Good-bye 2010, bienvenidos 2011!

2010 was very good to me professionally, but it had some major drama. I began the year with an incredibly creative and productive one-month residency at Ragdale, where I made friends with artists I have kept in touch with throughout the year. I finished my final draft of a novel, Every Secret Thing, and sent it to a waiting editor. I wrote almost the entire first draft of a new poetry book,Dark Sister. And I applied for the NEA Individual Artist Grant (which I didn't get, unfortunately, but I was so pleased to see that my friends Blas Falconer and Michelle Boisseau did). This was all as a result of receiving the Midwest Voices and Visions Award from the Alliance for Artist Communities and the Joyce Foundation. This residency (and its accompanying stipend, which paid for transportation costs for the residency and then paid for my participation in the AWP national conference in Denver) was a huge gift to me, and its effects are still rippling throughout my life in a very positive way.


This is my writing studio in my suite at Ragdale.

















The next month, I flew back to Chicago (Ragsdale is right outside of Chicago) to read in the Guild Complex's wonderful Palabra Pura Reading Series. We had a great turnout and a very receptive audience at Decima Musa. I love all my Chicago friends!

In April, I went to the AWP with the Latino Writers Collective. I had written a proposal for us to read from our award-winning poetry anthology as a panel at AWP, and it was accepted. I worked the Scapegoat Press booth in the bookfair for a lot of the conference, but I still had a chance to attend many of the panels I wanted to see, and lots of writer and publisher friends, old and new, came by the bookfair or made appointments with me to get together. It was an exhausting but wonderful five days!


Latino Writers Collective members at the AWP after our panel presentation.










At the very end of April, we brought in Luis J. Rodriguez for LWC's Cuarta Página Reading Series. Luis is, of course, a fabulous poet and great community activist, and he worked with members of the local Latino community, as well as many LWC members, in conversation and discussion to help both groups in achieving their goals. After this whirlwind one evening and all another day--interspersed with media interviews--Luis was due to give his big public reading and talk at the Plaza Library in the evening. My husband, Ben, and I were on our way to pick him up at his hotel on the Plaza when Ben suddenly began to have problems. In the parking lot of a Plaza restaurant, I was frantically calling 911, then Chato Villalobos, an LWC board member who had taken an active part in all of Luis's visit. Chato left his dinner with friends and sped to the Plaza to pick up Luis to take him to the Library.


Luis J. Rodriguez and Chato Villalobos

(I have never yet mastered the art of placing photos in Blogger, so please ignore all photo awkwardnesses.)

















Meanwhile an ambulance showed up for Ben. After oxygen, the stubborn man was feeling better and insisted on sending the ambulance home--against the EMT's and my wishes. I had already arranged for Chato to take my place introducing Luis, so I started to take Ben home. Two blocks away, it hit him again much worse, and this time there was no doubt in my mind that he was having a heart attack. I pulled over and called 911 in a huge panic since his face was turning blue before my eyes, and he could hardly speak. (I must say, in both cases, the ambulances and firetruck got there in seconds! Can't say enough for those guys and gals!) This time I insisted EMERGENCY ROOM. After a very tough night and morning, they found a big blockage in an artery that would normally necessitate cardiac bypass. Due to Ben's youth (not quite 49) and the good shape of his other arteries, however, they put in a special kind of stent. And now nine months later after 3 months of cardiac rehab and the loss of over 30 pounds (on a man who was already thin), Ben is doing extremely well. Well, yes, there's been a complete change in our diet that hasn't been easy, but he's in very good shape. So the story has a very happy ending.

In July, I began a months-long battle with the city over our yard. Perhaps it stemmed from the time of Ben's heart attack when the lawn wasn't cut nor the garden tended for about a month. Oldest son Niles finally came and weed-whacked the back yard, and our dear foster-son Gustavo came (even though he was working and going to school, both full-time, and preparing for the imminent birth of his first child) and mowed the lawn several times when I realized it was a problem. (Had sort of been preoccupied, you know.) We have always had problems with these neighbors who have a hate for nature calling on our prairie garden over the years, but usually I explain to the city inspector and it's all okay. Only this time that wasn't an option. Had to go to court. That meant missing most of Macondo and spending two entire days in Housing Court--a very enlightening experience. As you might suspect, the rich slumlords get their lawyers in there and get themselves off, but as you might not expect, the judges and the city attorney really work with the poorer people and show them a great deal of respect and consideration. Unfortunately, they're hampered by the super restrictive ordinances. At any rate, I survived and kept my garden.

In the midst of this, Ben and I drove down to San Antonio for Macondo since we had committed to doing a seminar on small press publishing there. I was signed up for the week-long workshop and had to back out because of the initial court date. I just hated that since I love the Macondo writing workshop and the Macondo community so much. However, we wanted to keep our commitment to the seminar so we drove down for Friday when it was scheduled and then left to come back Saturday. It was lovely to at least get a little time with the Macondistas who were present, and it was nice for Ben to have a chance to meet them (though he already knew a good number). The seminar went well, and we had a lovely time at the big final pachanga.

Later in the year, Marjorie Agosin, my dear friend, came to Kansas City (see the post prior to this one). Shortly after that, at the annual Thorpe Menn Award luncheon I received the 2010 Thorpe Menn Award for Literary Excellence. And the lovely extra was that my dear friend Nancy Pickard was the keynote speaker and also won a lifetime achievement award. I had a table of women writer friends there to celebrate with me, and it was a delightful time.





Nancy Pickard and me after the Thorpe Menn Award ceremony








This is my wonderful new foster grandson and his mother, Erika Noguera. Erika brought month-old Bequer (more familiarly known as T-Rex) to the Thorpe Menn luncheon with her mother in a lovely gesture of support. Becquer is a beautiful mix of Gustavo and Erika's features and is beginning his life surrounded by poetry and writers. He is a very lucky boy, and he picked a wonderful set of parents.






Right after the Thorpe Menn event, I flew to Chicago for a panel on unrestricted grant-giving at the Grantmakers in the Arts national conference. I was to speak from the artist's viewpoint. Our panel had three directors of national and regional arts funding organizations besides me, and I found it fascinating to listen to them and the heads of all kinds of small to large such organizations in the packed audience. It's always educational to see an issue from an unexpected perspective. I was quite impressed with all of them and the care and good intentions with which they try to balance artists' needs and funders' demands.

That same evening, I joined my pals at Proyecto Latina to give their regular monthly reading. Diana Pando and Irasema Gonzalez head a fabulous team of young women writers who are doing a much-needed job in the local Chicago arts scene. This group of high-energy, large-visioned young Latina artists offer a monthly reading series, periodic other artistic group projects, at one time a radio show, and now a website that's full of life and spice. We had a great audience and lots of fruitful discussion. Love Chicago!

A little while later, Ben and I made a trip to Milwaukee, where he presented at a big academic conference and I gave a reading at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with the ever-wonderful Paul Martinez Pompa. This was set up by Brenda Cardenas, Milwaukee's poet laureate and author of the stunning Boomerang, and the event was sponsored by the Latino Student Union, an impressive group of students. We had a standing-room-only audience, so of course, Ben and I got lost on our way to the university and got there late. Fortunately, Paul had kept them mesmerized. Attending this event was Bonnee Badger Lugauer, a friend of mine from high school that I hadn't seen since our graduation day over forty years ago. What fun!

I've left a lot of other readings and trips and events out of this account. Actually, I've done more professional traveling this year than ever before--even the year I ran back and forth between the Women's Center in Kansas City and the UN. But I don't want this post to run on forever.

Finally, December rolled around. Ben and I celebrated our 18th anniversary. Very special this year since I came so close to losing him earlier. Then I learned that I would receive the ArtsKC Fund's Inspiration Award and would be able to take a research trip in 2011 that I otherwise could not afford. An absolutely lovely way to end the year!

I hope your 2010 was excellent, but with less drama than mine. And I hope 2011 will be a hugely successful and happy year for you and for me.

Join me at the Guild Complex's Palabra Pura Reading in Chicago, Wednesday, March 17

Jan Peña-Davis

Jennifer Patiño

Lisa Cisneros

Palabra Pura Presents: Linda Rodriguez and short readings by women from Latina Voices

Date:

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Time:

Reading begins at 7:30PM

Cost:

Free admission, all ages

Location:

Decima Musa, 1901 S. Loomis, Chicago

A short Open Mic will begin the evening.

Linda Rodriguez has published two books of poetry, Skin Hunger (Potpourri Publications) and Heart’s Migration (Tia Chucha Press). Recipient of the Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award from the Macondo Foundation and the Midwest Voices and Visions Award from the Alliance of Artists Communities and the Joyce Foundation, she is vice-president of the Latino Writers Collective, founder of the Kansas City Women Writers Series, and a founding board member of The Writers Place. Rodriguez has published poetry and fiction in numerous journals and anthologies, as well as a cookbook, The “I Don’t Know How to Cook” Book: Mexican. She is currently working on a book of poetry based on teachings from her Cherokee grandmother.

Lisa Cisneros is a senior at Columbia College majoring in Journalism. She enjoys dark humor and tries to present that in her work when appropriate. She knows everybody has a story to tell and she's open to other's opinions and loves to hear what people have to say. She enjoys writing about everyday issues that impact people's lives and aspires to write novels and plays in the future. Her work has been published on Latina-Voices.com

Jennifer Patiño was born and raised in Chicago. Her family is originally from Apaseo El Alto, Mexico. She is a writer of Creative Non-Fiction, specifically poetry and essays. She is currently an Art History major at Columbia College with minors in Latino Studies and Poetry. Her work has been published on Latina-Voices.com

Jan Peña-Davis is a teacher with a special interest in Afro-Cuban folklore. She is currently exploring how Hispanic women of color are perceived in the media. She earned her BA in Secondary Education from Chicago State University, TESL Certificate from UCLA, and a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago. An avid reader and writer, Jan won the 2002 Chicago/IL Screenwriting award for her script Shoeshine Guy and has published several short stories and poetry, and occasionally writes commentaries for WBEZ in Chicago. Additionally, Jan is finishing her novel Generation XL. She also is working on an MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago. Her work has been published on Latina-Voices.com

AWP

I’m back from an exciting and exhausting time at the AWP in Chicago. My head’s still reeling, and my poor body’s trying to recuperate.

Some quick highlights:

A wonderful selection of panels dealing with Latino and Native American themes and issues, especially “Diverging Lines” (new directions for Latino poetry), “Something to Declare?” (America’s internal borders and writers’ experiences in crossing them), “Las Mocosas Gritan” (wonderful reading by a group of Macondistas), “After Magic Realism” (new directions in Latino writing), “Speaking Of and To Others” (Indigenous Poetics).

Con Tinta. WOW! Great pachanga of Latino writers in a great venue with delicious food.

Palabra Pura: Special Edition “One Poem Reading.” Fabulous venue, great crowd, wonderful and wonderfully diverse poems by poets from all over the country.

Getting to meet writers I’ve admired for years—Linda Hogan, Simon Ortiz, Lorraine Lopez, Cornelius Eady. Getting to meet new writers I’ve just started reading and admiring in the last year or so—Lisa Alvarado, Carlos Cumpian, Daniel Olivas, Paul Martinez Pompa—and new writers I’d not been aware of—Aaron Michael Morales, Johanny Vasquez Paz, Juan Manuel Sanchez. Making new friendships with some of them that I hope to continue.

Getting to see old friends, such as Diane Glancy, Robin Becker, Marilyn Kallett.

Coming away with editors who want to see my next manuscript, with promises to review my book, with promises to adopt the Collective’s anthology in courses, and more.

More later.

My Hoped-For Itinerary at AWP

This is where I hope to be spending my time at the AWP in Chicago this week. It's been tough making the choices because I have friends on several panels that are up against each other and there are other panels I really have strong interest in that are competing with each other. For example, many of the Native American and Latino panels are going head-to-head. And of course, I want them all! I would have gladly traded a few of these for some of the others not listed here that were on at the same time as others I have down.

But as of right now, this is what I plan to do there.

Thursday

9:00 am The Sister Art(s): Toward A Feminist Ekphrasis. (Grace Bauer, Robin Becker, Leslie Adrienne Miller, Joy Manesiotis, Christine Stewart-Nunez, Rebecca Bednarz) Though some might claim that "writing about art is like dancing about architecture," the past decade has witnessed a growing interest in ekphrastic writing. This panel of poets who have written on "subjects" ranging from the Mona Lisa to Kate Moss, monuments to medical illustrations to movies and dance, will examine ekphrasis through a feminist lens, and explore how for women artists, "seeing with fresh eyes" can become, as Adrienne Rich says, "an act of survival."

10:30 am Revising Modernisms: Innovative Latino Writing in the 21st Century. (J. Michael Martinez, Antonio Viego, John-Michael Rivera, Gabe Gomez, Jennifer Reimer) We will investigate what constitutes innovative U.S. Latino writing through an analysis of the cultural conditions that gave rise to the "innovative." What role does the Latino play in the understanding of "innovative" writing? How is its aim changed by the U.S. Latinos participation in its aesthetic? We will explore these questions through Lacanian theory, an analysis of Modernism and its heirs (NY School, Langpo, etc.) that includes the U.S. Latino, and the methods employed by publishers of innovative U.S. Latino writing.

Noon Diverging Lines: Understanding the Evolution of Contemporary Latino Poetry. (Blas Falconer, Rosa Alcalá, Gina Franco, Peter Ramos, Rodrigo Toscano, Robert Tejada) Although Latino poetry has a strong foundation in American literature, emerging writers are complicating the aesthetics of the canon by drawing on movements (i.e., Language Poetry, New Formalism) and communities (i.e., Gay and Lesbian, African American) outside their own. The panelists will explore the intersection between aesthetics and ethnicity, helping to define the foundation and the evolution of Latino poetry.

1:30 pm Building, Breaking, Rebuilding: Six Chicago Literary Landscapers. (Ellen Placey Wadey, Erin Teegarden, Krista Franklin, Joel Craig, Jennifer Karmin, Irasema Gonzalez) We are the bold sluggers who run Chicago's independent reading series. Set vividly against the established grid, we build literary communities in neighborhoods from the ground up. How are we thriving in the face of our challenges? Less like a panel and more like a virtual show-and-tell, organizers from a diverse group of popular, D-I-Y reading serieses discuss building, breaking from, and rebuilding Chicago's literary landscape.

3:00 pm Writing Class / Writing Gender. (Teresa Carmody, Selah Saterstrom, Corrina Wycoff, Ali Liebegott, Veronica Gonzalez) The stories of poor women have been traditionally written realistically, in order to faithfully depict the grind and grit of poverty to readers often presumed to be not-poor. What happens to the reality of poor women when rendered in non-realist, non-naturalist writing? Is realism actually more artificial than the sometimes surreal state of being a have-not? This panel presents five women writers whose work addresses the realities of social class and gender in a not-strictly realist style.

4:00 pm Las Mocosas Gritan: A Reading by Macondista Snot-noses. (Lorraine Lopez, Gabriela Jauregui, Angie Chau, Daisy Hernandez, Erin Badhand, Laura Negrete) This cross-genre reading will present poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction by a group of emerging women writers, all members of the Macondo Workshop established by Sandra Cisneros in San Antonio, Texas. These authors, who come from around the country and abroad—brought together through creativity and community activism—will share a variety of original works inspired by and in tribute to this extraordinary homeland for writers of color and other creative spirits at the margins.

6:30PM Con Tinta Celebration
Location: COCO Restaurant, 2723 W. Division St, CHICAGO 60622
Cost: Free Buffet / Cash Bar
Website: http://www.cocochicago.com/
Fourth Annual Pachanga for the Chicano/Latino Literary community and its allies. Event will include special recognition of Patti Hartmann, presentation of Achievement Award to Carlos Cortez, and readings/tributes by Carlos Cumpian, Lisa Alvarado, and Ray Gonzalez. For more information, contact Richard Yañez (ryanez4@epcc.edu).

Friday

9:00 am Sibling Rivalries: Spoken & Written Word Poetry and the Literary Tug-of-War. (Valerie Martinez, Jon Davis, Danny Solis, Jill Battson, Michelle Holland, Jasmine Cuffee) The lines between the slam/spoken word and literary poetry communities have often been drawn and defined by issues of quality, accessibility, inclusiveness, elitism, and entertainment. These lines (and the resulting estrangements) impact both young poets and writing programs. This panel brings together so-called "spoken word," "slam," and "literary" poets to discuss the tensions between communities, the (un)necessary distance, and the (im)possibility of bridging the divide.

10:30 am The Next Taboo: Writing about Illness. (Robin Romm, Lee Montgomery, Lisa Glatt, Eric Puchner, Dana Levin, Don Waters) In On Being Ill, Virginia Woolf wrote, "[it's] strange indeed that illness has not taken its place with love, battle, and jealousy among the prime themes of literature." Illness is often seen as an inferior subject for great literature, trumped by politics, race, or war. Why is this a subject many literary writers avoid? What are the challenges of writing seriously about illness? Does it necessarily court sentimentality? Does the resistance to it make it the next big taboo in literature?

Noon The Duty of a Writer. (Jackson Taylor, Marie Ponsot, Paul Muldoon, Sapphire, Major Jackson) In America, we legitimize a creative writer by noting commercial success—but what is often left unnoticed is that the creative writer performs a very important job in society—the recording of truth as he or she sees it. With truth, the writer hopes to engage the conscience of people—and perhaps get them to ask their own questions. William Blake weighed out that without contraries there is no progression—and one of the duties a writer performs is to present contraries—questioning authority in order to discern that which is ethical and legitimate. This panel will explore the duty of the writer, particularly from the perspective of a student, discuss the potential for literature to affect social change, ask if literature is an alternative to consumer culture, and explore why so many writers find their way into exile.

1:30 pm Applying for a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship: Helpful Hints for Writers and Translators. (Jon Parrish Peede, Amy Stolls, Catherine Vass) Thinking about applying for an NEA Creative Writing or Translation Fellowship but feel daunted by the process or not sure if you're eligible? Members of the NEA staff are here to help. This panel will review the fellowship guidelines and selection process, offer advice on how to put together the most effective application, and answer your questions. Special attention will be given to navigating grants.gov, the online government application system.

3:00 pm Writing in Multiple Genres. (Diana Raab, Phillip Lopate, Molly Peacock, David Huddle, Judith Kitchen) In the past, literary writers were encouraged to focus on a single genre, but in recent years, many have experimented more freely with other forms. This panel of poets, fiction and nonfiction writers will explore the challenges and rewards of crossing over to other genres. Some of the topics to be discussed include: What does each writer bring to the enterprise? What do they learn when making this transition? How does writing in more than one genre add depth and complexity to their work?

6:00PM PALABRA PURA: Special Edition
Location: JAZZ SHOWCASE, 47 W. Polk St., Chicago 60605
Cost: Free/Cash Bar
Websites: http://www.jazzshowcase.com, http://guildcomplex.org
Following up on the multi-voiced reading hosted by ACENTOS in NYC last year during AWP, the Guild Complex, Letras Latinas, and Poetry Magazine will be hosting a "One Poem Festival" featuring an ample roster of Latino and Latina poets from Chicago and out of town, including: Lisa Alvarado, Carlos Cumpian, Silvia Curbelo, Gina Franco, Gabe Gomez, Irasema Gonzalez, Maurice Kilwein Guevara, Gabriela Jauregui, Olivia Maciel, Carl Marcum, Valerie Martínez, Orlando Ricardo Menes, Achy Obejas, Daniel A. Olivas, Johanny Vasquez Paz, Paul Martinez Pompa, Linda Rodríguez, Jacob Saenz, Jorge Sánchez,Juan Manuel Sanchez Rich Villar. For more information, contact Ellen Wadey (ellenw@guildcomplex.org)

Saturday

9:00 am Waving Adieu, Adieu, Adieu: Poems of Leave-Taking and Farewell. (Alan Soldofsky, Willis Barnstone, David Mura, Marcia Southwick, Daniel Tobin) Farewells are among the hardest, most poignant subjects to write about. Thus, poems of leave taking and farewell appear in a great many guises and forms, sometimes presenting a solemn, sometimes an ironic, sometimes a mixed or angular tone—occasioned as such poems usually are by an assortment of difficult life events. Five distinguished poets will read and discuss poems of leave-taking and farewell from a diversity of traditions and modes as well as read examples from their own work.

10:30 am Speaking Of and To Others: Beyond the Western Apostrophe in Intertribal Poetry. (Molly McGlennen, Simon Ortiz, Kimberly Blaeser, Diane Glancy, Sherwin Bitsui) Do shared commitments of Native American writers to cultural, liguistic, political, and physical survival inform a unique creative process? This panel considers the possibility of an Indigenous Poetics and the embodied consequences of poetry in Native communities. Within what contextual "frame" do Native American poets craft, publish, or perform their work? Is an Indegenous Poetics, discrete from or parallel to the Western tradition, implied in the creative work itself? Panelists incorporate readings to showcase important creative/critical confluences.

Noon Metaphor, Selective Memory, & Misdirection: Poetry as Autobiography by Other Means. (Jordan Smith, Judith Hall, David Rigsbee, Ed Pavlic) A reading with commentary by four poets whose work—with the dramatic monologue, with actual or imagined translations, with language as music and metaphor, fragmentation and revelation—continues the investigation of the place of the poem's speaker and the nature of poetic authority. Rather than assuming the immediacy and centrality of the first person or abandoning it to its own limitations, these poets have made the definition of the "I" in relationship to the poem's subject part of the poem's development of character, topos, and topic.

1:30 pm More Than a Collection: Imagining and Realizing Thematic Poetry Projects. (Jon Tribble, Oliver de la Paz, Jesse Lee Kercheval, Sean Nevin, Alison Townsend, Jake Adam York) A panel discussion featuring five Crab Orchard Series in Poetry authors who have published collections with Southern Illinois University Press that explore extended thematic concerns or ongoing poetic projects on topics including the imaginative interior life of a young boy, silent film, Alzheimer's, the Persephone myth and twenty-first-century America, and the martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement.

Palabra Pura at AWP in Chicago Next Week

Next week, I'm heading off to the AWP (Associated Writers & Writing Programs) national conference in Chicago, February 11-14. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of old friends and attending their panels and meeting lots of new people. Most of all, I'm looking forward to reading in the special Palabra Pura "One Poem Festival" on Friday night and visiting with lots of interesting folks at Con Tinta the night before.

Friday, February 13
Special Edition: "One Poem Festival"

(AWP off-site event)

6:00 - 7:30 PM
@Jazz Showcase

Lisa Alvarado
Carlos Cumpian
Silvia Curbelo
Gina Franco
Gabe Gomez
Irasema Gonzalez
Maurice Kilwein Guevara
Gabriela Jauregui
Olivia Maciel
Carl Marcum
Valerie Martínez
Orlando Ricardo Menes
Achy Obejas
Daniel A. Olivas
Johanny Vázquez Paz
Paul Martinez Pompa
Linda Rodríguez
Jacob Saenz
Jorge Sánchez
Juan Manuel Sanchez
Rich Villar

co-sponsored by Poetry magazine

Thursday, February 12

6:30PM-8:30PM

Con Tinta Celebration
Location: COCO Restaurant, 2723 W. Division St, CHICAGO 60622
Cost: Free Buffet / Cash Bar
Website: http://www.cocochicago.com/
Fourth Annual Pachanga for the Chicano/Latino Literary community and its allies. Event will include special recognition of Patti Hartmann, presentation of Achievement Award to Carlos Cortez, and readings/tributes by Carlos Cumpian, Lisa Alvarado, and Ray Gonzalez. For more information, contact Richard Yañez (ryanez4@epcc.edu).

The Past and More Poetry (What Else?)

I had an e-mail from one of those classmate/reunion websites today about one of the girls I went to high school with--Manhattan, KS, High School. It’s been very odd, but after many years of having no contact with anyone I went to high school with, in the past year I’ve wound up back in touch with three of them, two girls in the class before me and a guy from my class who I dated in my junior year. That’s been very interesting, seeing how we’ve all changed with the years. Now, I hear about Jeanie, but not in any way that I can let her know how to contact me. I knew her better than the other two girls since she was in my class and we were in most of the same activities. I find myself wondering how her life has turned out.

I’m probably trying to get away from all the things I need to do. I need to do press releases and a million other things for Tercera Página, the Latino Writers Collective’s third annual reading series—and I will; I’ve just been distracted by writing major grants for LWC and for The Writers Place and other things like that. I also need to decide what poem I’m going to read for Palabra Pura’s Special Edition: “One Poem Festival” at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago. It’s an AWP off-site event that Francisco Aragón is curating.

I’ve talked with wonderful, supportive husband, Ben, about it. He says I have two choices—go with a poem that’s good with audiences or go with an “AWP poem.” I ask, “What’s an AWP poem?” (Can you tell I’m just not sophisticated, even after all these years?) He says, “It’s a poem that gets pulled out to impress people with your literariness.” Well, that makes it easy! I don’t have any of those. I took a different road from that one a long time ago when I decided I wanted my work to be accessible to any reasonably literate reader. So I’ll probably be a bust as far as AWP is concerned. Francisco’s another matter—he has higher standards than that, I believe.

I would really like to read a poem that I think is one of my best, but it’s also one of my longest. I’m not like my friend, Joe, who writes 15-page poems sometimes. Long for me is 3-4 pages. But I have never read this poem because I don’t think long poems go over as well with audiences—it’s too hard to keep it all in your head while you’re listening—and this poem deserves full concentration. So once again, I see, I’ve decided not to read “Considering Oceans.”

I’ve got about 500 poems, so this could be a long process. I’ll put it in my unconscious while I work on Tercera Página, which will run from March 4-May 15 and feature a student performance of a cultural piece with original poetry, drama, dance, and music, Gloria Vando headlining a reading with LWC members, Sandra Cisneros in both a public reading at the Central Library and an event with students at the Plaza Library, all culminating with the launch of the LWC fiction anthology, which is one of those things taking extra time and attention right now.

To work, Linda! Adelante!