One week...

...and I will be heading to Eire. It feels like I am going home. Most people think I'm Irish because of my last name, but I'm not.

This is a picture of my Ohio friend Jacquie and me at McDermott's about four years ago. Now Jacquie lives in a cottage behind McDermott's. I can't wait to sit at this very picnic table and write. There is live ceili music every night at McDermott's and the craic is always good.

It's been a rough weekend for my family, but things seem to be improving and I am humbled by the miracles I've witnessed.

On the poetry tip, I had the poem Sitting at Le Cafe la Nuit picked up last week by American Poetry Journal. I couldn't be happier with my recent acceptances, but I also look forward to lounging around the fields of County Clare and writing some new stuff.

I'm looking for some good novels to read on my trip. I have a couple lined up, but I am open to suggestions. If you had all day to read and write (and pub crawl), what would you be reading?

It was a normal day...

...until I discovered that a new lady moved in my complex and she has a pug named Bruce. When she asked the name of my pug, I hesitated. It's such a big mess to say "Telemachus." People never say, "That's cute." They say, "What the hell does that mean? Why would you name a dog that? Do you actually call him that?" Anyway, I wanted to make up a new name for Telemachus. I want Bruce to like him and all. Telemachus doesn't have many pug friends. I almost said, "Fred" or "David," but I couldn't lie. Only time will tell if Bruce is allowed to be friends with a hooligan named Telemachus.

When I returned home and checked my email, I found out that New York Quarterly is taking a poem of mine. That has always been a dream magazine of mine. I'm so happy that I don't even care if my neighbors think I'm strange. I mean, who names their dog Bruce, right?

I feel like today's the day

It's a sweet Sunday afternoon. My defense went better than I ever could have fathomed. Thanks to the dream team: Maggie Anderson, Mary Biddinger, and Craig Paulenich. I feel much better having turned in my thesis. I just have to finish my internship and attend two more Dumanis classes.

Right now I am listening to Amanda by Boston. Until today, I had never really thought about this song. It's on a CD somebody made me, but I usually skip it. But today, I think I am going to listen to it a few times. I don't know anyone named Amanda. Maybe my next dog will be named Amanda. Then I can sing the song to her. Or, perhaps I will name her Cecelia. There is no song called Telemachus so I just generally change the words to songs when I sing to him. Telemachus pretty much prefers reggae. I am not sure why, but I must support him in his interests. I added Marley to one of his middle names. His full name is Telemachus Goteborg Neruda Marley Herlihy Sullivan.

Check out a very new poem of mine on Arsenic Lobster Poetry Journal. It's a really hip journal and I am excited to have a poem there.

Well, I have to meet Jay soon so we can work on our real vs. imagined presentation for Tuesday.

Check it out

New poems of mine published here. I'm pretty stoked to be published in a journal called "Innisfree." It warms my wannabe Irish heart.

Check it out, yo.

Some new poems on Wicked Alice...along with Miss Jessica Jewell's always incredible work.

What's on my poetry agenda for this weekend?

My manuscript is once again on the floor. The first and third sections must be reorganized. I have cut two or three poems and have decided that the speaker/protagonist/poet (whatever) must be wed, at least metaphorically, to painter Vincent from page one.

I also will be reading Jay's manuscript. I can't wait.

Telemachus and his women

Telemachus has an array of women in his life. The above picture is of his main squeeze, Lola.

How do you know you are old and ridiculous? When you and your friends are having a pre-Christmas Eve sleepover where your dogs exchange gifts. Lola doesn't know it yet, but a very large golden lab named Zoey is coming to spend the night.

On a more serious note, two more poems of mine were picked up for publication. Both of them are van Gogh poems. One is a pantoum and the other is a prose poem.

The good and the bad

GOOD

Congrats to my NEOMFA friends who graduated, especially my homegirl Sara Tracey. She gave a great reading on Friday. I am thankful to have had the chance to get to know her through the NEOMFA program and look forward to a lifetime of friendship.

In other good news, I got word last week that two of my poems have been picked up for publication. One is a van Gogh poem so that makes me thrilled. I worry about the van Gogh poems being too dependent on one another. The other poem is one of only three poems I have ever written about Ireland. As much as I think about Ireland, I am incapable of writing much about it. It's almost unreachable. Everything comes out in cliche, usually green cliche.

BAD

After celebrating my friend Kelly's birthday last night, she slept on my couch...and so did my sweet Telemachus. He ditched me for my friend. This has never happened before. I guess my boy is all grown up. I hate it. As I type this sorrowful news, Telemachus is attempting to snuggle close to me, but I am not giving in just yet. He is only trying to get close to me because Kelly is gone. I'm on to his tricks.