Accommodatingly

Poetics of Adolescence: Forms of Youth in Twentieth-Century Poetry now exists as a complete draft, awaiting only a few hours of proofreading and spellchecking before it goes in the big envelope to the university press which, I hope, will publish it. About freakin’ time. (Yeah, I know: write a book about immaturity, and you’ll feel like you’re never going to finish it.)

I will be reading poetry (mostly with other cool people, in one case alone) at the Harvard Advocate in Cambridge, Mass. on Thursday, May 11; on Staten Island on Monday May 15; in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday May 17; in Brooklyn on Thursday May 18; and at UConn, in Storrs, on May 24. I’ll post details here shortly, but if you want first word, or want to start making plans, drop me a line.

We are very close to having to pack away the 6-month size stuff. Nathan is just over 3 months old, and we’re already moving up to 9-month-old size clothes. I just spent $100 on sale and clearance priced clothes at Target to try to keep up with his insane growth. At this rate, he’ll be playing center for the Timberwolves by his 5th birthday.

(1) Much that is beautiful must be discarded so that we may resemble a taller impression of ourselves.

(2) Tramps like us and we like tramps. (Note Boss allusion.) It’s clear to me at the moment that the best rock records of 2005 were Maximo Park, Portastatic and the Hold Steady, probably in that order.

(3) Want to see me? I’ll be in Santa Fe on Wednesday interviewing the illustrious C. D. Wright; Albuquerque on Thursday presenting new critical work thanks to the generosity of Matt Hofer and the Loboland English Department; and Iowa City on Monday night reading with Monica Youn at Prairie Lights. Contact us if you want more info on any of those events!

Nathan’s bubbe and zadie love him very much. Oh yes they do.

Sometimes almost everything I do seems to meet with Nathan’s wide-eyed, calm, blissful approval.

At other times, the answer to everything is wiggle, squirm, shake head, wail a bit, squirm and wiggle.

***

I will be reading, along with the estimable Monica Youn, at the Loft in Minneapolis Monday April 17 at 7pm. Y’all come (if applicable).

Ron Hogan at Beatrice reprints me. Thanks!

Jennifer Grosz at the Washington Post seems to like me.

Pilight noticed me! Ted recommends me!

(Pantaloons attacks David Orr. Note to Pantaloons: I see what you mean about the class- and regional associations which accrue, posthumously, to a taste for Elizabeth Bishop, but the homophobic overtones– no, I mean the homophobic tones– rather ruin the point you’re trying to make. Moreover Bishop herself wrote quite a lot about social class and its consequences. Though I myself do not live in a world created by Elizabeth Bishop: at the moment, it seems to be a world created by William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, and Patrick Amory, though it may not last the night.)

who is it

Originally uploaded by Jessie and Steve.

Nathan getting tummy time and being narcissistic. Or he would be narcissistic if he knew that was him in the mirror.

If you want to keep things short this year

Nathan now sleeps through (most of) the night, which is great– we hope it lasts.

Among his newfound sleep-related behaviors– newfound, in fact, as of tonight: when sleeping lightly, or just after going to bed, he now has a two-tone coo, or coo-coo. It sounds very much like the “cuckoo for cocoa-puffs” ad.

Do most three-month-old babies make cuckoo noises?

Will he, in fact, crave cocoa puffs in a year?

“Burt seems unable to write of an experience without refracting it through the lens of a thousand others.” (I think this is right.)

Compare John Freeman’s review of my book for the Courant (linked above) to his review of my book for the Star-Tribune (both part of the same, presumably syndicated, group review) and you’ll see just how much editing matters. (I remain grateful for both reviews.)

We have a (non-poetry) errand which can only be performed by somebody with access to the University of Vermont’s library. It might take ten minutes; it might take considerably longer. If you are such a person, drop Steve a line.