Friday, April 20, 2007

Redemption Song

Listening to Ziggy Marley and the Chieftains - Redemption Song

Why not.



Joy in it All

ravens
flop about the backyard pine
chatter endlessly
gossip
love
anger

joy






*

sags and wrinkles
this is what we grow into



the car and i both go in for a check up today.


Thursday, April 12, 2007

been awhile

Didn't realise it had been this long since I posted. Since the last post Zach and I drove down to the AWP conference in Atlanta. Kristyn was there. It was overwhelming. Over 5000 attended. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in a tiny room with a pricey cost. Ate at Ted Montana's Grill. Good food, reasonable price and close to our hotel. Met a lot of folks that I have known of for years and some others that I have met before. It was nice to run into Michael Dennis Brown and his wife. Kristyn and I had taken a workshop with him at Split Rock. Talked briefly to Kristyn's professors. Candice Black and Richard Robbins. Good people. Good writers. I have books by both of them. Talked very quickly to Amy King after the excellent panel discussion on internet magazines. Stepped out for a moment to listen to Ander Monson read from his book of essays - Neck Deep - that won the Greywolf Press prize for non-fiction. Wandering the bookstore was overwhelming and Zach and I came home with a ton of magazines and books. Talked to quite a few folks there. One of the highlights of the trip was meeting with Tammy Trendle. I know Tammy through the internet poetry sites. She is a wonderful poet. Kristyn, Zach and I went out for lunch on Saturday before we left. Fat Matt's, a blues and barbeque place. Good food. Good conversation. Everyone felt at ease with Tammy. She was kind enough to give me a copy of Rose of Sharon Press's chapbook of her and Pris Campbell's poems. A fine book it is.

After Atlanta Zach and I returned briefly to Big Rapids and then I took him up to Houghton for his surgery. Actually two as he had a mole removed the next week. Leona joined us for Easter and that was wonderful. Except. Except winter decided to return. From Tuesday through Saturday we had nearly 4 feet of snow. Phoenix, 15 miles to the north, recorded 52 inches. Of course the roads were kept pretty clear and one could drive if one had too. We went into the Vertin Studio several days. Unfortunately I wasn't able to drive down for the open mic poetry reading on Friday at the Daily Grind in Hancock. Michael Moore from Michigan Tech had arranged this and I had spoken to him the week before. At a fish dinner the week before at FU (Finlandia University) I shared a table with some folks I didn't know. Or I didn't know I knew. When I introduced myself the husband said. "Tom Blessing, the part-time poet?" Turned out it was Stephen Smith and his wife. We had both been published several years ago in Maxis, a magazine from Marygrove college, and I had called him once at Hancock High School where he worked. Nice conversation. He was able to go and read at the open mic. Maybe next time.

For now I am in Big Rapids until the weekend. Then I will drive back up to Calumet. Dentist appointment for a root canal in Marquette on Tuesday and doctor appointment on Thursday. Afterward I will return to BR for several days before I go back up and help Zach move out of his apartment.

Leona doesn't have school today. Snow and ice have made the roads bad and they don't do a good job of cleaning them down here. So will work on taxes and mailing out copies of Going to Georgia.