The Space of the Gods

Today is the last day of Four Way Books' open reading season, so if you have a book manuscript, take the chance and submit it. FWB is an incredible press to work with, and the open reading is completely separate from the Levis Prize or Intro Prize (different readers, in the case of the open reading, the folks at the Press!). You can even submit your ms. electronically. Check out the guidelines here.


****************************


I cannot even begin to explain the relief I feel being off-call after this past week.


****************************


Jacob and I are crossing the Golden Gate Bridge tonight to meet some friends for dinner at a newish restaurant in Larkspur. Usually, we only cross that bridge to head up to Sonoma or Napa to buy wine.


****************************


Jacob's new composition for Harp, a first for him, will be played by a soloist soon. He is worried the harpist will scoff at it and profess it is too difficult to play. I wonder what poetry would be like if we had to think about others "performing" our work. Such an odd thing to think about. Anyway, I hope the harpist loves the piece and wants to play it.


****************************


Summer has definitely arrived. Fog outside and the summer chill of San Francisco in the air. Violin weather. Notes stretched on a violin. The mood, atmosphere, is that. Not the happy fiddle, but the sad violin.


****************************


I received one of the most beautiful notes from a writer I somewhat know. I had no idea he read poetry at all. He had gotten hold of my new book and read it cover to cover. Ah, the mind of the novelist. He traced out every underlying "story" in the book. It was a little scary actually. But the note made me happy because for some reason I never think of novelists reading poems, though I know they must have at some time in their lives. Thick stock paper, the most heavenly deep sapphire blue ink laid down by a fountain pen (has to be a fountain pen considering the ink and the variation in thickness of lines dependent on upstroke, downstroke, and glide). I think the note would have made me happy even if it had been something about how to roast a chicken, the note was so beautiful.


***************************


I am ready to be immersed for 10 days in Literature, ready to be surrounded by the conversations, the students, the other faculty. I am ready to spend time outside of clinic, outside of medicine, business, editing, everything. I have been so tired recently. I cannot remember a time I felt so worn down. We all have times when we wonder if we really are writers. This has been one of those times for me, not by mental predilection but by circumstance. Not too long ago, I made a pact with myself to start saying No, but I have continued to say Yes. It has reached a point where I am not even sure I have any control over my life. But I think it has reached a point where I have to start taking this seriously. I have not written a single poem this year. And it isn't like I write a lot in a year usually. But here comes the kicker. I am not that concerned with the volume I have or have not written. I crave that space, that moment when one becomes lost in the poem. I need that moment really badly right now, that moment when the world falls away, when the mind races, when the difficulties become a challenge, and the words become tiny instruments. The moment when the lines are coming and the revisionist ideas are already floating in the background itching to change something. It isn't the sitting at the desk or the physical act I am craving, but that space where everything is possible and the world is both empty of everything and filled with everything. This space, this feeling, exists outside of the actual thing produced. I have been in this space as a painter and as a photographer. Jacob has been in this space. I can tell when he is there. And right now, I envy anyone entering that space. I have no idea how many people in the world ever find themselves in that space, but it is addictive, energizing, incredible. The space of the creator. The space of the gods. All very dramatic sounding, but it is a godly space, one that is more potent than any drug on this planet. This is now the longest amount of time I have been away from that space. The withdrawal is becoming difficult.


***************************


Clue: Fired!


***************************

It Has Arrived!

****************************


I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO want one!


****************************

Ready to Wrestle

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia and Poetry Foundation President John Barr today announced a joint $100 million effort...


***************************


I cannot express how happy I am today is Friday and how happy I am to be off-call. I got seriously spanked this week. Seriously. I am actually now looking forward to Warren Wilson and ten days of being immersed in Literature. WWC is a ton of work, but I need the change of pace right now, need a different kind of work. If I weren't so exhausted, and if I didn't have so much to get done this weekend, I would so totally have gone to Vegas.


***************************


Tomorrow, a lunch date with Frank O'Hara. We talked a little while back, but now I need to more than talk. I mean, I am teaching him soon, so we need to have a drink together, tell each other jokes, wrestle one another...


***************************


I keep returning to the current issue of MiPO, the one edited by David Trinidad. Mostly, I keep returning to this particular poem. Damn Charles Jensen! That is a haunting poem, and I am jealous I didn't get to publish it in NER.


***************************


Clue: Gratuitous use of Lengua...


***************************

Buried Pun

I tried to post yesterday no less than 4 times, but I just never had enough time. Usually I am so organized that posting here is not a big deal. But yesterday I seemed to step out of bed and into a full sprint, and I was sprinting all day. I actually came home feeling brain dead, and by then didn't feel like posting. Sorry.


***************************


I just found out that my poem, "Maelstrom," has been selected for inclusion in Scribners Best American Erotic Poems 1800 to the present. I have to say, I was kind of shocked, but I am deeply flattered. Sounds like the anthology is due out in 2008. One of the stranger things about this is that the poem is the only pantoum I have to my name. I started it in February 2002. It was not originally a pantoum at all. After the first draft, I kept coming back to it and tinkering. Eventually, I noticed I repeated a line, so I started repeating other lines. The poem kind of sucked then, to be honest. But once I saw the repeating lines as a unit, I remembered the pantoum form. Once I realized how the subject matter and the way in which the "story" should unfold, the poem evolved very quickly into a pantoum. I haven't tried to write a pantoum since. I can't imagine writing one now at all. It is a form that tolerates little and helps even less. Forms like the pantoum and the vilanelle really remind me how flexible something like the sonnet really is.


***************************


Eyes of the Poet. Nuff sd.


***************************


Quick Muse continues to fascinate.


***************************


Clue: Eleanor Rigby


***************************

The Bees

In case you had forgotten, here is a quote from an article last summer:

"Between 20,000 to 30,000 bees comprise the typical hive. Although the average lifespan of a bee is brief—only six weeks—the queen populates the hive prodigiously, keeping pace with the high mortality rate. A healthy queen bee will produce as many as 1,000 eggs a day.

Between 20,000 to 30,000 students have earned graduate degrees in creative writing during the past ten years. This spring, another 2,000 to 3,000 graduates will join their ranks. Each year, about 900 new books of poetry are published in North America. Each year, across all genres, as many as 200,000 new books are published in North America. Although many writers stop writing and publishing, others soon take their place."

--D.W. Fenza, "The Words & the Bees: Advice for Graduating MFA Students in Writing," AWP Chronicle, May/Summer 2006.


*****************************


It has been a crazy day in clinic so far. There must be something in the air.


*****************************


This morning, while driving to work, I suddenly had this feeling of knowing how I will die. I have had this "feeling" before. For some reason, I know it will happen on the road. I die in a car. When this happens, I don't know. But I seem to know this. Part of me wants to avoid it, but the other part of me knows I cannot avoid being in cars. I drive to and from work. And in the premonition, I cannot even be certain I am driving. I just know I am in a car. The blood runs from my mouth. I don't even know if there has been an accident. I just know I am in a car. The windshield blurs as if it is dirty. The blood from my mouth. The fading into darkness. I am wearing my seatbelt.


*****************************


The World Clock is one of the wildest things I have ever seen, and it is addicting in a really weird way. See the world's statistics in real time. (Got this from Christopher)


*****************************


Clue: iPhone


*****************************

The Variant

In Dance Dance Revolution, Cathy Park Hong has created a future resort called the Desert, whose hotels are modeled on famous cities and whose people speak Desert Creole, a weird mish-mash of languages very hard on the ear. The place sounds like Las Vegas.

(William Logan reviews Ashbery, Hughes, Hong, Seidel, Lowell, Cole in The New Criterion)


***************************


"Anyone who's stuck around for a question-and-answer session following a reading has heard this one: "Who do you read?" Or the variant: "Whose work has influenced you?"

Yawn.

"The McSweeney's Book of Poets Picking Poets," however, has revived that tired question, turning it into something akin to a bunch of writers picking sides for dodge ball. "


Actually, the McSweeney's Book still seems like "Yawn" to me.


***************************


Busy day today. Busy week ahead of me. My partner is on vacation, so I am alone in clinic. It will be fine, but I know I will be busy.


***************************


Clue: Conflicted


***************************

Victor #18

Jacob has reached his decision. The winner of Caption Contest #18 is RJ Gibson for:




"Okay, one more time. It goes: grapevine, grapevine, step ball change, pony, pony, jazz hands."



RJ should contact me by email because, besides bragging rights, there is a $25 gift certificate to Amazon attached to this installment of the contest! (My email can be found on my website: http://www.cdaleyoung.com)


***************************


The runner-up this time is none other than the winner of the last caption contest, John Gallaher, for:

"Well, OK, but do I have to stand like that as well?"


***************************


As always, Jacob and I thank everyone who entered. It sure is shaping up to be a very interesting group of entrants for the End of the Year Caption Contest Smackdown.


***************************

Have You?

Have you voted yet in the Final Round of DPP (aka Poetry Idol)? I have. It was difficult, but not as difficult as I would have imagined. And no, I did not vote for myself. That would be tacky. I am so very curious to see which poem wins out. I have my suspicions, but I am dying to see if I am right.


***************************

Sunshine and Serendipity

Tom Sleigh recalls what used to be the ordinary reader. (registration required)


***************************


Off to the hospital in a little bit. Yup, still on-call, and still need to go in to treat the same patient I treated yesterday.


***************************


Ron Silliman makes the news.


***************************


Jacob plans to announce his decision regarding the winner of the Caption Contest later today, so if you haven't entered, you still have a little time left.


***************************


If you have a book manuscript, you should really think about submitting it to Four Way Books during their open reading season, which ends at the end of this month. FWB is an incredible press to work with, and the open reading is completely separate from the Levis Prize or Intro Prize (different readers, in the case of the open reading, the folks at the Press!). You can even submit your ms. electronically. Check out the guidelines here.


***************************


Clue: Franklin


***************************

Pink Cadillac

Well, you know it is Pride weekend when driving to work you stop at a light behind a Pink Cadillac, sunroof down even at 6-something in the morning, and in it is a drag queen (driving the car), all the more flawless because she doesn't look perfect. Alongside her, a leather bear, and in the back seat a blonde twinkie and man dressed to the nines so suave he looks as if he just stepped out of a photo shoot. The one drawback to this car? They are blasting Mariah Carey! Total Gag!! From the looks of them, I would say they were coming home from a party. I guess Pride starts early in San Francisco.


*****************************



And speaking of drag, Ru-Paul was on the morning show this morning. I listened while driving to work. That gurl was pimping some new movie, but she sidetracked on to a whole discussion of the death of drag and flamboyance. She talked about how the culture is so conservative now that even glamour is controlled, not just in drag but in everything. It is as if the country is not allowed to have any energy when it comes to beauty and the ideals of beauty. Ru-Paul got pretty political, but it was a beautiful thing. No pun intended.


*****************************


Have you entered the Caption Contest below? Well, you should. What are you waiting for? This photo is just begging for a caption.


*****************************


Nazik al-Malaika has passed on.


*****************************


Well, it has come down to the finale of this year's Poetry Idol. So, if you haven't voted, head on over and vote. Some good poems in the final bunch. I am quite flattered to have even made it to the finale.


*****************************


Clue: Rainbow


*****************************

Caption Contest #18

Yup, you guessed it. It is definitely that time again. For some, you have been waiting patiently. For others, you hoped it would never happen again. But alas, it is time for the caption contest once more. For those who are new here, the winner gets bragging rights and may or may not win a surprise monetary prize (already decided by us here at The Muse before posting this). Captions should be left in the comment section below, and the winner will be selected by our resident judge, Jacob. Jacob's decisions are final.

Winners of the Caption Contest this year so far are:

#12 : Justin Evans

#13 : Anne Haines

#14 : ADT

#15: Joseph Massey

#16 : Eddie Dixon

#17 : John Gallaher


Will YOUR name be added to this list? Or will one of these caption gods and goddesses simply shut you out? Will one of our previous champs (ie. Aaron Smith or Shanna Compton) return to show you how it is done? Give us your captions, and tune in to see what happens.


****************************





****************************


Let the Games begin...


****************************

Very Odd

Richard Siken's blog has moved. Please update your blogrolls. Apparently, someone hijacked his blog!

7even

We are often told we live in ONE big world, but it rarely feels like that. But I love the fact that this campaign for the World is going on. I am not sure why, but I love the reports of schoolchildren all over the world voting in this election. I love the fact governments have set up internet stations in places temporarily just so people can see "the world." I cast my vote. Have you? Have you seen or heard about this campaign for The New 7 Wonders of the World? The New 7 will be announced on 07-07-07 in Lisbon, Portugal.


****************************


And speaking of feel-good sites where we can make a difference, you have to check out Kiva. I found it via Peter via Kelli. It is an incredible site. You can loan someone anything from a few dollars to hundreds. And the best thing is that greater than 95% of the monies loaned are paid back in a reasonable amount of time. How cool is that!


****************************


Guantanamo poetry. So many mixed feelings wrapped up in this. It is hard to ignore what Guantanamo is and what has been done there.


****************************


Errands, errands, and more errands to run today. Also finishing up my NER stuff and getting a chunk of stuff done in order to teach in a few weeks. The story hasn't been back the last few nights. But I still remember the pages already "recited." So odd.


****************************


Again, last night, a variation of a dream I have had now several times in the past six months. This time, I am on a stage, but I am not giving a reading. I am somehow there for some kind of ceremony. And then there is this rumble and then coins, hundreds and hundreds of gold coins begin spinning through the air. They are like bees or, better yet, like a storm of coins. They are whipping through the air above the audience, whizzing by my head as I am standing on the stage. And then, I approach the microphone to say something. I walk up to the mike casually, as if the coins weren't flying, and as I begin to speak, a coin comes flying out of my mouth. Then another. I start to feel sick and fall to my knees. I start to retch but all that comes out are streams and streams of gold coins. I slumped down into a pool of coins and woke up.


****************************


I didn't even eat anything weird for dinner last night!


****************************


Clue: Vote for Pedro


****************************

Poll Results

Okay, okay, okay. I will admit it. The readers of this blog know me better than I think they do (or at least can guess well based on what I have written here!). Yes, I played basketball in High School. I was a point guard. And yes, I despise most vegetables. Sorry, a lifelong thing dating back to my earliest days. My parents tried and tried, but even now, I hate most of them. And yes, I was a disc jockey. I did it for a few years while I was in college. I was even, at one point, on the Music Programming Panel that decided which music received airtime. And yes, to earn extra money for drinking and other ridiculous things, I did in fact strip/dance at bachelorette parties. I only did it a few times, but it paid really well! The tips were amazing. So yes, they are all true. None of them were false.

Anything but Typical

Oh my! Well, this is definitely not the typical story in The Guardian regarding a Nobel Laureate...


*****************************


Beyond Politics? Um, okay...


*****************************


I am quite interested in the results of the "How Well Do You Know C. Dale?" poll below. Very interested, indeed. More on this later.


*****************************


It is almost that time. Some of you may need to start your mental exercises, while some of you are already poised and ready to strike. Yup, the Caption Contest is dangerously close to its next round.


*****************************


Tomorrow, I hope to wrap up the last bunch of submissions I have for NER. I have some submissions I needed to read and re-read before making decisions, and a few passed on by my readers, and a few last minute ones that came in just around May 31st. But I want to clear off my desk entirely, especially before I start teaching. I know one or two will trickle in over the next few weeks for one reason or another, but I want my desk clear.


*****************************


Clue: Oro


*****************************

Poll

How Well Do You Know C. Dale?

Which of the following is false?

I played basketball in high school
I hate vegetables
I have worked as a disc jockey
I have stripped/danced for a bachelorette party
All of the above are false
None of the above are false

View Results

Create your own myspace poll

Reminder

In June, July, and August 2007, POETRY will only consider work from poets who have not previously appeared in the magazine. We encourage writers new to these pages to send work...


****************************


Hey, it isn't every day that a magazine specifically invites folks who have never published with them to submit. And I can tell you they are serious because they even sent out a letter to former contributors reminding them they could not submit work during these months because of their special call for submissions. So, they are very serious about this.


****************************

The Oddities of Attraction

I really would LOVE to know how Swiggler polls people for these lists they do. I mean, the results are always so odd to me! Last year, they took on the guys. and this year, they seem to be taking on the ladies. Not that long ago, they did the list of celebs Lesbians want to bed. And as could be expected, they now have the list of female celebs straight women would be willing to bed.


TOP 10 Celebrities Straight Women Would Be Willing to Bed


1. Elle McPherson
2. Heidi Klum
3. Catherine Zeta-Jones
4. Elizabeth Hurley
5. Halle Berry
6. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos
7. Faith Hill
8. Tony Braxton
9. Vanessa Williams
10. Salma Hyek

(from Swiggler)




****************************


I find it VERY interesting that there is absolutely no overlap with the List of Women Lesbians want to bed. Very interesting, indeed. To be honest, this list makes it seem like straight women are attracted to the same women straight men are...


****************************


And is anyone surprised that Jennifer Aniston isn't on this list?


****************************


I might regret it, but I think I am going to go see FF4-2. I mean it cannot possibly be worse than the first one.


****************************


Clue: Surfing


****************************

Hysterical!

This is too wrong for words...


********************************


Oh, and for those who care: No, I have never been to a Billy Collins reading. I don't go to many readings. I am not a huge fan of poetry readings. I prefer to read poems from a book. Surprise. Do I go to readings? Yes, sometimes. Do I give readings? Yes, sometimes. Whatever.


********************************


Spent an hour today listening to Miles. Like heaven.


********************************


When I say "Dead to Me!", I am serious as all get out. If someone is dead to me, I erase them from my life. Call that my inheritance of being a gay man. Life is too short to suffer annoying people, judgmental people. Once the line has been crossed, I freeze and begin my erasures. Once I am done erasing, that is that. I wish I were a different kind of man, one willing to work it out, one willing to be understanding. but I am not that man.


********************************


Don't you just love cryptic sh*t like that?


********************************


Clue: Sibilance


********************************

Hasbro and Mattel

Chris Wiman recounts, publicly, his love and difficulties. A beautiful essay.


****************************


I again, last night, found myself "reciting" this story I mentioned a few days ago. So odd. The mind entertaining the mind.


****************************


Busy charting the scaffolding behind O'Hara's poems in Lunch Poems. Thinking a lot about circumstance and opportunity, patterns and inevitability.


****************************


Once, when I was about 14, I painted a pool scene with green pots of pink ferns floating in the water. A teacher of mine asked me why the ferns were pink, did they correspond to a real fern. I told him no, they didn't. He asked me why everything else was taken from the real but the ferns were taken from the imagination. I was purposefully precocious by answering: "Because everything is imagination." At the time, I thought I was being funny. But I am starting to think this is the most true thing I have ever uttered.


****************************


Wouldn't you know that all week it has been sunny and clear and then, yesterday at 5pm, it became foggy, overcast and cold. Kills me.


****************************


Clue: Job


****************************

Losing My Religion

I am no longer on call! Yay! Let the partying begin. Okay, well, it has to wait until I finish work and head home, but the clock is a tickin'.


****************************


If you think I HATE you, I probably don't. If you are convinced I love you and I am your best friend, you are probably wrong.


****************************


I want to stay in and watch tv and drink wine tonight, no matter what any friend says. I mean I am not going to be lying about reading Hopkins, but ...


****************************


If you haven't noticed, I am a man of contradictions.


****************************


Clue: Chest


****************************

Peristyle and Style

I am so loving that it is Friday. I mean, I am LOVING it. I am already dreaming about sleeping in tomorrow morning.


****************************


Does anyone know why sweet potatoes have so fewer calories than a regular potato? I mean, is there a biological or chemical reason?


****************************


I guess Billy Collins and Mary Oliver really are much-loved American poets. I mean I knew people liked them, but apparently they REALLY like them.


****************************




I have been meaning to post some photos I took while in Mexico this Spring. Here is a shot of the famous Arc seen as you actually begin entering the harbor in Cabo San Lucas.


****************************


Clue: Bayona


****************************

Recitation

Last night, just before I fell asleep, I started reciting, in my head, the opening sentences of a short story. The weird thing is I don't think this is a story I read somewhere or heard from someone. I think it is a story that my brain started creating as I was lying there unable to sleep. The lead charachter's name is Robert. Lying there, I "recited" almost two pages of this story. I don't think this has ever happened to me before. Maybe I should try writing it down.


*****************************


It is so warm today, I might have to fire up that shiny grill of mine.


*****************************


I am still humming the Maroon 5 song.


*****************************


Jacob and I have been watching Dallas. Yes, that Dallas. The late 70's and early 80's nighttime serial. It is strangely much better than I remembered. Either that or TV has gotten so much worse that Dallas now seems fairly good.


*****************************


Clue: Harried and Hustled


*****************************

The Forest

WARNING: Rant follows so move on quickly unless you want to see me enraged...


I have spent my morning being effing angry. I have been angry to the point of feeling woozy. Not to go into great detail, but a colleague in another state has a patient with AIDS and a cancer. She freaked out because she has never had to treat someone with AIDS. So, she wrote to a bunch of other radiation oncologists about this to get opinions. One of the rad oncs wrote back this horrific email about the need to IGNORE the AIDS and do what is right. He then offered up a treatment so aggressive that should it be followed it is unlikely the patient would survive the treatment. I felt my blood pressure rising, felt my head becoming woozy as my heart raced and galloped, palpitations and all. I wrote back a reasonably calm email, but others chimed in quoting studies and papers, most of which did not address THIS patient's situation. I finally lost it and sent an email essentially warning that as doctors we pose a threat to patients if we miss the forest because of focusing on one tree! In the end, they all (well, almost all) had a bit of a wake up call. But I am still mad, and I can now see why some gay men with cancer seek out gay oncologists. As one of my patients put it, quite bluntly, "We looked for you because we knew you wouldn't disguise homophobia inside an overly aggressive treatment that wasn't needed." My whole morning and afternoon has been shot. I haven't done any of the things I needed to do today. I am still too worried about this guy.


****************************


I guess I could post something else here. But I kind of don't want to right now. Will come back later, if I can.


****************************


Clue: Orchestration


****************************

Imagine That

Yup, that is how it is. Thank God MY parents didn't live in this country when they were young. My parents would not have been allowed to marry each other. How ridiculous is that?!

GROSS Domestic Products

You have got to check this out! It is wild. Talk about the US being wealthy.

Punishment

It is Steve's birthday. Stop by and wish him well, if you have a chance.


***************************


Another early day for the hospital, so I need to get going. I am not sure why, but I have been very busy the past week or so. Will be glad to be off call on Friday morning. I feel a deep compulsion to read right now. And of course, I haven't been able to do so. I actually daydreamed yesterday about reading Crime and Punishment. Yes, I must be nuts.


***************************


Will post more later. Check back.


***************************


Clue: Spire


***************************

The Iguana

I have been very busy the past few days. Very busy. I know, I know. No one cares. To be honest, I don't even care.


****************************


Peter has discovered James Hoch.


****************************


Is it Wednesday yet?


****************************


I had a really hard time getting up this morning. I didn't actually get out of the bed until 5:15 AM. I was dreaming I was lying on a beach somewhere and there was no one around. I could see Jacob riding around on some kind of jet ski out in a harbor, at least in the dream I seemed certain it was him. The only other thing I remember was a large iguana on the trunk of a tree.


****************************


Clue: Celebrex...


****************************

P.S.

Home from the hospital and the emergency case. Occupied now with submissions to read. It is sunny in SF. It looks as if it is sunny everywhere in the world. In the background, "Macarthur Park" being sung by Donna Summer. Jacob is coming back across the Bay Bridge. I so need to be done with stuff when he gets home.

Consequence and Fear

The staying power of the Haiku amazes me. For a form that I cannot say I have ever loved or even appreciated, I see it everywhere. And the uses of Haiku seem endless at times. For God's sake, we now have the Honku...


****************************


On call and will likely have to go in to the hospital this morning to treat someone urgently. The Pavlovian response of max adrenaline at the sound of a ring or beep in the middle of the night is still functioning. I bolt upright in bed and before I am even awake and out of the bed. This response was programmed into me when I was an intern and the pager usually meant something urgent or emergent. Sometimes, it was code blue. I remember once waking up only to realize I was already running down the Hall towards the code. Well, the residual of this is still in me. As a consequence, it took me a very long time to fall back asleep last night. Just waiting now on some test results before I can spring into action.


****************************


Just not up for reading any poetry right now. Brain too addled. Mind too calm.


****************************


Recently, I wanted so badly to tell a medical student to suck it up, that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I almost said it, but I stopped myself. I realized I had become those Attendings I disliked when I was a med student. He went on and on about how his wife doesn't understand why he has to work and study so much. I said: "It is hard. It isn't going to get easier. All you can do is try to give her a means to understand what and why you are doing this." He was afraid she was going to leave him eventually. To this I said nothing, knowing full well his wife may very well leave. This is almost to be expected. Practically every marriage in existence when someone enters medical school will end in breakup. Medicine is an unforgiving mistress, a demanding one. In order to help others, you must be willing to be destroyed. How could I possibly tell this young man that? He seems so young.


****************************


Clue: "Earth below us, drifting, falling..."


****************************

Hilarious!

Yes, Paris, the law also applies to you! Hahahahahahaha. This made me laugh out loud. Poor thing. Maybe she should, as Jacob suggests, hire an effing driver. With the amount of money she has, she should be able to have a limo and driver for herself 24 hours a day. Then she wouldn't have gotten herself into this mess. She should be lucky she didn't crash into someone and kill them because even vehicular manslaughter carries a worse sentence than 45 days in jail.

Foolish and Wasteful

Flashback to this time two years ago!


***************************


And then, wham, flashback to this time last year.


***************************


Basically, this blog changes a little but basically stays the same. Gag!


***************************


Okay, so in the spirit of doing something different this year on this Friday in June, here is a poem of mine:


PROGNOSIS


[Vanished]


--C. Dale Young, from The Second Person (Four Way Books, 2007)

[originally appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association]


*****************************


Consumer Reports rates hotels based on five categories: Fanciest, Luxury, Upscale, Moderate, and Budget, as well as the typical nightly rate readers paid. In their most recent report, highest-rated choices are:

• Fanciest: Price between $130 and $350. Simply the best according to readers, the opulent Ritz-Carlton, which earned top marks for value, service, upkeep, and low reported problems.

• Luxury: Price between $89 and $218. Scores were consistently good with slight differences separating the best from the pack. Among the best: Renaissance, Embassy Suites, Westin, Courtyard by Marriott, Omni, and Hyatt. Upkeep and service scored generally high for this group.

• Upscale: Price between $70 and $235. CR readers found this group to provide the best bang for the buck. Homewood Suites and SpringHill Suites were among the best. Residence Inn by Marriott, an all-suite chain also scored well. Walt Disney Resorts in Orlando and in California offered stellar service.

• Moderate: Price between $58 and $100. Drury Inn/Suites, Hampton Inn and Wingate Inn were top choices in this category. The Drury Inn and Wingate Inn showed much better than average scores for value.

• Budget: Priced between $40 and $85. Microtel was the star of the budget bunch, scoring as well or better than more well-appointed chains. It typically builds new hotels rather than converting older properties from other brands.


I have to say, nothing very surprising here.


*****************************


Clue: Silicon Valley


*****************************

Quickly

I have been in and out of the OR most of today, so I haven't had time to post. Sorry. But now...


*****************************


This made me depressed, especially this one part:

"This is a process that unfortunately is now irreversible," he said, adding that industrialized nations are doing too little and too late to slash carbon dioxide emissions.


*****************************


Don McKay and Charles Wright were awarded the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize last night at a splashy Toronto ceremony that attracted a who's who of Canadian literary icons.

The $100,000 award, worth $50,000 each to a Canadian and an international recipient, is among the most lucrative poetry prizes in the world.


*****************************


And even though next season (Season 4) will be its last, here is a little Battlestar hotness:




*****************************


Clue: B-52's!!!!!


*****************************

The Expedition

Reginald Shepherd has some interesting thoughts about Online Discourse.


***************************


Lots of reading to do today. And lots of other stuff. Yay.


***************************


I swear to God I see hummingbirds every day now. Never saw them, then saw one, now all the time. What is up with that?


***************************


Do I natter on about personal things? Yes. Do I sometimes ignore theoretical talk and poetry stuff? Yes. Do I sometimes spend more time talking about movies and television than I should? Yes. Will this change? No. This is, after all, "all about distraction."


***************************


Only in San Francisco is the Service Mgr. at you car dealership a big burly Bear of a Daddy. Anywhere else, you would have some guy in an izod shirt and khaki pants who is geeky looking and really earnest. But not here. Oh no, not here.


Big Burly Daddy: You here for maintenance, service, oil?
Me: Maintenance. The car kept telling me to bring it in.
BBD: Yeah, these cars are pushy nowadays.
Me: Yeah.
BBD: But sometimes we like pushy.
Me: Um, yeah. I guess.

BBD types furiously and every so often looks over at me with strange smirk.

BBD: Do you need a car for the day?
Me: Yeah, I have a lot of errands to run.
BBD: Doctors have errands? Don't you have people to do those for you?
Me: No. Just me.
BBD: Well, I got you a car. It's a Ford Expedition. Can you handle something that big?
Me: Uh, what?
BBD: The car? It is an SUV.
Me: Oh, yeah, I can drive it.
BBD: Go easy. Don't drive it too hard, esp. if you aren't used to it.
Me: Um, yeah. I'll try.

When we go out to get the car, he says to be back around 6pm and pats me on the ass!

Me: Um, what was that about?
BBD: (pats me on the shoulder) Oh yeah, right, keep it above the belt.
Me: Um, okay.
BBD: (looks at my wedding ring) Well, you're married. Doesn't mean you're straight.
Me: Laughs uncomfortably (and gets into effing huge SUV)

Driving home I felt like I was flying a plane! My car never felt tiny, but this thing is huge, bigger than most SUV's on the road. Going over the Fell Street Hill, I was actually a little nervous.


****************************


Clue: Redonculous


****************************

Security, Sentence, & Supercilious

Even Lord Vader has to deal with airport security nowadays. And who would have guessed he wears tube socks?!





*****************************


I am just not so sure this sentence was tough enough!


*****************************


Can YOU define all of these words? I admit it. There were two mentioned for which I did not know the definition.


*****************************


Busy as ever, but this is nothing new. Tomorrow, errands, finish up some NER work, continue prep for teaching in early July, etc. etc. I kind of wish writing a poem were somewhere in the list. But it is not. And truth be told, I have nothing to write right now. It is a good thing I wrote ten poems last year. This year, so far, I am at zero.


*****************************


I am really excited about the poetry lineup for the 2nd and 3rd issues of NER for the year. The 3rd issue is wonderful in many ways for me, but it really floats my boat because the lineup has only one or two poets who have contributed to NER previously. Very cool. Lots of new voices for our pages. Not necessarily new voices, but new to our pages and our readers. I am compulsive. I like to chart these things.


*****************************


Clue: WZBC


*****************************

Monday, Monday

Got a manuscript of poems of short stories at home? Well, Four Way Books has its open reading each June, so now is the time to submit that manuscript. FWB is an incredible publisher. Guidelines are here. You should definitely think about this if you have a manuscript at home. This isn't a contest, but it is a way for the Press to read unsolicited work once per year. And you can even enter electronically!


****************************


Well, I had no idea, but Foetry closed up shop.


****************************


Paris Hilton checked in for her jail time. Why do I just know this woman will profit from this in the long term.


****************************


Clue: The World


****************************

Arroz

What they fail to realize is that big summer movies, even the successful ones, are designed to be forgettable, passing through our system at precisely the same rate as a pint of Pepsi. Nothing is left but fizzing nerve ends and a sugary soupçon of rot.

--Anthony Lane takes on Pirates of the Caribbean [from The New Yorker]

Dear God, how I love Anthony Lane's reviews of movies...


****************************


My afternoon of reading submissions was surprising, to say the least. The biggest surprise? I thought I had 160 poems to read. I had, in fact, 260! So, it took me some additional time to get through them. But I got through them. I have 7 poems that I put aside for re-reading later this week. The rest all had to be stuffed back into SASE's. 7 out of 260 is pretty good. So, I am excited to see if the 7 hold up when I return to them on Wednesday morning.


****************************


A dinner of black beans and yellow rice is still one of the most divine things.


****************************


I wish to God I knew how to make a good Passion Fruit chicken. It isn't as easy as they say it is. To get the passion fruit sauce to be almost a glaze versus a drippy pool around the chicken is pretty freakin difficult.


****************************


Clue: Dashe


****************************

The Magic of the Number 5

Despite getting a lot of work done yesterday, I still have a ton of work to do today. Work for the magazine, work for one of the Boards I sit on, starting to work on getting ready for teaching next month, paperwork for the practice. It seems never-ending.


****************************

Forrest Hameris up at Poetry Daily today.


****************************


There are lots of diaries out there that try to capture the Bread Loaf experience, but here is one that does an okay job of capturing five days there in the life of a waiter (work-scholar). [from Slate]


****************************


Maroon 5 has rejected my bid to become one of their songwriters. I am crushed. I guess I will just have to stick to poems.


****************************


Poetry Idol continues into the next round. Check it out, and vote if you can. It is very interesting to see when and where the bloggers and the class's students match up.


****************************


There are about 14 printed literary magazines in Australia, nine of which are funded by the Australia Council.

I have no idea how many printed literary journals there are in this country, but I know it is a lot more than 14!


****************************


Collin won an award and restrained himself from kicking some guy in "the nuts." Congratulations, Collin!


****************************


Clue: Salvation


****************************

Shifting Funds

Well, I don't know if I should feel like Kelly Clarkson or like Sanjaya! I do, however, agree with Andrew in the fact I was surprised that of all the poems in my new book that "33rd & Kirkham" is the one Poetry Daily chose. I was rather surprised. I don't consider that poem one of my best poems in the book. In fact, up until I went to NYC recently, I had never read the poem at a reading. But because I read three days in a row with John Gallaher, I ended up reading it so as not to bore him and in an attempt to not be bored myself. The weirdest thing is that a bunch of people really liked that poem. Just goes to show, you cannot predict what people will like.


****************************


Spent the morning doing the oh-so-fun task of allocating and shifting funds in my retirement account. I am always tempted to do nothing because I can't use the money until I retire, but then I remember that making shifts and adjusting things means the retirement fund may actually be worth something someday. It is just odd to be maintaining something I cannot touch.


****************************


"I've always thought of music as the most eloquent form of speech that we human beings have been able to devise but then poetry almost trumps that..."

--Philip Glass


****************************


Marly de Oliveira joins Joao Cabral de Melo Neto.


****************************


None of us is really as strong as we believe. Admit it. We are all weak.


****************************


Clue: Fire. Zinfandel. Chipotle.


****************************

The Boss

Well, today was the first day in which I ever really felt like a President and CFO of a corporation. Unfortunately, the reason I felt this way is because I had to threaten an insurance company that is infamous for not paying claims. Actually, it isn't a threat. I had people inform the company that, effective today, no physician in my group will see or treat their patients (not including emergencies and people currently on treatment). They can amend our contract or go elsewhere. This paying for services 1 year after service is rendered is not acceptable. It was kind of shocking to hear just how hard-nosed I could be. I did not bend one inch. Our doctors work their asses off and this company pays late, pays low, or doesn't pay at all. We will not bend one more inch. The doctors in my group and I will not work for free.


*****************************


I cannot imagine what trouble Charlie Jensen is going to get into in Vegas!


*****************************


Clue: Calm, Cool, and Uncollected


*****************************

Season's End

The Lambda Literary Foundation announced the winners of their Lambda Literary Awards (aka The Lammies). The winners for Poetry are:

Winner for GAY POETRY
A History of My Tattoo by Jim Elledge (Stonewall)

Winner for LESBIAN POETRY
Lemon Hound by Sina Queyras (Coach House Books)


****************************


What do Morgan Freeman, Richard Ford, and Natasha Trethewey have in common?


****************************


I LOVE June 1st! Today is the day that we stop taking submissions at NER. Well, we return submissions postmarked June 1 or later. So now, we dig in and clear out the stacks of submissions. I am actually on schedule and should have everything cleared out by the end of June. I try really hard to clear everything out before I leave to go teach in Asheville. This was my twelfth season at NER. That kind of blows my mind. The biggest difference between 1995 and now: 1995: under 10,000 poems received each season; 2007: over 45,000 poems received in a season!


****************************


I start taking call tonight. Yay.


****************************


Clue: Jesuits


****************************