Okay, so just when I thought I was going to be able to give my undivided attention to my writing (novel) after the end of the summer writing festival, I end up in Minneapolis, taking my grandson to the zoo for his birthday. Now, I wanted to be helpful and support my daughter, but actually the thought of going to a zoo kind of creeps me out. You may know the feeling, you want to run around and open up all the cage doors, yelling "Run away! runaway! Your free!" I mean the concept of looking at caged animals kind of bums me out! However I wanted to be helpful so I agreed to go.
   Someone tried to put me at ease once, a long time ago by telling me that the animals I see were mostly rescues and probably suffering from some malady that doesn't allow them to fend for themselves in the wild, so have to be taken care of or else they would have had to have been 'put down'. Now, having been a Vet tech in my younger days and having assisted veteranarians in euthanizing cats and dogs - I have to say, well okay, but I'm still a wee bit skeptical - if only they could talk...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0uO5RKI-S8

Hey youse!
Okay, I promised shorts stories and such and it is now time. I have an upcoming Sonnets class (7/20/2013) that I am trying to prepare for and am still engaged in revising and editing my novel. My week long class at UI for the writing festival even though productive, has set me back. So much that needs to be changed (to make it more believable, which is so important in fiction! hah!) because even though my character is likable, he is sad (at the beginning) and so should show it immediately within the first two pages and blah, blah, blah... 
    So, I hope to get some more poetry and short stories (flash fiction!) on page one of my site and they will start to appear just under my introduction. Blogging will remain on this page and will only include interesting (and maybe not so interesting) shite about me and what trouble I'm getting into! So, off for a wee bit of tea and a biscuit (or two)!
Slainte!

July seems to be a slow month for poetry here in Iowa City, but it just seems... The Summer Writing Festival is still taking place and soon I'll be back at it. The last few years I have been diligently working at writing and improving on my modern poetry and after all that time , I do see some improvement; but I miss the old. So going to take a step back to where I left off and dive into Sonnet writing. Taking a week end class with Dora Malech around the 21st, I hope to improve upon the traditional.
        Did a reading just recently at Strange Cage 13, lyrically projecting A Celtic Mans Dream, A Squirrel Watching Moon Spawned Rover, Cyclophiliac and Tread Mark On Airborne Cloud (Kind of a Hurricane press). A small crowd showed up to listen and it was a fairly enjoyable time. The event was held  in Iowa City at Fair Grounds Coffee shop on S. Dubuque (nice people there). The Guinness flowed and the words spilled out, flowing across the room. There were many talented readers and even though I didn't really converse with any of them (they were just to nervous!), I did enjoy their work. It seemed I was the oldest person in the room but only because I had the least amount of hair!
Thanks to Russell Jaffe for asking me to read at his event and honorable mention to Eric Roalson, Adam Edelman and Justine Retz for their contribution to 'A Squirrel Watching Moon Spawned Rover'! Slainte!