Organizing your writing life

THURSDAY NOTES & NOTIONS: Not only are three new poems coming out in the forthcoming issue of Blue Fifth Review, but another three will appear in a special edition of In Posse Review guest edited by Peter Pereira. All the poems Peter selected are related to the body. One of my poems is Human Trafficking, which I've been writing for a couple of years (with some expert guidance from Harper) about the young black boys who have disappeared in London. I'm happy this poem has finally found a home. Besides the good fortune of these publications, I've also entered a contest, submitted work to another journal and put together a chapbook of political poems called After the Poison. This is the work culled from Wake that just didn't fit the full collection's arc. I've submitted the chapbook to a publisher and may enter it into a few contests. People have asked how I've had time to do all this. Well, I did take about four months off from performing or doing much of anything else. After the day job, I come home and write...only breaking to watch 24 (Jean Smart is back next week! She is the shit! YES!!!) and American Idol.

Speaking of Idol, the final 12 were just announced and it was bittersweet. Both Sundance and Antonella were sent packing at last. Hallelujah!!! On the other hand, America was smoking dope last night when it selected Sanjaya "Miss Bollywood" Malakar and Haley "Second Rate Beauty Queen" Scarnato to go through to the top 12. Sent home were Jared Cotter and Sabrina Sloan, both of whom never had a prayer of going all the way, but were better singers than Haley and Sanjaya. I'm guessing little girls and old men are...ahem...double clicking their mice over pretty little Sanjaya. That's the only way he could possibly still be in the competition. Randy, Paula and Simon said voters had made big mistakes tonight. They were half right.

Get yourself over to Torch to read Cherryl Floyd-Miller's fascinating interview about the creation of persona poems with Patricia Smith. I'm also excited that Cherryl's first book, Utterance: A Museology of Kin, is back in print thanks to Lulu.com. The book was a finalist for a number of awards and she got royally screwed by her first publisher and the book has been out of print. I love that she took the matter into her hands and self-pubbed to get this beautiful work back into the world. Now that her next book, Exquisite Heats, is forthcoming from Salt Press, you're going to be hearing more about Cherryl very soon. And just wait until she releases her cycle of poems about Gregory Hines called Hoofer. All I can say is...see you at the Barnes & Noble, bitches.