From podium to grind

Back from a gig in at Macon State College in Georgia. I went with Ricardo and Bianca, and it was very much what I didn't know that I needed. A little like living alone in a cave, enshrouded by darkness, and then having someone enter with a flashlight. I was fine, before, but now reminded of the light.

The reading itself went well. I wish I could go on a tour again like last year, because I definitely see a change in the whole process. In my choice of what to read, in the responses I get from the audience, in my performance itself.

We talked, as we drove, about all sorts of things, but two important things as they pertain to this blog were our discussion of Blackbone, which is approaching its inception, and Ricardo and Bianca's urging that I create a vita of all the places I have read, which I did today, on my day off.

And speaking of having a day off, the disappointment of having to return to a menial job that has absolutely nothing to do with my field is sort of crushing. I mean, I'm not depressed at work, or even leading up to it (not so when I worked at White Castle) but there is the distinct knell of missed opportunities ringing at all times.

It is time to redouble my efforts on getting a new job. Not necessarily a job I will love (I'll be in grad school before to long) but at least a job that will afford me the money I need to pay the bills, save money, and apply to writing contests.

Hook me up if you know of anything in the Cincinnati area. haha.

The World is Round

I've got some big things coming up; hope that I have both the energy and the forethought to blog about them as they show up. Blackbone (have I mentioned Blackbone yet? It's an in-the-works publishing group being planned up and created by Bianca Spriggs, Ricardo Nazari-Colon, and myself) is about to go read on a mini-road trip, among other things.

But no matter how busy I've been, I refuse to cut either writing or reading from my schedule. So I've read quite a few books of poetry, even since the last review. This won't, however, be a review as such, just a recommendation:

Go out and buy The World is Round, by Nikky Finny. Right now.

It's a little bit heavier than some of the rest of my recent fair, but as I was telling Bianca, I think, Nikky has an almost prose sensibility with her revelations; there is a certain command of what is being revealed to you that refuses to allow you to be lost (and let's face it, poetry is often about getting lost) for too long, or at least, in such a hopeless state that no part of you wishes to spend the time to find your way back.

I'd read this book again just for the exhilarating joy of it, but I feel like there's so much to learn about writing (and story telling) as well.

It's officially one of my 'text books.'