The Hermit Poet

November 28, 2007

Neck Deep in Papers + Mailing Manuscripts

Filed under: General — Neil Aitken @ 10:22 pm

Neck deep? I’m drowning. It’s proving to be a stressful week of papers, responses, abstracts, presentations, and poetry. Coupled with a frustrating two-week+ bout of writer’s block, I’m more than a little stressed out.

Despite this (or perhaps because of this), I spent about half the day getting my book manuscript ready (trimming a poem or two, reprinting the whole thing, getting copies done, etc) and mailing it out to another 4 contests. I’m glad I cut the poem I did — I’d been thinking for some time that it was a bit on the weak side, but didn’t realize how weak it was until I re-read the whole manuscript last night. Good riddance. Some minor title changes. A couple relineations. Overall, it’s close to what I sent out last month — but the changes are important and hopefully push the manuscript from being “publishable” into being “published.”

Still on the plate for tonight:

  1. Response to a Sedgwick essay on Shame
  2. Response to Jonson’s “Bartholomew Fair”
  3. Precis of my upcoming paper on The Function of Intertextuality in Alphaville (specifically Borges and Orwell — since Eluard has been done to death)
  4. New poem (or recently finished poem, if the muse continues her strike)

Still more for tomorrow… ack. I want to be done with this semester and get back to my own reading/viewing lists.

Ok — back to work.

November 26, 2007

2nd Pushcart Nomination / Homes

Filed under: General — Neil Aitken @ 12:10 pm

Just in — an email from Re Dactions to let me know that they’ve nominated my poem “comment” for the Pushcart Prize!

“comment” is from my current manuscript project, “Babbage’s Dream” which revolves around the themes of isolation and beauty in the world of computers and computer programmers. Re Dactions was actually the first (and so far only) journal to pick up these new poems. It’s good to know that someone is reading and enjoying these poems.

You can read it on my website here

More of the computer poems are out in circulation now, so hopefully some of them will be finding homes soon.

Speaking of homes — my mother has successfully sold her place in Penticton and will be moving to a new condo in Abbottsford. She’ll be closer to my sister’s family, so she can take care of the grandkid more often. I think it’s a good move. Abbottsford has an airport and is close to the US border as well. It’s not far from Vancouver (maybe 45 minutes) and seems like a good central location.

I’ll be flying “home” for Christmas and spending about 10 days there. It should be good — but different.

November 15, 2007

Boxcar Poetry Review – Issue 11 is Up!

Filed under: General — Neil Aitken @ 9:17 am

Just a quick announcement that Boxcar Poetry Review – Issue 11 is now up.

You can check it out here: www.boxcarpoetry.com

In this issue:

Poetry

  • Kimberly Abruzzo: “The red-water station”
  • Helene Alchanzar: “Meaning Light”
  • Ruth Doan: “All They Didn’t Take”
  • Jéanpaul Ferro: “On Your Mark, Get Set, Ready…”
  • Jennifer Gravley: “Fortune, Santa Monica”
  • Graham Hillard: “The Lyric Moment”
  • Rathanak Michael Keo: “Last Kiss”
  • Robert McDonald: “Dear November”
  • Tomas Q. Morin: “Cadillac Cathedral, U.S. 66”
  • James Owens: “Is”
  • Donna Vorreyer: “Of Dark, Of Light”
  • Joe Wilkins: “Voice of the Father”
  • Amanda Yskamp: “Not Home”

Artwork
Geoff Sanderson

Interviews & Conversations
Interview with Alex Lemon ~ Miguel Murphy

Reviews & Responses
Geoffrey Brock’s Weighing Light & Joe Millar’s Autobiomythography & Gallery ~ Gregg Mosson

I’m really quite impressed with the work we’ve brought together for this issue. Kudos to Eduardo for lining up another great interview.