The Government Supplies Her Cocaine

Bits:

• I finished Matthea Harvey's Sad Little Breathing Machine this morning. If I was rating it on a Netflix scale I would say 3 out of 5 or "I liked it." But this is a very deceiving rating because when I finished I was left wanting more...more Matthea. Fortunately, I'm also finishing up Modern Life which, so far, is a 4 1/2 out of 5 which would be between "I really liked it" and "I loved it" on the Netflix rating system. I'll probably read both again soon because something about her poetry mystifies me.
  
• I got rejected by The Journal today but it was a nice rejection with a little note from the editors, as opposed to a standard rejection slip. I only have a few outstanding submissions...and then I'm done for a while. BJ on the other hand just got a couple poems accepted. Congratulations BJ.
  
• I'm forcing myself to read Ted Kooser: I've tried to read Delights and Shadows twice and failed both times. This time I will get through it. I want to be well read, even reading poets I don't necessarily like. I once read a poet's (RC) book and quite literally hated it to the extent that I threw it down on the ground. What did I do next? I bought 2 more of RC's books and read them just to give RC a fair shake. I hated the other 2 books even more than the first. But at least I read them.
  
• I've started reading Paula Cisewski's Upon Arrival and Bill Rasmovicz's The World In Place of Itself.
  
• I'm going to miss Hadara Bar-Nadav reading at the Writer's Place tomorrow night which makes me very sad.
  
• My kids are going camping this weekend.
  
• I won the "Family Farkle Game" tonight. I had a streak of winning 0 of the first 24 games we played over the past 2 months. I've caught up though:
• Gavin = 14
• Elijah = 12
• Megan = 9
• Me = 9