21 June 2010

Onward + upward

Friday was the last day of my summer class. Now I'll just be grading for two days, and catching up on everything I couldn't catch up on before. Oh, and quite a bit of editorial work, too.

I've decided to start waking up at 6:00 instead of 5:30, now that I'm not teaching and my schedule is a little more flexible. That half hour makes quite a difference. I just hope I don't use it as an excuse not to go to bed on time.

We've added a couple of really amazing essays to the first volume of the Akron Series in Contemporary Poetics, and that's exciting.

I have also been doing some jury work for a state arts council. I find reading the artist's statements both enjoyable and vexing. There's such a fine line between establishing a need, and bitching about how much the electric bill costs. I get upset when applicants don't talk about poetry at all, as if this is a purely fiscal application. Sometimes the statements are confrontational. Sometimes they talk down to the jury (as if we're not a panel of experts, and need a lot of poetry basics explained to us).

Maybe some time I will write about my own approach to the artist's statement. I guess my own statements are a little dreamy, but I want to give the readers a sense of what the poems are trying to do, and why anyone should care about them.

Of course, the writing sample is what matters most. I always read that first.

Anyhow, I guess it's time to get to work on other things. I am totally spinning my wheels right now. Where to begin? Where to begin?

I think a to-do list is in order.

1 comment:

Justin Evans said...

Begin with you.

Charleston gratitude and overdue update

I've been good about keeping things updated over on my website, but not as successful in updating this dear old blog. Many apologi...