Two months off

I'm trying to get back to writing after not doing it for about two months (teaching, reading, trip to the West Coast, the endless needs of the house and garden, etc). I read, all in one sitting, Mule by Shane McCrae yesterday and I'm pleased to say that it made me want to write. Not in the sense of "I can do better than that" but in the sense of here is someone fitting language to experience in a way that makes me feel awake and interested and even impatient with what I've written so far.
The plan is to start small, start badly, but to start. In the words of Dr. Seuss, "Maybe you can, too. I think you ought to try."

Great Monsters Reading Last Night

Last night I went to one of the best poetry readings I've been to in a long long time. It was a Monsters of Poetry reading at the Gates of Heaven in Madison. The featured readers were Steve Healey and Matthew Zapruder. Here's a link to one of Healey's poems that appeared in American Poetry Review. And here's a link to Zapruder's blog.
If either of these poets show up in your town, get yourself a front-row seat.