O Bitter, O Sweet!

O Bitter! Very best unpublished poems rejected by a print litmag called Rattle which I admire enough to subscribe to, and wanted to be in. They didn't take even 1. Well, that cut me down to size...

O Sweet! My poem "Hide and Sex" published as a poem of the day here at Janet Riehl's blog Riehlife.com.

O Bitter! The end of a job very important to me.

O Sweet! Publication date of Meet Me: Writers in St. Louis, April 9 -- in two days!
and, O really, really sweet! Everybody's support and suggestions, even a tupperware full of vegetables! How can I ever thank you?

Inaugural Poem: My 2 Cents

Elizabeth Alexander had to try to write a poem that would please 300 million people and offend not even one. No movie or book has ever accomplished that. Given her task she did a good job and maintained her dignity and her own reserved poetic style. Congratulations to her. (She did some time teaching at Wash U., so I'm not judging her only on her performance today.)

I am thrilled that the planners of the inauguration even thought about including a poem. Furthermore they didn't ask Maya Angelou, who's become poetry's biggest bore, even though she is the "right" color and gender. Congratulations to the planners for going for substance rather than show.