528: Just So Y'All Know...
I got back alright. Finally finished all my papers at 5 on Friday and Laura rode me downtown at 8. Bus was late and lay down by my luggage and fell asleep at one point and spent the majority of the bus ride sleeping--not helping the fact that none of this had been sinking in. It really came home to me, though, when I got home and saw the leaves on the grass. L.A.'s consistency of weather throws me off--I have no sense of time or place.
Luckily, I learn my lessons and packed very light, as I had to take the light rail and bus from downtown to my mom's place--I haven't really gotten to talk to my aunt yet, as she's still recovering from her surgery. I felt excited walking by the capital and on the light rail, seeing Sacramento again for the first time. During my very long wait for the 26--I could've walked the last stretch across Sac State, but I was feeling lazy, even if the luggage wasn't that heavy--I started waxing poetic about how different the sun is in Sacramento than in L.A.
Basically, my soul is in Sacramento--maybe it's just 'cause it's smaller, and that means I can conquer it more. This certainly felt the case today, as I was hella bored and wanting to get out, so I basically went in a big three-mile circle, hitting a couple of thrift stores along the way, looking for something warm to wear. I didn't realize it would be so cold--one of the bitterly coldest winters we've ever had, I'm sure. I had to wear a jacket over my hoodie just to bear it--and ironically, less than a month ago, when I was at Target agonizing over whether to buy these cute sweaters and gloves and hats, I figured it wasn't cold enough to justify the purchases. XP
Tomorrow, I'm gonna catch the 26 to the Target over on Alta Arden, and then hit Crossroads and the other Goodwill on Fulton on my way back. Hopefully I can manage to get myself fully bundled up by the time I arrive back.
This past semester, I also felt my lack in L.A. of not knowing where the good indie theaters are. It'll be time to hit up the Tower and Crest again with friends, among other possible hang-out options. Only three weeks...
***
In the meantime, there's other things to catch up on as well. For instance: do you guys realize I never wrote up the French Film Festival? For shame. I also haven't been utilizing my Netflix account, so I have a lot of movies to watch now, too... And, whilst at WEAVE today (I don't know where else they have this, but it's a thrift shop whose proceeds benefit [female] survivors of domestic abuse), in addition to this fabulous purple blazer, I snagged three books for a dollar:
--The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
I've wanted to read this one for awhile, since I heard it was really good; and I actually do really like the movie. ;P
--The Best Short Stories of the Modern Age
Mostly got this to snag the 3-for-$1 deal; has some good stories, a lot of good writers--though no Flannerly O'Connor. I should find an anthology of best short stories by women writers, lol.
--The Hours, Michael Cummingham
The book upon which my favorite movie ever was based. Branden said this was really good and I trust her opinion. Now if only I could snag some Jeanette Winterson on the cheap...
I also have a few movies I saw this semester I wanna review; namely Secretary and Paris, Je t'aime. Also, movies I saw in class, L'Auberge Espanol and Paris is Burning. Also, because I've spent so many early mornings watching VH1, maybe I can do something on music videos, an art form that my extensive collection on my YouTube favorites attests to my love of.
There's also music, of course; some snags from the radio station and indie releases I have my eye on that have been a long time in the getting (Charles Shaw Project, Fiction Like Candy) and new ones by old favorites (Dawson Wells, Unwoman). I also have my eyes on some very delicious poetry collections, so I'll let you know on all of that.
Obviously, I want to hone my reviewing skills: this JanTerm I will be reviewing the student production of Sartre's No Exit... directed by Mallory Lopez. That's right, the girl who bitched me out in a mass-e-mail about my review of Pride & Prejudice. I like me some Camus, but I'ma hafta read this play before I see it, and write a really excellent review. I just need to cover my own ass--at least this time, I'll have some time to compose it.
So obviously I'll be doing lots of reading: I also have Camus's The Plauge on loan from Laura, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje to finish, along with One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)--need to return that to Mike, so maybe I can snag Love in a Time of Cholera from him. Should also keep my promise to burn him some music. Hopefully I'll be seeing a movie or two with "my beloved storkman".
Which is my segue into talking about the work I'll be doing on the collection--I have to do up a poem on him, and the one on Dukie and Moorehead; maybe on Roxie and Eve, too. I just don't know if the old poems about them will fit in the collection. I'm also at that point with it where I have enough poems, now it's just a matter of deciding what goes in or not and/or where it goes and in what order. Frustrations I am grateful to have, for obvious reasons.
Hopefully, I can get manuscripts of the working thing to Eve and Roxie--maybe get comments. But they should at least have 'em. If it weren't for them, it wouldn't exist.
But the main issue with the book at this point, which may or may not be resolving itself, has to do with points of inspiration--most of these poems were written (or, for the ones I've been drafting and still have to draft, got their initial inspiration) between 2005 and 2007. Most new ideas I'm coming up with now seem to be coalescing in a direction that is not poetry (a project I'm not gonna talk about yet until I have something more concrete beyond scattered ideas). So I'm still trying to figure out how I will fill in the gaps, thematically tie this book together in a satisfying way. It just feels like some recent poems shouldn't go in there.
The new stuff I wanna write will probably lean more towards talking about Sacramento as a city, and myself autobiographically. This isn't what Images is about, really. I want to make it clear where these poems take place, because it is tied to Sacramento--but the specific part and space of it I was inhabiting at a certain time. This is a narrow thing--which is why I'm thinking there will be a section for juvenilia in this first book, just because I want to be complete, and even if it doesn't stick to the theme, that doesn't mean the stuff's not decent. Or maybe I could make that a little chapbook?
Either way, I'm excited about it, but also hard at work at ironing these things out. You guys deserve a new poem or two, so I'll be sure to post some as we go along... I think I only have about half a dozen more to write for this.
***
I know this is awful long; don't worry, I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things. I've missed our little chats...
Luckily, I learn my lessons and packed very light, as I had to take the light rail and bus from downtown to my mom's place--I haven't really gotten to talk to my aunt yet, as she's still recovering from her surgery. I felt excited walking by the capital and on the light rail, seeing Sacramento again for the first time. During my very long wait for the 26--I could've walked the last stretch across Sac State, but I was feeling lazy, even if the luggage wasn't that heavy--I started waxing poetic about how different the sun is in Sacramento than in L.A.
Basically, my soul is in Sacramento--maybe it's just 'cause it's smaller, and that means I can conquer it more. This certainly felt the case today, as I was hella bored and wanting to get out, so I basically went in a big three-mile circle, hitting a couple of thrift stores along the way, looking for something warm to wear. I didn't realize it would be so cold--one of the bitterly coldest winters we've ever had, I'm sure. I had to wear a jacket over my hoodie just to bear it--and ironically, less than a month ago, when I was at Target agonizing over whether to buy these cute sweaters and gloves and hats, I figured it wasn't cold enough to justify the purchases. XP
Tomorrow, I'm gonna catch the 26 to the Target over on Alta Arden, and then hit Crossroads and the other Goodwill on Fulton on my way back. Hopefully I can manage to get myself fully bundled up by the time I arrive back.
This past semester, I also felt my lack in L.A. of not knowing where the good indie theaters are. It'll be time to hit up the Tower and Crest again with friends, among other possible hang-out options. Only three weeks...
***
In the meantime, there's other things to catch up on as well. For instance: do you guys realize I never wrote up the French Film Festival? For shame. I also haven't been utilizing my Netflix account, so I have a lot of movies to watch now, too... And, whilst at WEAVE today (I don't know where else they have this, but it's a thrift shop whose proceeds benefit [female] survivors of domestic abuse), in addition to this fabulous purple blazer, I snagged three books for a dollar:
--The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
I've wanted to read this one for awhile, since I heard it was really good; and I actually do really like the movie. ;P
--The Best Short Stories of the Modern Age
Mostly got this to snag the 3-for-$1 deal; has some good stories, a lot of good writers--though no Flannerly O'Connor. I should find an anthology of best short stories by women writers, lol.
--The Hours, Michael Cummingham
The book upon which my favorite movie ever was based. Branden said this was really good and I trust her opinion. Now if only I could snag some Jeanette Winterson on the cheap...
I also have a few movies I saw this semester I wanna review; namely Secretary and Paris, Je t'aime. Also, movies I saw in class, L'Auberge Espanol and Paris is Burning. Also, because I've spent so many early mornings watching VH1, maybe I can do something on music videos, an art form that my extensive collection on my YouTube favorites attests to my love of.
There's also music, of course; some snags from the radio station and indie releases I have my eye on that have been a long time in the getting (Charles Shaw Project, Fiction Like Candy) and new ones by old favorites (Dawson Wells, Unwoman). I also have my eyes on some very delicious poetry collections, so I'll let you know on all of that.
Obviously, I want to hone my reviewing skills: this JanTerm I will be reviewing the student production of Sartre's No Exit... directed by Mallory Lopez. That's right, the girl who bitched me out in a mass-e-mail about my review of Pride & Prejudice. I like me some Camus, but I'ma hafta read this play before I see it, and write a really excellent review. I just need to cover my own ass--at least this time, I'll have some time to compose it.
So obviously I'll be doing lots of reading: I also have Camus's The Plauge on loan from Laura, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje to finish, along with One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)--need to return that to Mike, so maybe I can snag Love in a Time of Cholera from him. Should also keep my promise to burn him some music. Hopefully I'll be seeing a movie or two with "my beloved storkman".
Which is my segue into talking about the work I'll be doing on the collection--I have to do up a poem on him, and the one on Dukie and Moorehead; maybe on Roxie and Eve, too. I just don't know if the old poems about them will fit in the collection. I'm also at that point with it where I have enough poems, now it's just a matter of deciding what goes in or not and/or where it goes and in what order. Frustrations I am grateful to have, for obvious reasons.
Hopefully, I can get manuscripts of the working thing to Eve and Roxie--maybe get comments. But they should at least have 'em. If it weren't for them, it wouldn't exist.
But the main issue with the book at this point, which may or may not be resolving itself, has to do with points of inspiration--most of these poems were written (or, for the ones I've been drafting and still have to draft, got their initial inspiration) between 2005 and 2007. Most new ideas I'm coming up with now seem to be coalescing in a direction that is not poetry (a project I'm not gonna talk about yet until I have something more concrete beyond scattered ideas). So I'm still trying to figure out how I will fill in the gaps, thematically tie this book together in a satisfying way. It just feels like some recent poems shouldn't go in there.
The new stuff I wanna write will probably lean more towards talking about Sacramento as a city, and myself autobiographically. This isn't what Images is about, really. I want to make it clear where these poems take place, because it is tied to Sacramento--but the specific part and space of it I was inhabiting at a certain time. This is a narrow thing--which is why I'm thinking there will be a section for juvenilia in this first book, just because I want to be complete, and even if it doesn't stick to the theme, that doesn't mean the stuff's not decent. Or maybe I could make that a little chapbook?
Either way, I'm excited about it, but also hard at work at ironing these things out. You guys deserve a new poem or two, so I'll be sure to post some as we go along... I think I only have about half a dozen more to write for this.
***
I know this is awful long; don't worry, I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things. I've missed our little chats...