RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM MEDICATED HAZE: I have a horrible cold and a bit of a fever, so I've been floating in a medicated haze for the last couple of days. I'm performing tonight in Fayetteville at the Blended Heritage Festival at the Fayette County Library. There's a good chance this will be one of my most sucky readings ever.

Reading Barbara Jane Reyes' new collection Poeta en San Francisco, which is breathtaking. I highly recommend it. Also, Tania Rochelle let me read the manuscript of her new book. It's so good I cried...several times, including on the phone with Tania telling her how much I loved it. She's sending it to contests right now, and if it doesn't win a big award I will be stunned.

I culled through my books of poetry and fiction to send with Robin Kemp down to New Orleans this weekend. She's collecting books to donate to all those writers who lost their libraries during Hurricane Katrina. If you want to know how to donate books, contact Robin at her blog. She'll point you in the right direction and let you know how to send them down there.

American Idol is kicking butt this season. My favorite is Taylor Hicks, who claims to be 27, but looks like he's 47 with the gray hair. He's got a lot of Joe Cocker-type soul and you can tell he's passionate about music - not the glitz and glamour of being on television. I'm stunned he made it this far and I'd like to see him win. I might actually buy his album.

I'll be co-hosting - for part of the evening anyway - Java Monkey Speaks this Sunday night. Kodac is performing at Eddie's Attic and won't be over until later. Come on out and bring your poetry to read.

I got my first assignment for the Poetry Out Loud project, which is a national competition for students. I'll be talking to students at Riverwood High School in Atlanta on Monday afternoon. As one of the teachers, I will be going into schools in March and giving talks and demonstrations on how to recite a poem, as well as answering questions (like how a poem works figuratively, thematically, rhythmically, etc.) and helping the students get ready for the competition.

I hope the cold has cleared up by then.

Comments

Anonymous said…
good luck tonight. i've given readings feeling ill, and it's no fun, though usually the adreneline kicks in, and you're off.

I do have to say, however, that "There's a good chance this will be one of my most sucky readings ever" made me laugh out loud.
Collin Kelley said…
The festival was great...big crowd as always. I wasn't nearly as sucky as I thought I would be, although I felt like hell. I'll post more on the festival over the weekend.
Anonymous said…
hope you get feeling better. treat yourself to the flying biscuit. at least it didn't effect the reading too much. i like Taylor too. I'm interested to see how he'll develop. I have a feeling he's going to make it pretty far. One to keep an eye on for sure.
nolapoet said…
Collin--

We dropped off the books today at Common Grounds coffee. They only had about 100, much of it crap genre fiction, so these were most appreciated. When I get back, I want to get the Java Monkey crowd to bring books for New Orleans. Meanwhile, anyone who wants to send them should see the Common Grounds address at hurricanepoetsckecin.blogspot.com . They can take UPS or FedEx deliveries, but no US Mail.

Much of town is OK. Much more of town is not. Parade tonight felt pretty normal, but today in Gentilly/Lakeview was like visiting an atomic test site. Taking samples of residue for analysis. Seeing lots of familiar faces. Much more later.

Robin
nolapoet said…
That's hurricanepoetscheckin.blogspot.com for those who don't know it.
Collin Kelley said…
Thanks for checking in and delivering the books.I'm going to cut and paste your post and the blog into a new post momentarily. I think having a book drive at Java Monkey is a BRILLIANT idea!

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