A list of publications, updated as necessary.
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Unreal Republics
Aug. 23rd, 2014 10:31 amIt's taken a little while for things to develop, but now I can finally announce some exciting news: my first chapbook, Unreal Republics, is available for preorder from Finishing Line Press, with the release date currently set for November 22. Details forthcoming, as details happen.
Mezzo Cammin, "Sadness of a Star"
May. 30th, 2014 02:16 pmFour of my poems are now up at Mezzo Cammin! Tolle, lege.
I'm also happy to say that my first published translation, of Apollinaire's "Tristesse d'une Étoile," will be appearing in Blue Lyra Review next year. While I've found that I may not have the patience for any long-term translation projects, it's still definitely something that I care about, and hope to keep doing.
I'm also happy to say that my first published translation, of Apollinaire's "Tristesse d'une Étoile," will be appearing in Blue Lyra Review next year. While I've found that I may not have the patience for any long-term translation projects, it's still definitely something that I care about, and hope to keep doing.
That was the semester that was
May. 15th, 2014 10:45 amAs I might have guessed, it turns out that grad school isn't particularly conducive to blogging. However, it can be conducive to learning things about yourself; for example, I've discovered that I'm seriously inclined to pessimism and that, when I don't have time to brush my teeth, I'll still put on lipstick.
Some of what I did this spring: gave a presentation on information behavior; tried to figure out different photographic processes; sniffed burning plastic, for science; wrote a paper about the Cairo Genizah; and helped to arrange and describe my first archival collection. I got a job in the digitization unit of the university libraries, and am now in interviews for other jobs. I also participated in the school's mentor program, through which I met S, who is the subject librarian for various areas including classics, and whom I like very much. I guess it's satisfying when pessimism turns out to be unwarranted.
I've turned 23. I kept forgetting that my birthday was coming--which must mean I'm getting old.
Some of what I did this spring: gave a presentation on information behavior; tried to figure out different photographic processes; sniffed burning plastic, for science; wrote a paper about the Cairo Genizah; and helped to arrange and describe my first archival collection. I got a job in the digitization unit of the university libraries, and am now in interviews for other jobs. I also participated in the school's mentor program, through which I met S, who is the subject librarian for various areas including classics, and whom I like very much. I guess it's satisfying when pessimism turns out to be unwarranted.
I've turned 23. I kept forgetting that my birthday was coming--which must mean I'm getting old.
Happy Easter/Spring/National Poetry Month
Apr. 20th, 2014 06:26 amChoose any and all that apply.
The Trees
Philip Larkin
The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.
Is it that they are born again
And we grow old?
No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.
Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
Spring
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
The Trees
Philip Larkin
The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.
Is it that they are born again
And we grow old?
No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.
Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
Spring
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
"To X in the City of Y"
Mar. 20th, 2014 09:37 pmMy poem "To X in the City of Y" is live at Two Words For!
Once in royal David's city
Dec. 24th, 2013 10:34 amSo another Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols has come and gone. Things were a bit different this year: "Adam Lay Ybounden" wasn't sung; there were no less than three sightings of Benjamin Britten, no doubt in honor of his centennial; and several of the carols, including "A New Year Carol," were entirely new to me. All in all, it was a good service. (I'd been secretly hoping for "Personent Hodie," but, well, you can't get everything you want.) "King of quires supernal" remains a marvelous phrase.
All the cookies have been made and are ready to be consumed, starting tonight. We're on track for a more or less white Christmas, as temperature won't rise above freezing until around noon tomorrow.
All the cookies have been made and are ready to be consumed, starting tonight. We're on track for a more or less white Christmas, as temperature won't rise above freezing until around noon tomorrow.
Reno erat Rudolphus
Dec. 15th, 2013 11:08 amSomeone on SoundCloud has translated "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" into Latin and recorded it as a plainsong. It is indeed the most wonderful time of the year.
Decorating was accomplished yesterday. The artificial tree, in a number of stages from assembly to tinsel, as well as the fireplace/mantel paraphernalia (old Advent calendars, cards people have sent us, randomly acquired figurines and stuffed animals) and the Playmobil crèche (with added Magi). Next task: bake gingerbread, Russian teacakes, anise cookies, macaroons, and chocolate oatmeal cookies. All of these are fairly easy except the first, which inevitably involves a death struggle with the sticky dough, although the results are well worth it.
Decorating was accomplished yesterday. The artificial tree, in a number of stages from assembly to tinsel, as well as the fireplace/mantel paraphernalia (old Advent calendars, cards people have sent us, randomly acquired figurines and stuffed animals) and the Playmobil crèche (with added Magi). Next task: bake gingerbread, Russian teacakes, anise cookies, macaroons, and chocolate oatmeal cookies. All of these are fairly easy except the first, which inevitably involves a death struggle with the sticky dough, although the results are well worth it.
"But Now, Winter"
Oct. 16th, 2013 07:06 amMy story "But Now, Winter" is on Necessary Fiction! It features, among other things, a makeshift yahrtzeit, oranges, and unpleasant coworkers/bosses. It takes place in the same alternate history setting (which I have somewhat flippantly begun calling the Redverse) as my previous story "Instructions on Leaving the Communist Party", which you might want to also read.
Mythic Poetry Challenge Week
Oct. 9th, 2013 07:09 amOver at Terri Windling's blog, it's Poetry Challenge Week, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Yesterday's theme was Red Riding Hood; I dashed off this contribution. Today's theme is Rapunzel, which doesn't really grab me, but--who knows?--may inspire you.
N things make a post
Sep. 23rd, 2013 06:50 pm1. What I said about my apartment being devoid of insects? I take it all back, for now there are crickets. Not for much longer, though, I hope, as I've called in a maintenance request . . .
2. Another story I've written has been accepted by Necessary Fiction, and will probably appear in a few weeks.
3. One of my poems has ended up on Tumblr, which is something I wasn't expecting. The person who originally posted it gave me full credit, so I'm actually rather pleased to have it there, reaching all of 48 new readers.
4. I am a woman who needs pie. That is who I am. (Cherry, if you were wondering.)
2. Another story I've written has been accepted by Necessary Fiction, and will probably appear in a few weeks.
3. One of my poems has ended up on Tumblr, which is something I wasn't expecting. The person who originally posted it gave me full credit, so I'm actually rather pleased to have it there, reaching all of 48 new readers.
4. I am a woman who needs pie. That is who I am. (Cherry, if you were wondering.)
Checking in
Aug. 28th, 2013 07:37 pm. . . blogging is a thing people do, isn't it.
I'm basically settled in now, although I haven't seen that much of the city outside campus, besides Walmart, the grocery store, and some parts of the downtown area. My apartment is generally quiet, all the utilities work properly, and no spiders/insects/mice/other uninvited guests have appeared; the location also is incredibly convenient. My only real complaint is that the paint job inside appears in many places to have been subcontracted to a six-year-old. There's a heavy spatter texture over two walls in the bathroom, which I guess is intentional, but mostly looks like Jackson Pollock got drunk and decided to become an interior decorator.
Meanwhile, I've been rereading The Lord of the Rings, because, really, how else are you going to help yourself through a major transition in your life?
I'm basically settled in now, although I haven't seen that much of the city outside campus, besides Walmart, the grocery store, and some parts of the downtown area. My apartment is generally quiet, all the utilities work properly, and no spiders/insects/mice/other uninvited guests have appeared; the location also is incredibly convenient. My only real complaint is that the paint job inside appears in many places to have been subcontracted to a six-year-old. There's a heavy spatter texture over two walls in the bathroom, which I guess is intentional, but mostly looks like Jackson Pollock got drunk and decided to become an interior decorator.
Meanwhile, I've been rereading The Lord of the Rings, because, really, how else are you going to help yourself through a major transition in your life?
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
Aug. 13th, 2013 06:57 amToday I set out for the city where I'll be working on my MS. Ironically, the choice that once seemed least likely turned out to be the one I made; of all my options, it's the most prestigious program, in the largest urban area, farthest away from where I currently am. ("It's a big place," one of my professors said, when I told him I was applying. "People can get lost there.")
I think it's starting to really sink in that I'm leaving, that I'm going away. Yes, I'll almost certainly be back over winter break, but--this will be my first time in seventeen years living outside the town where I've grown up.
I think it's starting to really sink in that I'm leaving, that I'm going away. Yes, I'll almost certainly be back over winter break, but--this will be my first time in seventeen years living outside the town where I've grown up.
If this is a man
Jul. 21st, 2013 07:54 amFor the sake of something to do, and in order to prove to myself that I hadn't already forgotten Italian grammar, I put together a translation of Primo Levi's "Shema." The original text is up front; my blatting is below the cut.
Voi che siete sicuri
Nelle vostre tiepide case,
Voi che trovate tornando a sera
Il cibo caldo e i visi amici:
Considerate se questo è un uomo
Che lavora nel fango
Che non conosce pace
Che lotta per mezzo pane
Che muore per un sì o per un no.
Considerate se questa è una donna,
Senza capelli e senza nome
Senza più forza di ricordare
Vuoti gli occhi e freddo il grembo
Come una rana d'inverno.
Meditate che questo è stato:
Vi comando queste parole.
Scolpitele nel vostro cuore
Stando in casa andando per via,
Coricandovi alzandovi:
Ripetetele ai vostri figli.
O vi si sfaccia la casa,
La malattia vi impedisca,
I vostri nati torcano il viso da voi.
( Read more... )
Voi che siete sicuri
Nelle vostre tiepide case,
Voi che trovate tornando a sera
Il cibo caldo e i visi amici:
Considerate se questo è un uomo
Che lavora nel fango
Che non conosce pace
Che lotta per mezzo pane
Che muore per un sì o per un no.
Considerate se questa è una donna,
Senza capelli e senza nome
Senza più forza di ricordare
Vuoti gli occhi e freddo il grembo
Come una rana d'inverno.
Meditate che questo è stato:
Vi comando queste parole.
Scolpitele nel vostro cuore
Stando in casa andando per via,
Coricandovi alzandovi:
Ripetetele ai vostri figli.
O vi si sfaccia la casa,
La malattia vi impedisca,
I vostri nati torcano il viso da voi.
( Read more... )
These are the voyages
Jul. 17th, 2013 07:59 amI find it oddly charming just how well Star Trek Continues manages to recreate the experience of watching a mid-quality Original Series episode, right down to the slightly sententious moral, the awkward "funny" moment at the end, and the scene in which Kirk is, for no apparent reason, shirtless. Chris Doohan is doing a pretty good impersonation of his father. Grant Imahara (of Mythbusters fame) appears as Sulu, and Jamie Bamber gets a cameo alongside him. Marina Sirtis is the voice of the ship's computer.
Nel mezzo del cammin . . .
Jul. 15th, 2013 07:35 amI'm very happy to say that four of my poems are slated to appear in the Summer 2014 issue of Mezzo Cammin! As is apparent from my previous publications, I'm not properly a formalist, but I do sometimes play one on TV. And I'd been writing a lot of sonnets.