The Hermit Poet

From Penticton

My father’s condition has stabilized somewhat this past week. His speech is still slowing, but his attitude is much more upbeat this week, largely in part to all the supportive emails and visits he’s received recently. He’s talking again about working on one of his book projects — a book on researching female ancestry. For those who aren’t familiar with my father, he has spent most of his life actively involved in family and local history as a professional genealogist and lecturer. Over the years he has established a wide network of friends and colleagues and is a well-known authority on many genealogical topics of research. So it’s definitely a good thing for him to be working on and something many people have been looking forward to seeing.

Poetry News

Just received word earlier today that three more poems have been accepted and will be appearing in the upcoming issue of The Drunken Boat. Look forward to seeing “How the World Fits Together,” “The Memory Theatre,” and “In the Long Dream of Exile.”

Also received my contributor’s copies of Crab Orchard Review in the mail today. I was also pleasantly surprised to find poems from fellow Kundiman friends and faculty, Marlon Esguerra, Jee Leong Koh, and Jon Pineda; also poems from my old poetry professor Lance Larsen from BYU; and work from Erin Elizabeth Smith, a Boxcar Poetry Review contributor.

GRE

My old GRE scores have expired, so I’ll be taking the GRE again on Thursday. Still have the GRE Literature to take care of on December 2. Not terribly excited about taking these exams, but am confident that I’ll do well on the GRE (based on my last scores) and hopefully passable on the GRE Literature.

Wish me luck — I’m hoping to that by next fall I’ll be back in the US somewhere starting my PhD in Creative Writing or English Literature.