"Keep your sunny side up, up!" ("Hide the side that gets blue"). I write this to myself as well as to you. No whining. I’ve been watching Foyle’s War on Netflix and really enjoying it. It very rarely hits the wrong note; I’ve watched two seasons and only had some quibbles with the series. It’s been making me think of the sacrifices made at that time (1940s), wondering whether modern society could soldier on so. Here’s news I know. First off, big congrats to Ellen Bass … [Read more...]
Ambivalence, being judge-y, and links
Yesterday on the local talk show from Chicago, Windy City Live, I heard it’s almost been the coldest average February in Chicago since the late 1800s or something—we’re only missing it by a degree or two. It’s a record I don’t care if we break. Ambivalence – it’s a quality I am trying to develop, especially as it applies to wanting something too much. Well, at least that’s what I think this morning. That’s because last night I read Amy Poehler’s book Yes Please and in the … [Read more...]
News of contributors: Poniewaz, Somlo, Hilbert, Miller, Levine, Subprimal and Nelson Algren contest
I was sorry to read at various sources that Jeff Poniewaz recently passed away. He was currently serving as Milwaukee’s Poet Laureate. Known as an eco-poet Jeff taught Literature of Ecological Vision via the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 1989. His book Dolphin Leaping in the Milky Way was awarded the Discovery Award from PEN in 1987. Submission letters and his bio always came with this note: “His last name is pronounced POE-nYEAH-vAHsh and is Polish for … [Read more...]
Contributor updates, singing the blues, and a call for submissions
November’s chill is upon us in Chicago. How about you? Does if feel like winter? Congratulations to Patty Somlo! She will have a new book of stories out in the coming year. Hairway to Heaven will be published by Cherry Castle Publishing in 2015. Michael Constantine McConnell’s poem “A Faun’s Lament” appears in a new anthology, The Best of Electric Velocipede. Donna Hilbert’s poem “The Sun Straight Up" was posted November 10 on the Cadence Collective site. I … [Read more...]
Literary wanderings
Here’s where my literary curiosity has taken me lately. First, I’ve been reading some of the Lord Peter Whimsey books Dorothy L. Sayers. They’re like delicious candy but then amongst the sweet something sour and bitter surfaces, and that is the racial and religious epithets used in those days (1920s and 1930s). In one way I think it’s great we don’t use those words any more, but then I remember the Redskins. The new U.S. Poet Laureate, Charles Wright did an interview … [Read more...]