Announcing NPM Poetry Book Give Away Winners!

The winner of Allison Joseph's My Father's Kites is Karen J. Weyant.

The winner of my book Blue Positive is Ronald.

Please send me your ground addresses, so that I can mail you your free copies!

Thanks to everyone who entered, and to Kelli Russell Agodon for organizing the 2010 NPM Book Giveaway.

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It's May 1, and I am exhausted. I never take naps, but today I took a long one. I am also fighting a cold, probably because I read three times last week in three different WA towns, and it seemed I never wore enough layers.

It was a great month, but I am beat. Even though I didn't write a poem a day, I ended up writing six or more decent drafts. What was even more exciting was making ftf contact with so many new and familiar faces. I like having a virtual connection with far-flung friends, but it sure is nice to exchange words in real time, see their expressions, hear them laugh, and, best of all, hug them.

On April 29, as I was driving to Port Townsend to read with Sarah Zale at the Northwind Gallery, I popped in a CD of James Tate reading in 1996 at The New School, just after he'd won the Tanning Prize ($100,000 purse). He does this incredibly out-there reading with poems about how popes get chosen and all these references to insects, and then in a rare uncomposed moment toward the end of the reading he lets out this huge sigh and says something like "God, I am so happy National Poetry Month is OVER!" Imagine my surprise. It's an awesome recording, but it's before there was YouTube, so the only way to hear it is to purchase it through The American Academy of Poets, or ask me to borrow it.

Oh, in closing, I'd like to share a photo of what a NPM writing day in the Po-Barn looks like (with poet Kelli Russell Agodon). Many thanks to Kelli for her enthusiasm, smarts, and generous spirit.