It’s been a while since I’ve shared the state of my writing life online. Teaching freshman composition takes up a good chunk of my energy–  I spend a lot of time writing responses to their writing on our class blog. Alright, I admit I also waste time on facebook.

Reading

In my two classes (a workshop and a seminar) we’ve been reading William Carlos Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, John Berryman, Frank O’Hara, Gwendolyn Brooks, and now Frank Stanford. We still have to get to James Wright, Sylvia Plath, Everett Maddox, and Andrew Hudgins.

Writing

This fall  Ouroboros Review, the magazine Jo Hemmant and I started, published three of my poems in issue five: “Last Lollipop,” “Between Loads of Laundry,” and “Pain Drives by the Delivery Room at Wayside Hospital,” found on pages 12-13. I wrote these poems in 2009, two of them during a workshop I was in at GSU.

Many thanks to Jo, Carolee Sherwood, and Jill Crammond-Wickham for putting together another great magazine. Sara Hughes, fellow GSU poet has work in this issue.  Her lovely poem, “The Secret of Life,” appears on page two.

There’s an interview with poets January Gill O’Neil and Kelli Russell Agodon, in which they discuss the writing life and how to balance creativity with adult responsibilities. Not easy!  Their poems after the interview will knock your socks off.

The word on the street is that Ouroboros Review will be changing editorial directorship before the next issue comes out. It’s a gorgeous magazine, one of the few truly international reviews that publishes both online and in print. Ouroboros is available for purchase at Magcloud.

Jo Hemmant has done a wonderful job maintaining the unique tone and style of the art and poetry that appears in each issue. I love discovering poets and artists living in South Africa, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, England, Canada, as well as the U.S. Whoever takes over the job will be inheriting a fine showcase of world writers.

In 2010 Jo Hemmant’s  independent press, Pindrop, is launching A Suitable Girl by poet Michelle McGrane.