Things and Things and Things

The gorgeous and vivacious Aaron Smith has been sighted! Actually he's been sighted a few times--he's settling in and is sharp and funny and makes me laugh like I'm twelve. Really it's duh-lic-ious having him so close at hand again.

~*~

It'll be less than a week until I get to see Brian. We managed to somehow synch up our schedules so I can see him before I leave for LA and the LLF Retreat. The fact that we're able to see one another twice this summer is more than I'd hoped for.

~*~

I'm working on poems like crazy, culling through stuff written earlier this year, trashing most of it. I'm fine with that. It was necessary. I had to write that stuff out to get onto this stuff. And really, I couldn't be more tickled with what's happening.

And It's Time, Time Time...

I realized last night that I have now acquired over 100 hours of overtime since the beginning of this year. I have worked an extra two-and-a-half weeks.

Portents

Over the last two weeks I've seen about 8 or 9 people in public sitting with their heads literally in their hands. The youngest was about 6; the oldest, at least 60. I've felt intrusive, prurient seeing them, but I can't help staring. I thought the "head in the hands" posture was something straight out of bad fiction. Were I a different sort of person, I'd try to find meaning in this. Instead I'm looking for a poem.

Purdy

This is one of the new daylilies I got this year, "Wild Horses". It's vexed me the last few days because it bloomed over the weekend and then stayed shut up tight.

Finally.

Bravo has finally put up info about this season's Project Runway people. It's about damned time, considering the new season starts tomorrow night.

Just by looking--my favorite so far is Suede. I had that hair. But I went with more of a Tiffany gift box blue. Suede looks like the leader of the Lollipop Guild gone bad.

Steps, Baby & Otherwise

Last night I had the best sleep I've had in weeks. So deep I dreamed. I think almost every one I know and love made a cameo appearance: Brian, of course, Eric and Tommy and Shlee, Irene, Aaron, my mom--there were others, but I didn't write it down when I woke. I don't remember much beyond glimpsed faces, everyone smiling, there was a lot of shining, well-polished honey stained wood.

~*~

I am determined to get organized. I've bought a bunch of cabinets and bookshelves. I'm shopping for a new desk/hutch combo. I'm tired of stacks. I want an orderly, grown-up kind of space right now.

~*~

All the gladiolus I set out last year are blooming. They're rich: salmons, coral, claret red. They always remind me of my grandfather. They were his favorite flowers.

~*~

I am about to take a very big step.

Abundance

The daylilies are outdoing themselves. Surprising because I didn't feed them as heavily this year, but they are full, the blooms on some are so heavy they're warping the stems.

I've had an enormous blue hosta in the corner of the shade bed for years--six or seven, at least--and this is the first summer it's bloomed. It's nothing that spectacular but I'm hoping to get some seed and start some new ones.

~*~

The last couple of weeks I've gotten together with a couple of other people and we've workshopped, ate dinner, had some drinks and just enjoyed one another's company. It's been lovely--and I've gotten some serious work done on revising and rethinking some of the poems I wrote earlier this year. It's also been good prep work for Los Angeles. It's been about nine or ten years since I was in a formal workshop and I've been a little worried about having lost the ability to talk about a poem in an intelligent helpful way. I still feel like I need to brush up on terminology but I feel more confident I can talk about a poem in an analytical way.

~*~

The neighbors had a cow escape last week. A bull actually. Summer is here.

Too Much Nature

Driving to work Friday I hit a crow with my car. I always wonder when I see them in the road picking at carrion if they'll fly away in time. They usually do. It was really kind of ghastly.

Last night driving home I almost hit a deer.

I am almost afraid to leave the house today.

Will F*ck 4 Fuel

One of the reasons I love Brian so madly is that he finds these little things and shares them with me.

From the Smoking Gun:

A Kentucky woman is facing prostitution charges for allegedly trading sex for gasoline. Angela Eversole, 34, was nabbed last weekend during a police stakeout at a Days Inn...Nowak admitted paying for Eversole's services, in part, with a $100 Speedway gas card. Eversole was hit with a prostitution rap and also charged with doing business without an occupational license.

For a slightly different take, go here.

Time Machine/Amphetamines

I need one or the other.

If I owe you an email: I'll write you by the weekend.

Keith: Rosser doesn't primarily write sonnets--but she does do some. She works in a number of forms. I'm only part way into Foiled Again so I've not made any strong determination yet. But her second book, Misery Prefigured is definitely worth reading. I'll look and see if I have any existing sonnets that aren't obscene that I can post.