.A program in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ada Limón is originally from Sonoma, California. A graduate of the creative writing program at New York University, she has received fellowships from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and won the Chicago Literary Award for Poetry. Her first book, lucky wreck,was the winner of the 2005 Autumn House Poetry Prize and her second book, This Big Fake World, was the winner of the 2005 Pearl Poetry Prize.

Sponsored by Academy of American Poets and Bryant Park Restoration Pr

Fried Chicken & Big Life Things

I'm feeling a little sorry for myself and I think it's affected my writing. By this I mean to say, I have a dear friend who is in hospice and who is dying of cancer at 31, I have a parent going into another stretch of yet another battle with cancer as well, I have, somehow, managed to get diagnosed with bronchitis on the day when New York has a heat index of 119. Now, all I want to do is lay under a bus, and I can't seem to get writing (which usually helps when life is too big).

So, when I was kid and things were upsetting, my favorite junk food was Hungry Man Fried Chicken dinner. With the corn and mashed potatoes, then lots and lots of coffee ice cream later.

Of course, I wanted to get those things on the way home, but I settled for some hummus, crackers, and papaya. Too healthy, I know, but it's too hot for the oven and fried chicken anyway.

ANYWAY, all this to say, how does one start writing when really BIG things are going on? Do you know what I mean, like when you're heart is really broken you can't seem to write at all until you get a little better? Or when someone close to you dies, you can't really write about until some time has passed. BUT, you can't really write about anything else, right? I mean all the things you want to write about that aren't the big things seem stupid and mundane and unimportant.

So, I guess this is it, I'll just reminisce about Hungry Man Fried Chicken Dinner and Solid Gold (oh, did I mention I loved Solid Gold).

Reviews of me.

Michael Broder gave me a review in H_ng M_n and it's kind a generous. I put it on my links in the margin. It's my second review and it's always so exciting to see what some one else thinks. Also kind of nerve wracking. You're always scared that they're gonna call you some freaky poetry hack. I'm uber paranoid, but still, it could happen.

Please don't call me a freaky poetry hack, please don't call me a freaky poetry hack, please don't call me a freaky poetry hack...

Coconut

I've got some poems up on Coconut right now if you'd like to see some from the second book!

http://www.coconutpoetry.org/limon1.htm

Awe

Most things are easily undone.

I walk around being at one moment so overwhelmed with the beauty of the world,
so in awe of the gift we are given--then the next moment
I'm thrown into some pit of despair that only final rites can cure.

Do you think this is just a normal hormonal journal, or do you think it is insanity?

Or maybe it's just human. The human as a lovely experiment.


Anyway, today I am in awe, and there are lots of tiny birds around which always make me cheery.

What Fun! Viva Acentos!

Can we talk about how good Acentos is!?

We had a blast.

I brought some lady artists that rock hardcore:

Jennifer L. Knox
Trish Harnetiaux
Alexa Vachon
Melissa Finley


And Fish Vargas and Rich Villar rocked it old school with a wonderful open mic and a great, energetic crowd.

I tried to take pictures, but my camera failed at the last minute.

There was also a very very tiny puppy that the DJ said was "the official mascot of Latino Poetry."

So, I should add he was a very sexy, tiny puppy...with an attitude!

The DJ played awesome latino tunes and everyone danced on and off stage.

We had wings and guacamole, free shots of something yummy, and the we laughed and cried and played with the the tiny poetry puppy!

Go see Fish Vargas at the Nuyorican this Friday and rock out.

Acentos! I'm reading! Tuesday!

I've read here before and it's a great place, a great group of people and you'll have fun if you come.
The open mic before hand all has wonderful, fresh, and exciting readers/performers. Come up if you can!


Tuesday, July 11th @ 7:30pm
The Uptown's Best Open Mic and Featured Poet ADA LIMÓN


The Bruckner Bar and Grill
1 Bruckner Boulevard (Corner of 3rd Ave)
6 Train to 138th Street Station
Hosted by Rich Villar
FREE! ($5 Suggested Donation)
www.louderarts.com/acentos

Coming from Manhattan: At the 138th Street Station, exit by the last
car on the 6. Take the exit to your left, go up the stairs to your
right to exit at Lincoln Avenue. Walk down Lincoln about 5 blocks to
Bruckner Blvd, turn right on Bruckner past the bike shop, the Bruckner
Bar & Grill is on the corner. For more directions, please call
917.209.4211.

Farmgirl

I'm craving the small town I grew up in. I miss the smell of manzanita trees in the heat, oaks, and eucalyptus.

Instead I'm going to settle for an iced coffee and a walk to the McCarren Park to watch my softball team win.

The other day I was driving in Montauk and a friend said she loved Porsches and I said, "yeah, they remind me of Steve McQueen" and she said, "Really?"

I said, "Yeah, he had a lot of them and he used to race cars you know."

She said, "No I said, I loved porches."

"Oh," I said, "me too."

I want a porch.

And a porsche.

THIS PLAY ROCKS!

I saw this play last night. It's really wonderful. A one man show--and what a man he is! Seriously fabulous. I knew little about York (the only black man on the Lewis and Clark Expedition), but the story is amazing and beautifully done. Go see it if you can, it's only up until Sunday!




The Fascinating Story Of The Only African American On The Famed Lewis And Clark Expedition

York
As Part Of The Bicentennial Commemoration
David Casteal is "A whirlwind, A force of Nature, A Vital, Laughing, Raging Bundle of Muscle and Brain" – The Spokesman Review

June 9th, 2006 (New York, NY) 2003 marked the beginning of the 200th year commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Two years later marked the premiere of York by David Casteal and Bryan Harnetiaux, performance and African drumming by David Casteal, direction by Susan Hardie. Nearly 200 years from the conclusion of the journey, York will play in NYC at the 78th Street Theatre Lab (236 West 78th Street) in a limited engagement from Thursday, July 6th-9th at 8 PM. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by calling Smarttix at 212.868.4444 or by going to www.smarttix.com .

From childhood to post-expedition, York chronicles the largely untold story of William Clark's manservant/slave who was the only Black member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806). York is a poetic antecedent to the African-American struggle post slavery. The play tracks York's spiritual journey from submissive slave who achieves mild celebrity to accomplished and outgoing frontiersman, and then ultimately to an archetypal Black American.

York premiered at Spokane Civic Theatre's Firth Chew Studio Theatre in Spokane, WA on April 29, 2005. York has since been performed throughout the Northwest at the invitation of various community, arts and civic-minded organizations, educational groups, and the National Park Service's Corps of Discovery II in conjunction with the National Bicentennial Commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

David Casteal's roles at Spokane Civic Theatre have included Jackie Robinson in Bryan Harnetiaux's National Pastime, Fences, and The Old Settler, as well as York. He was named Best Male Actor of the 2004-05 theatre season by The Inlander, a Spokane weekly newspaper, for his portrayal of York. David has also studied and taught African drumming for many years. He is the Founder and Director of the student drum ensemble Kuumba, and he teaches fifth grade in Spokane.

Bryan Harnetiaux is Playwright in Residence at Spokane Civic Theatre in Spokane. Eleven of his plays have been published, including commissioned adaptations of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s Long Walk to Forever, and Ernest Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Killers. His play, National Pastime, was first produced at Spokane Civic Theatre and recently completed runs at Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena, CA and Stamford Theater Works in Stamford, CT.

Susan Hardie has directed scores of productions throughout Spokane, including Death of a Salesman, Lost in Yonkers, Tartuffe and The Elephant Man for Spokane Civic Theatre.

A Small Bird

I saw a small bird today on the way to the gym. ( I was on the way to the gym, not the bird). But the bird had this enormous Cheeto in it's mouth and I decided I need to have a better attitude about the world. I'm gonna be more like that bird and take off a bigger bite.

Sorry it's been so long!

I needed to be very very quiet, and although I am still hunting the rabbit, I have determined to speak to my fellow woodsmen.

Gratitude & Hope

I keep thinking of the idea of prayer and gratitude. The way Kunitz said we should be "thankful" for the gift of life. In difficult times, it seems like we should have an abundance of prayer and an abundance of hope. But it seems at the time when you need hope the most, it walks off holding some one elses hand.

But by being thankful, should we be thankful for our own mistakes? Thankful for our own deep and tragic faults?

What threads do we grasp on to when the world unravels?

I agree that out of great struggle can come great art, but what about if it is "the self" that you are struggling against. That your own self is your unacceptable condition?

I want to say I love you world. I want to say it and mean it truly.

Doobie Brothers

Okay, so I love the Doobie Brothers and I know it seems weird, but Jen Knox always says it's because I love that "warm California glow."

True, true, but I mean, who doesn't?

When I was in 4th grade I "went out" with a real cute guy at Dunbar Elementary School whose father managed the Doobie Brothers.

My father was the principal, but still I was VERY impressed.

Okay, I'm still impressed!

He had gold records in his house...

Are you going to see this or what? It's wonderful!

My mom saved this turtle

Blogging

I think it is safe to say that I have no idea what I'm doing.

I also think it is safe to say that I will never have a very "intellectual" blog.

I am bound by certain things to the open window.

Stanley Kunitz

As many of you know, Stanley Kunitz passed away on Sunday, May 14th.

This great quote got forwarded along:

When you look back on a lifetime and think of what has been given to the world by your presence, your fugitive presence, inevitably you have to think of your art, whatever it may be, as the gift you have made to the world in acknowledgement of the gift you have been given, which is the life itself.  And I think the world tends to forget that this is the ultimate significance of the body of work each artist produces.  It is not an expression of the desire for praise or recognition, or prizes, but the deepest manifestation of your  gratitude for the gift of life.

Stanley Kunitz
1905-2006
(from The Wild Braid, W.W. Norton, 2005)


What a wonderful sentiment. I remember quite clearly the day that Trish and I drove to the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center for the first time. She drove the rental car in front of 6 Fish UP and we drove over some flowers. She said, "Oh no, we just ran over Stanley Kunitz's garden."

Of course we didn't, but I did pass it almost everyday walking to the breakwater.

I only met him once and I think so far, he was the only man I've ever been taller than (and I might be exaggerating as he was bent over.)

He will be greatly missed and what gratitude we must feel that we have his poems to remember him by.

Still recovering

from the reading on Sunday night. We had so much fun. The whole crew came out and in the end I think it was one of my favorite readings yet.

Hurrah for Jennifer L. Knox!

Hurrah for Brendan Lorber!

Hurrah for Negro Modelo!

Reading with Jennifer L. Knox this Sunday.

I know it's Mother's Day, but wouldn't you make your mother proud if you came out and had a drink on a Sunday? Hi Mom!

When: 7pm on Sunday, May 14th

What: Poetry reading with Ada Limon & Jennifer Knox

(if you've never heard Jen read she's wonderful and funny and an amazing reader).

Where: ZINC BAR: 90 West Houston between Laguardia & Thompson in New York City's Greenwich Village. Subway: ACEBDFV to west 4th street. NR to spring. 1/9 to Houston

Where did they go?

In case you were wondering where our poems went. Jen and I took them off to further edit them and perhaps someday put them in books. She picked my top 5 and I picked hers, then we picked our own favorite 5 to see what we came up with. VERY interesting.

I'm reading tonight and think I might read some of the poems from this month. We'll see how they feel about the whole thing.

You can see more of Jennifer L. Knox's poems up this week on No Tell, Motel
notellmotel.org/

I am dreaming constantly of underwater lavender and car bombs.

Did you know:

that Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) was part Mexican, same as Joan Baez, Daisy Duke on Dukes of Hazzard, Loni Anderson AND Jimi Hendrix?

And did you know that the commercial on PBS that had the little boy saying, "I'm proud to be a Mexican American" was my favorite commercial?

Just in case anyone asks.

Cinco de Mayo!

Since I'm of Mexican decent, I often get asked by people in my office and friends about the meaning of Cinco de Mayo. So, I thought I'd post something here that really clarified the importance of this day. (Aside from the obvious excuse to eat quacamole and drink margaritas).

So, first thing you need to know is that Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexico's Independence Day (which is actually September 16th or midnight of the 15th). Rather, it is in celebration of the day, May 5th, 1862, when 4,000 members of the Mexican Militia defeated 8,000 members of the French army in the town of Puebla. (Napoleon wanted to take over and install Maximilian as ruler of Mexico).

Now, the thing to remember here is that there were wars almost constantly going on in Mexico, and one year later, angry at his defeat, Napoleon sent 30,000 troops to Mexico and indeed succeeded in placing Maximilian in power.

But their victory was short lived as well and soon the French were ousted with help from the United States in 1867.

And there's lots more to know, BUT, it really is simply a celebration of the little guy over the big guy, the mom & pop store over the Wallmart, the small poetry press over Random House and the independent bookstore over Barnes & Noble.

And if that's not an excuse to have a drink, well, really what is?

Personally, I also think it's a day to get your mojo back and fight your own personal Goliaths whatever they may be.

Thanks, Lala!

...For letting me post poems on your blog, and goofy photos like this. You're my pal. Love, Jennie K.

I'm reading on Monday night if anyone's around!

Monday night, Reading Between A & B kicks off three straight Mondays of poetry with:

Nicole Cooley
Anothony Hawley
Ada Limón

Monday, May 8, 7:30PM
at the 11th Street Bar (510 E. 11th Street  btw A & B).

Nicole Cooley grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her first book of poetry, Resurrection, won the 1995 Walt Whitman Award and was published by LSU Press in 1996. Her second book of poetry, The Afflicted Girls, about the Salem witch trials of 1692, came out with LSU Press in April 2004. She has received a Discovery/The Nation Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Grant and the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America. She is an associate professor of English at Queens College-City University of New York and lives in New Jersey with her husband and two young daughters.

Anthony Hawley grew up in Massachusetts and was educated at Columbia University. He is the author of The Concerto Form (just out from Shearsman Books) and the chapbooks Afield (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2004) and Vocative (Phylum Press, 2004). He is currently on the faculty of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Recent poems have appeared or are forthcoming in /Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Forklift, Ohio, The Hat, Octopus/, and /Verse/.

Ada Limón is originally from Sonoma, California. A graduate of the Creative Writing Program at New York University, she has received fellowships from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, New York Foundation for the Arts, and won the Chicago Literary Award for Poetry. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines, including, the Iowa Review, Slate, Watchword, Poetry Daily, Tarpaulin Sky, LIT, Painted Bride Quarterly, and others. Her first book lucky wreck was the winner of the 2005 Autumn House Poetry Prize and her second book This Big Fake World is was the winner of the 2005 Pearl Poetry Prize and is due out in the Fall. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her new bike and doesn't have any tattoos.

jen's #2 for 23: I gotta nuther

Poetry

don't matter what
or how much you
write, how much
you feel it: the world
will hide its warm
glad knowing name
from you behind
its back, under its
bald shivering wing:
pick a hand/o no
the other hand

Ada's for April 20th

Untitled

Perhaps the wind will move the flap
of the GRAND OPENING sign above
the florist/deli next door that makes
sandwiches named after all the presidents,
and tomorrow the woman with
the artificial heart will find her
perfect housewarming plant for her
new small guest. I want to be here
when that happens, I want to cherish
my own ninety-nine cent heart.

Jen's for the 20th

Jen's for the 18th

Carried Home

Dog?
Absolutely.
Curious
However:
Stubborn
Hobbling.
Underneath:
Negligibly legged,
Downright dwarfy.

Ada's for April 17th!

Bedtime Story

Quiet now, the dreamland bed buoys me. When L comes in,
he puts his cold motor hands on my back to wake me on purpose.
I dreamt last night that kittens were being born all over and I could
not contain them. When I woke he was gone. I believe he had
said, We sleep as a team, and I do not know if it was a dream.

Jen's #15!

Smooch

The lady will have a white wine spritzer and the nacho cone, followed by a dune buggy ride and a candlelit screening of Romancing the Butt. Sweetie, the boy who got you pregnant and nearly gave you herpes in a three-way oughta gotten his ass beat like a bass drum at half-time. Your tits are fine. So’s your chin. Promise you’ll keep smooching pets of all species even turtles. Promise you’ll keep leaning in for the pink velvet promise of smooch. Let time turn the hairy, sour air right and nice because it really is, you know.

This is hard!

I just needed to check in and say, wow, writing a poem a day is way more difficult than I thought. I mean, I'm loving it--and I LOVE to see Jen's every day, but I'm surprised how much time it takes to complete a poem (or complete it enough to post it). Everyone else in National Poetry Write More Month seems to rockin' it hard core, and don't worry, I'm not giving up! I'm just calling in to say, geez!

Jen's #2 for #13

A Nice Nap Thought

With pillow on the floor
I could hear the parrot
snoring too suddenly I
felt/knew/understood I was
sleeping in a big hand thought
maybe it's the very same hand that
cradles the Burt Reynolds tribute band (!)

Jen's for the 11th! Hey Mark send me a cd!

Ghazal for Hooper

My mother never told me that I have a cousin who’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

His name is Mark, he’s from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and he’s a great guy but check it out: he’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

He was in town, called and told me his band was playing at the Lakeside Lounge. I figured they’d suck and I had other plans so I told him sorry I can’t make it but what’s the name of your band? He said Hooper and I said cool let’s have dinner tomorrow. Then I went home and looked them up and I was like, holy mother of God—I have a cousin who’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

There’s no work to it he says. Well they work hard on the music, but then some dude will come up before the show and say Hey, I love Burt, I’ve got a smoke machine—you guys wanna use it? The universe cradles them adoringly in its hand like…like what? I have a cousin who’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

He says the law of the stuntman comes in two-parts: Know when to hold on, and when to let go. I have a cousin who’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

There are songs for Burt of course, for Sally, for Dom and for Loni. I ask, are there songs for Jerry? No. That’s more of a side project. I have a cousin who’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

I have been listening to the same Nico song (sounds like a cartoon cow on peyote) for three days straight. Well flip that record over and how. I have a cousin who’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

It’s not cheesy he assures me. The songs don’t come out and say, “Liftin’ weights and drinkin’ beer is something I like to do.” They talk more about the soul from Burt’s (aka Sonny’s) point of view. Would you risk your life for $50,000? What if your selfless act spared the life of your friend? Is it truly a selfless act if you get paid and don’t die? I have no idea how to answer these questions. I have a cousin who’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

Mourning morning and night. I swore no joy would land nor stay. Now I have a cousin who’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

This poem should be one thousand pages long, full of pictures I’ve never seen, and ideas so ready for the world they’re born with mustaches. Can’t you feel it? It’s like the sun on tight jeans. I have a cousin who’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

It’s not because it makes everything bearable or funny for a while or forever, it’s because it means a thing can happen and when the world's hell-bent on breaking the land-speed record for undoing itself that’s the best thing about being in Burt Reynolds tribute band says my cousin who’s in a Burt Reynolds tribute band.

Ada's for April 10th!

The Meal of Wishes

Bring me water and turnips
and coarse sea salt and the sliver
of the moon that hovered over
my house as a child, the one
I made wishes on, the one
I swore would bear me witness.
Bring me all of this to make
the perfect meal that requires
no prayer before hand, the meal
that is the prayer itself. Let me
eat my wishes and swallow
them whole, their sweet taste
still so impossible and full.

Ada's April 9th!

Talking Loudly to No One

We are all so scared
that other humans
cannot hear us;
we are also scared
that they can.

Reading at the Liar!

It was a great reading with many fun people and a nice big crowd.

Dan Nester was crazy and made fun of Helen Keller.
Michael Costello was brilliant.
Andrew Michael Roberts is my new favorite poet.
(Someone publish his book right now).

Now I must nap.

Things I accomplished:

-Went to reading
-Saw Dr.Cocktail

I just walked to the post office to pick up my books. It's raining hard outside. Perfect day for a reading. Perfect day for a warm afternoon cocktail and a poem.

List of things to do today:

-laundry
-write poem
-buy brother birthday present
-make chocolate chip cookies with L for Rob's birthday
-determine life plan
-map out the next 15 years of my life
-have lunch with Jen and L before reading
-go to reading at 2pm
-See Dr. Cocktail aka Shafer Hall

Ada's April 7th!

Big Help from Small Imaginary Things

Again, with the animals
talking in my sleep.
Last night a spaniel
with a long face like
a relative, helped me
gather my children
together. Every one with
a lunch and a bag of
glass fish beads. I said,
“It feels nice to have
you help me with these.”
And she answered,
“We make the
perfect team,” and
moved my little humans
out the door with
her leash in her mouth
and of course, I followed,
obediently.

I've got more New York Readings--if anyone is interested in coming out!

Sat, April 8th, 2PM: The Four-Faced Liar with Daniel Nester, Michael Costello, and Andrew Michael Roberts, New York, NY
Hosted by Tarpaulin Sky at the Frequency Series with Shafer Hall and Sam Amadon!

Mon, May 8th, 7:30PM: Readings Between A & B at 11th St. Bar with Nicole Cooley and Anthony Hawley, New York, NY
I love this bar, I mean, reading series.

Sun, May 14th, 7:00PM: Zinc Bar with Jennifer L. Knox, New York
Dude, it's Mother's Day, let's read some mother f*%#@&^ poems! (Hi Mom!)

Tues, July 11th, 7:00PM: Acentos in the Bronx (this is a great reading series and the people are amazing). We will miss Oscar Bermeo, but he's off to Califas and we know Rich Villar is always marvelous.

Tues, August 8th, 6:30PM: Bryant Park through the Acadamy of American Poets with Thomas Sayers Ellis and Peter Covino!

Saturday, November 3rd , 7:30PM: Gist Street Reading Series with Richard Jackson, Pittsburg, PA

Ada's April 6th!

The Extraordinary Event of the Ordinary Day
--For Trish Harnetiaux

I’m whistling
something atonal
and if I was listening
to my whistling
I’d surely be alarmed,
but I’m not.

I’ve found a catalog
of great things
left undone,
and I will begin to look
for the moments
I have missed.

The disasters in hindsight,
the elephants
marching in the mind.
O how I live in those
giant footprints. How long
it has taken me to notice
their large pounding
in the in my too-tight chest.

Ada's April 5th!

Little Wishes

What would I give for this:
our real selves in warmth
after a cold outside ride,
tiny bodies upside down
in my shiny chandelier,
eyelashes to eyelashes—
as the morning pushes clear.

Ada's April 4th!

Gratefulness
-For Deb Stein

In my deep dream
last night, I could
finally talk to birds
(I say finally there
because apparently
I had been waiting
a long time), and one
was sitting in a little
hole and speaking so
beautifully. I can't remember
ever hearing something
so beautiful.I began to cry
and when it asked me
what was wrong, I said,
"It's just so nice to
speak with you."

Jen's for April 4: Happy Birthday Deb Stein!

The Present I Want For Your Birthday

"Roses are reddish. Violets are blueish.
If it wasn't for Jesus, we'd all be Jewish." —Deb Stein

Would you consider doning the hippy skirt
with jingle bells and fringy boots you wore
twenty years ago to this evening's soiree?
How about a woven yarn bracelet, or three?
Or filling the nearly-closed holes up your lobes
with yin-yang studs and cheap hoops? Yeah,
I didn't think so. You've probably a more tasteful
ensemble already set on the closet door.

It's your day to do as you choose (you seldom
overdo or underdo anymore, though—more just-
rightdo—little dishes of chips or pickles set out
with perfect timing, seltzer to wash it down—
if it weren't for your flurry about the burners,
I might've starved this winter) but please tonight
do the Toaster Dance, take a puffed-up stranger
down a notch with "Easy, sizzle tits" for me—

as your generosity's boundless as the dirty jokes
you know when and how to place just so—
like fuzzy, goofball flowers set beside
sleek reeds in a sublime ikebana bouquet.

Ada's April 3rd!

The Unusual Request on a Corner Close to Home

Love, try to remember that you and I are dying.
Watch the thick white blossoms fill in the concrete
cracks next to the dry cleaners where they are piling
like unearthly fabric. Maybe no one will see
and grind them into the soot beneath their feet
they soon will become. Maybe they will not smell
to the unobservant stranger, like the sweet
corn in the field and he will not be compelled.
But Love, remember, that even Adam finally fell.
Try to remember that we are dying. The good
story is not always as beautiful as we would
want it, but it is the only story that we can tell.
You may think I am cruel or unforgiving,
But Love, remember, tonight, we are living.

First day back at the office..

So forgive me, my poem will be coming this evening.

So far my mind is white with office walls.

Nice to be back though, in some weird corporate way.

Good people make it all worth while.

Ada's April 2nd!

The Brain Birds are Happy and In Love!

When the cool white moon is replaced
by the sudden sun in the lobby of the
mind, well folks, the birds in there
simply freak out.

You cannot stop them, don’t try,
from flying all over the pink curls of the brain,
making nests of catkins and horse hair and
painted French candies.

Down with sadly singing the last lines
of "Send in the Clowns" over and over!
Down with hiding in the dusty
mean corners of January!

Today, the birds (the ones in here)
are going to play dress-up in all their
favorite dress-up clothes and prepare
to sing a song, no, not a song, a real,
honest-to-goodness anthem.

Ada's April 1st!

The Widening Road

All winter the road has been paved in rain,
holding its form as if it made its own direction.

We have a lot of these days. Or not.

A woman in a car staring out, her hands going numb.
When did the world begin to push us so quickly?

A blue jay flies low over her into the madrones.
She can still see it, its bright movements rocking a branch
surely delighted that it matches the sky.

The honest clouds.

A trembling tenderness grows like a fluttering in her hand.

She wants to hold it in her arms, but not pin it down,
the way the tree holds the jay generously in its
willful branches. The spring wind is blowing
through her—pulling the dead debris free from her limbs.

She cannot decide what she desires, but today it is enough
that she desires and desires and desires. That she is a body

in the world, wanting, the wind itself becoming
her own wild whisper.

Lala and Taypee (buddies 4-eVr) do NaPoWriMo

April is Poetry Month so GET YOUR POEM ON!

Along with many poets:

Shanna Compton
Shafer Hall
and the wonderful Maureen Thorson (who I think came up with this idea)

Jennifer L. Knox and I will be posting a poem a day for the month of April.

Check here for both of ours.

I'm excited..and nervous....and kind of hungry.

I feel like Paul Simon

when he sang, "Yesterday it was my birthday, I hung one more year on the line. I should be depressed, my life's a mess, but I'm having a good time.

Things are good though and I'm not depressed. Had a great night out with the gang and today Ms. Knox took me out for girl spa day and I feel all new and fresh.

By the way my sister-in-law Emily Davis Limon put the recipe to the most bestest chocolate cake that she made for my bithday in the comments on the Santa Cruz entry, but I thought I should include it here as well (because everyone should make/eat/have this cake:

Emily said...
"Come for the Poetry, Stay for the Cake

For her birthday, I gave Ada 5 choices for a chocolate cake, and she chose:

Sour Cream Fudge Layer Cake with Chocolate Butter Icing

Could there BE a better choice? I think not. She saved the day by adding a half cup of sugar I had forgotten. Damn glasses.

Here is the recipie. Fun. Fudgey:

1 Cup nonalkalized (natural) cocoa powder

2 t. instant espresso or instant coffee

1 Cup boiling water

1/2 Cup sour cream

2 t. vanilla extract

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 Cups sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/4 Cups flour

3/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to center postion and heat oven to 350 degrees. Make sure both cake pans fit in your oven, or you're going to have to cook them separately, which is just a pain. Generously grease two 9 by 1 1/2 inch round cake pans with vegetable shortening and (ask Ada how to) cover pan bottoms with rounds of parchment paper or waxed paper. Grease parchment rounds, dust cake pans with flour, and tap out excess.

2. Mix cocoa and instant coffee in small bowl; add boiling water and mix until smooth. Mush the lumps on the side of the bowl so as to be sure that the chocolate is smooth. Cool to room temp. then stir in sour cream and vanilla. (The best part.)

3. Beat butter in a bowl of electric mixer(or with your immersion blender which you jimmy-rigged with a whisk. Be careful not to break the whisk. Get butter all over the underside of the cupboards, and have dear husband clean them later) set at medium high speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds. Gradually sprinkle in sugar; beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, 3-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating 1 full minute after each addition. Have sister-in-law hold bowl while you steer the immersion blender with two hands.

4. Whisk in flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. With mixer on lowest speed, add about one-third of dry ingredients to batter, followed immediately by one-third of cocoa mixture. After a couple of flour blizzards, cover bowl with towel while you do this with your immersion blender so you don't get flour all over the kitchen and yourself. Mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into batter. Repeat process twice more. When batter appears blended, stop mixer and scrape bowl sides with rubber spatula. Return mixer to low speed; beat until batter looks satiny, about 15 seconds longer.

5. Divide batter evenly between pans. With rubber spatula, spread batter to pan sides and smooth top. Bake cakes until they feel firm in center when lightly pressed and skewer comes out clean or with just a crumb or two adhering , 23-30 minutes. 23 minutes is KEY. Transfer pans to wire rack; cool for 10 minutes. Run knife around perimeter of each pan, invert cakes onto racks, have mother-in-law help as the cake sticks to your hands and almost breaks (but not quite!), peel off paper liners. You COULD "Reinvert cakes onto additional racks" but why?? Cool completely before frosting.

6. FOR THE ICING:

9 ounce bittersweet or semisweet chocolate

8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/3 cup light corn syrup

Melt chocolate and butter in a medium bowl set over pan of almost-simmering water. Stir in corn syrup. Set bowl of chocolate mixture over a larger bowl of ice water, stirring occasionally, until the icing is just thick enough to spread.

7. Assemble cake: Put GOBS of icing on the first layer. Almost run out of icing. Decide, with the help of the birthday girl and her mom, that the cake looks better with icing just smooshing out the sides of the cake, rather than icing the whole thing. Use the last bit of icing on the top.

8. Have poetry reading. Get friends high on poetry and wine and cheese and smoked salmon, and then bribe them to stay for more with chocolate cake. If it's Sunday, kick them out about 10, when their sugar headaches start to kick in.

Bon Appetit!"

Back in Brooklyn-Home

I'm out of the shower and finally feel human.

I've been home for 2 hours and I'm still a little jumbled up about leaving my family and the West Coast.

I'm sure the fact that I turn 30 in 45 minutes has nothing to do with it.

I had an amazing tour. I sold out of books. I met wonderful people and got to say
hello to some of my favorite places.

Now, the house is quiet. L is coming over with a late birthday beer and I've just peeled
an orange.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a slower time, or perhaps it's only a brief breath in the middle of
a whirlwind.

On the plane I watched Tom & Jerry and thought of my older brother. I love Tom & Jerry, but especially when they
decide to be friends and work together.

Is this what 30 year olds talk about?

Santa Cruz-Louden Nelson Community Center

So, we went to the boardwalk as soon as we got there.

I rode the Big Dipper with my sister-in-law and screamed until I almost had no voice left.

Then sushi and watching people surf. I could live in Santa Cruz.

The reading was lovely.

James Maughn--nicest guy and great turn out at the reading.

I loved the community center, but it's biggest draw back was that the entire right wall was covered with mirrors.

Note to future curators--no one, no one wants to read in a room full of mirrors.

We had a nice time, and my family said it was my best reading yet, which we think was directly related to the roller coaster.

Now I've got to incorporate roller coasters into every day before a reading.

Coney Island here I come.

Back to Brooklyn tomorrow.

I'm ready for my own bed and L and the girl gang.

But one last reading here in San Francisco at 5PM before I go.

(And a chocolate cake for my birthday).

Pegasus Books-Berkeley

Our family cat died the morning of the reading so my reading was dedicated to Missy, the barn cat, mouser extraordinair and the loudest talker this side of the Rockies.

Many people came, Julie flew up from LA! Kaya Oakes was fantastic and a lovely reader.

I had a blast. Clay Banes was fabulous and kind.

I had many drinks afterwards and I think I might have drank my book money.

Damn.

It's tough being on tour.

We're off to Santa Cruz for the reading there. VERY exciting. Cyrus and I want to ride the rides and eat corn dogs, but Mom may have other plans.

I'll be in my twenties for only 72 more hours. I think I need a roller coaster.

Readers' Books

The reading at Readers' Books was wild. Andy thinks there were at least 70 people there. I saw people I haven't seen since I was a child, or since I worked there when I was 15. It felt..overwhelming. All my books were in the window. Diana Craig, a dear friend of mine and my family designed a whole window in LaHaye Art Center around me and my book. It was totally embarrassing. I couldn't walk by it without shrinking, and when I shrink I become 3 feet tall.

It was all pretty awsome though. My friend Erin Purtell came, drove all the way from Yosemite just for the night. We're all turning 30.

That's fine. To my twenties I say, thank you and good night!

Sonoma

I finally made it home. Driving through the fields and watching the hillsides that flank our valley, it's like, "well, duh, of course I'm a writer. Geez!" It's too bad no one can afford to live here anymore. Carolyn Kizer still lives here. I'm gonna try and give her my book. But I don't want to seem like a stalker.

New houses everywhere, like a little bit of Southern California sneaking in. Scary.
Reading in my home town is crazy. I kind of feel like Anne of Green Gables returning to Prince Edward Island.

Is it bad that I'll be 30 in a matter of days and I still hold Anne of Green Gables as my model for living?

San Francisco Bound

On Friday I flew into Oakland from Seattle and watched Sonoma unfold in its rolling hills underneath the plane. L met me off the plane and we laughed a lot and met my family at my Cyrus and Emily's house. I'm a poet on tour. That's super funny.

Stanwood

So, alright, it's pretty amazing that Stanwood Washington could almost out-sell Brooklyn New York. I mean, who knew?

I think it was the salesman. Okay, and maybe the champagne. OR maybe it was the champage we gave the 15 year old salesman!

GUEST BLOG BY BRYCE LIMON

Ada Limon was absolutely fantabulous! (She's sitting right next to me, and she is also laughing like a hyenna!)but anyways, there was FOOD!!! and poetry on the side.

what else.... um, she did an excellent job for a really appreciative crowd, and I SOLD 20 DARN STINKING BOOKS! yeah! that's right! can I get a round of applause? ok, so anyways, I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now and my future endeavors.

BUT, back to Ada, she was great! a stellar job! thumbs up, and she is a BEACON IN THE FOG (tehehehe) so, anyways, i scored a chick.

SPOKANE!!

Okay, nobody told me about the tiny plane.

I thought I was going to die. But I think I didn't.

Bryan Harnetiaux and Sue Ann Harnetiaux took the best of care of me.

We had meatloaf! (is that one word?).

The reading had the entire Harnetiaux clan and 30 people came. It was my first question and answer period and I was nervous, but I think I managed to scare people away from ever writing poetry.

I stayed in Trish's room. Um, there was a unicorn with her riding it in a tiny painting on the wall. Trish if you're listening, STEAL the painting. It's awesome.

Okay, So MUCH has happened!

Richard Hugo house was amazing. My younger brother counted twenty people, but I do think he was including a couple people who passed by the door and didn't come in. BUT we had a great time, my father introduced me and let's see who came:

Thea Lester (the Ms.Red in my poems)
Bonnie Francis
Matt Calcaveccia
Julie Calcaveccia
Sarah Hersman
Chris Cavanagh
Jenny Hersman
Sam Anderson
Kipp Barker
And lots of other lovely people who were really supportive and we were all glad my Dad and Cynthia bought WINE!


I sold 12 books, well, Bryce Limon, my little brother sold 12 books.

He's standing right next to me right now and really, he's not so little.

Seattle

I finally made it to Seattle after some flight "issues." After my flight was cancelled Jen and I thought we'd have to move into the airport bar for a second. We were sad, but not TOO sad. But I made it here last night and am gearing up for tomorrow's reading. It's sunny, cold, and clear. The mountains look like wild waves coming up through the sky. I'm going to go hike in them right now. My younger brother says there's a spot on the creek that looks like gnomes should live there. "I'm game," I say, "Let's go find some gnomes."

AWP Re-Cap

Okay, so here's what happend, at first I didn't want to use this blog to name drop and list lots of things, but then I've come to the conclusion that that's what blogging is. So here you go!

List of things that happened:

-Matt Valentine was an excellent host at University of Texas. We got a free place to stay and he drove us around. AND we got a meal card too!
-Luke Michels showed up with his wife (dear friend I grew up with--hadn't seen him in 6 years and we laughed and drank and I think they might become very scared of poets).
-Met my publisher, Michael Simms and he's wonderful and looks like my dad
-Jen and I ate tacos
-Got the new issue of Painted Bride Quarterly which is gorgeous
(not just cuz I'm in it)
-We asked Shanna Compton for EVERYTHING. Including "Shanna where is my ass?"
-Marion Wren looked hot and wore a cowboy hat.
-Two people expressed interest in reviewing the book. Do it! Do it!
-We told UT students that they will never make any money as poets and I think they thought we were kidding.
-Jason Schneiderman gave an amazing reading that we were late for, but didn't miss entirely. His brother rocked our asses off.
-Dear friend Matty Rich showed up and brought the party and gave us all duct tape wallets.
-Friday and Saturday night, we hung out with Slaughter House Adam who brought a big bottle of wine and Jen said, "You'd look good in lipstick."
-Robin said that I'd be reading with Thomas Sayers Ellis in Bryant Park sometime this summer.
-Went to a great reading last night for LIT and loved every reader. And every Tecate.

Airport Day! Airport Day!

Everyone's excited for Airport Day! I'm off to Seattle for the next leg of the tour. Taypee is going back to Brooklyn and I'm gonna miss her. I don't think I would have survived AWP without her. Not that I really "survived" it. But, I do still have my shoes.

There's so much I still want to see in Austin and at the conference. I love my publisher by the way. He kind of looks like my dad if my dad was white. But he's very helpful and kind. He's telling everyone about LUCKY WRECK.

(See, I don't really have that dirty of a mouth today--but Jen IS scared of me right now). I'm pretty sure she just has the fear though. Last night was rough and tumble weed. Lots of great poets and lots of cheap beer.

Jen just said, "Only YOU know what's fun for YOU and only I know what's fun for I"

I think that means she wants a taco.

You Look Pretty with Lipstick On by Guest Taypee

Ada woke me up this morning. With a stick. It's her turn to dish out the pain. And she's doing so with a ladle (or laddle or ladel) the size of a flag pole. She has a dirty mouth today too. It's all "Eff that!" and "Eff you!"

I'm almost 38, and in the last two days I've eaten nothing but slurpees and tacos. I'm everything my parents hoped I'd be. Last night, our waitress' name was Carmen. I have a friend named Carmen. She is the best dancer I have ever seen. But I did not dance with that waitress. Much. Thanks to our official sponsor, Tecate, for making it all possible.

The Seven Dwarfs

Bloody,
Gnashy,
Sneezy,
Pokey,
Blooey,
Splooey,
and Juan
look real pretty
with lipstick on

Lies! Lies and more lies!

First off, Jen tripped over the lady in the wheelchair. Second of all, Jen went to Jack in the Box and when the creepy guys said, HI!, she said HI! right back like she'd known them for a very long time.

We're getting read for our workshop at the University of Texas today and have planned lots of things to say. We've already decided to lie to them and tell them it's all going to be okay (we will mention nothing about the guy from the NEA)...(that all rhymed accidentally).

We've also decided to make our own survey in which poetry is the world's number one form of recreational activity. So there.

Don't Let Bloody Men Ruin Your Day--by Taypee

What Ada's not telling you could fill a cattle car. First of all, not five minutes goes by that she doesn't say, "I'm so glad you're on medication." The book fair is complete carnage, like Night of the Living Dead meets the DMV. Ada tripped over a woman in a wheel chair trying to grab some free key chains and Hershey's kisses off the Three Lesbian's Press table. I, on the mother hand, have become completely taco-centric. We're eating some right now. On the way back from the Jack in the Box, two scrungy men covered with tattoos, dirt and blood said HI! real loud and made us both about wet our pants. They looked like somethings out of a Rob Zombie movie. But we're not going to let it ruin our day. The first noise out of Ada's mouth this morning was, "The tiny Sprites are fantastic," while the first noise out of mine was a rattling pill bottle. I miss my parrot. There, I said it.

12th Street Books is right next to 12th Street Massage Parlor

And at first we were a little confused. We thought Matt was trying to take us to the massage parlor. But then we found it and a little while after that, everyone else found it. Then we had some wine, and cheese and some more wine and had a great time. The bookstore is awesome and a friend bought a book called "Beds" by Groucho Marx that I had never seen and now need to search for my own copy. We partied later at the Unassociated Garden Party. Ah, that was fun. I miss it already.

No armlickers at all!

Well, we had a real nice time at AWP! Jen and I went to a panel on who reads poetry (no one), and it was fun (and sad). But when the lady with the pie charts got of the stage, we missed the pie charts and the lady who often said, "some of the pie charts were surprising." THEN the guy from the NEA said NO ONE was reading anything at all anymore and we decided we had to go and eat some tacos.

A guest blog by Taypee

The Commanches o'ertook the wagon at dawn, at the scenic overlook mile marker 23, next to the Shoneys. Daddy took one in the shoulder and mama took one for the team. Daddy Jr. took one for free and I took the A train. They kept me alive so that I could testify to the awesome power of their weapons, their horses and their margaritas. They whooped my ass and came back for seconds. They said, "Owning two yorkies is like having squirrels in your house all the time. So shut up." It was hot. I love it when Indians tell me what to do. --Jennie K., Grade 4

Uh oh BBQ

Matt Valentine just took Jen and I out to BBQ at a place called "The County Line". Wow. I'm never eating again.
I had a rib that was bigger than my own.

Everyone is talking about AWP. Parties, parties...and the women come and go.

Here we go! I need to go to bed now. The whole thing makes me dizzy.

Airport Day! Airport Day!

Everybody's excited on AIRPORT DAY!

Nuns in the airport..

always remind me of A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Absolutely no poetry in the airport Hudson News store.

The Trip & Tour for LUCKY WRECK

Sat, February 11th, 3PM: Ear Inn with Mark Weissman & Emari DiGiorgio, New York

Sun, February 26th, 2PM: The Four-Faced Liar, with Owen Sheers

Thurs, March 2nd, 7PM: NYU Alumni Reading at Jurrow Hall with Kazim Ali, Jacob Appel, Tyehimba Jess, Jennifer Knox, & Lidia Torres, New York, NY

Fri, March 3rd, 7PM: Book Launch Party, Bar Matchless, Brooklyn, NY

Thurs, March 9th, 7PM: Reading at 12th Street Books with Jennifer L. Knox, Austin, TX

Friday, March 10th, 12:30PM: Workshop at University of Texas

Fri, March 10th, 2PM: AWP, Book table with Autumn House

Mon, March 13th, 7:30PM: Richard Hugo House, Seattle, WA

Wed, March 15th, 7:30PM: Auntie’s Books, Spokane, WA

Thurs, March 16th, 5:30PM, Reading at 7PM: Limón’s House Party & Reading

Sat, March 18th, 7PM: Readers' Books, West Coast Launch, Sonoma, CA

Fri, March 24th, 7:30PM: Pegasus Books with Kaya Oakes, Berkeley, CA

Sat, March 25th, 7:30PM: Santa Cruz, Community Center, CA

Sat, April 8th, 2PM: The Four-Faced Liar with Daniel Nester, Andrew Roberts, New York, NY

Mon, May 8th, 7:30PM: Readings Between A & B at 11th St. Bar with Nicole Cooley, New York

Sun, May 14th, 7:00PM: Zinc Bar with Jennifer L. Knox, New York

Saturday, November 3rd , 7:30PM: Gist Street Reading Series with Richard Jackson, Pittsburg, PA

Beginning of lucky wreck book tour

So, I'm off tomorrow. I'm all packed. I've got some books and some heels and full intention of making a fool out of myself every chance I get. Gulp. I hope it all goes well. Super T just told me I should start this at least for the tour so people could find out how I was doing. So blame her. I do. For everything.