Second place!

I just found out that a batch of my poems came in second place in the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival's poetry contest! Congrats to my fellow finalists and to the winner!

I am excited to attend the festival and to see and hear the winning poet, as well as all the other cool literary goings-on the festival always delivers. And nice to know the Louisiana poet laureate has seen--and liked--my work!

Recent publications

How exciting! A review I wrote of three excellent books of poetry has been published on Literary Mama. Here's a sample:

In Mary Crockett Hill's poem "The Fat Cat," one line in particular stands out: "Someone should write a manual for avoiding random horrors." Although that manual may not exist, three recent collections of poetry--Mary Crockett Hill's a theory of everything, Amy Lemmon's Saint Nobody, and Rebecca Foust's Dark Card--address how mothers reconcile a world filled with beauty and pain, attachment and loss, especially when motherhood doesn't turn out the way we imagined it would be.

Also, the story of my first son's birth is going to be published in an anthology of birth stories sometime in the next couple of months. The editors have created a blog, with photos and clips (mine is down toward the bottom, if you scroll!). Can't wait to see the finished product.

All this activity reminds me that I'm more than just a milk machine/sandbox playmate...and one of these days I'll be back to creating some new works (or finally putting together the half-finished ones sitting in my "In progress" folders). Till then, I'm watching the two little guys grow bigger day by day...

Back again!

OK, that last "I'm back" didn't take very well. But I have an excuse, as you can see. Born February 4, 2010. More updates as I get around to them...