April 25th, Ted Kooser's Birthday, the anniversary of the Easter Rebellion

Well, I started to write this on the 25th, and then fell asleep, and then I procrastinated a little bit, so it is now the 27th- but I can't be bothered to look up anything about today, so I'm sticking with what I had for the 25th.

Happy slightly belated birthday to Ted Kooser, who consistently delivers punches precisely where it matters and scatters snowflakes over the aches.
Here is one of my favourite poems from Ted:

Flying at Night

Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations.
Five billion miles away, a galaxy dies
like a snowflake falling on water. Below us,
some farmer, feeling the chill of that distant death,
snaps on his yard light, drawing his sheds and barn
back into the little system of his care.
All night, the cities, like shimmering novas,
tug with bright streets at lonely lights like his.


Also, today is the anniversary of the Easter Rebellion! Not quite as cheery as Mr. Kooser's birthday, but significant nonetheless.

I'm currently awash with stuff to do, trying to plow through a new grant proposal, keep up with my tutoring and my writing students, write these two novels, write poem letters to Emma, sew an Elizabethan corset, and oh yeah, prepare a playlist of music for recording. Too many things!

So I'm at one of my favourite new Austin cafes, Monkey Nest, enjoying the wide open space and the light through the windows, and the bizarre playlist alternating between the Killers and Modest Mouse, with the occasional Beatles, Stones, or Cake song thrown in, for spice. Last week it was a run of Three Dog Night and 70's tunes- heaven!

One of the things I adore about this cafe (besides the fact that I get to hang out with Merri Su every time I come!) is how light and open it is, and, of course, their delicious Turkish spice tea. I'm so used to my usual haunts on the East side- Rio Rita, Cherrywood, etc- which are all lovely and funky, but also a bit dark and enclosed. Although there is the big plus that I can get alchohol in those places, to you know, help me get through my workload.

So I've written a few new pieces in the last week, and in even more exciting news, just had a poem accepted by the print journal Alimentum, which is a gorgeous publication that focuses on literature about food. Which is, of course, my favourit type of literature. The actual journal will be the Summer edition, so it won't be out for a few months, but what an inspiration! One step back, two steps forward!

Another tremendous inspiration that has surfaced in the past few days is, interestingly, my little brother. In the past few days he has chased multiple tornados across north Texas with a team of stormchasers, documenting cloud rotation, twisters, wind and lightning. He almost got hit by lightning, actually. I'm so jealous and incredibly inspired by his work! If I can get my hands on a few of his photos from this latest adventure, I'll post them in my next entry.