Organizing your writing life

CHERRY PIE, COLUMBUS & MORE: The Twin Peaks/David Lynch-inspired anthology A Slice of Cherry Pie will be published in the US and UK in August. The image at right is the concept cover created by Half Empty/Half Full Press publisher Shanna Compton. Ivy Alvarez's Private Press will publish the book in the UK. The anthology will feature new work by Emilie Zoey Baker, Jilly Dybka, elena knox, Jared Leising, Daniel Lloyd, Siobhan Logan, Eileen Tabios, Maureen Thorson, Andrew J. Wilson, Maike Zock and me. I'll post up ordering info and additional details as I have them.

My reading in Columbus, GA yesterday was good. I spoke to the Georgia Writers critique group along with novelists John Dedakis and Suzanne Hudson. The Columbus Library is one of the most gorgeous buildings I've ever seen. It's like a temple. I had to do a doubletake when I drove up. After our readings and Q&A, we were set up in the rotunda of the library to meet and greet and sign books. It was great to see familiar faces like Deuce Douglas (thanks for lunch!) and Patty Chamberlain again. Columbus is always good to me, and this visit was no different.

I wanted to say thanks to the fab Jackie Sheeler (brilliant poet, curator of the Pink Pony West reading at Cornelia St. Cafe in NYC and lead singer of the rocking Talk Engine) for her kind words at the Poetz website. I'll be reading at Cornelia Street again at the end of September. Looking forward to that! And thanks to all those who sent private emails this week since the publication of the Slow To Burn review in The Pedestal.

I'm working with poet and designer Cleo Creech on creating a broadside of the Body Maps poems for the National Black Arts Festival. Last year, I wrote 10 short poems based on the life-sized paintings of women living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. I performed the work at the Sycamore Place Gallery when the Body Maps exhibition was installed there. A representative of the NBAF was in the audience and asked if I would perfom them again for NBAF. It's quite an honor. There was no money to create a chapbook of these poems, but I wanted those in attendance to be able to take the words and inspiration of these women home with them, so I'm doing the broadside as a contribution. The reading is set for Saturday, July 15, at 3 p.m. at City Gallery East on Ponce de Leon Ave.