Consolation

I got a speeding ticket yesterday on the way to 810Zone in the Plaza. I guess the only consolation is that I was going to meet my brother to watch the Hawkeyes-Cyclones football game, and the Hawkeyes won.

Today I went to Broadway Cafe and Roastery to work on my poetry manuscript. Yes, an aspiring poet in a coffee shop is a cliche, as is an aspiring poet-blogger talking about a "poetry manuscript." It was, per usual, confusing. I sent the manuscript, in its first official incarnation (although, it had probably lived through at least a dozen different incarnations and/or drafts), to four contests in March. They were all rejected, which is expected and I am oddly not at all disappointed because a few days after sending out the batch for Round 1 I hated the structure, organization, etc. of the manuscript. I was comfortable with the majority of the poems; just not the structure. I am now revising it to resend out: Round 2!!! I expect this to be a very long bout.

By the way, if you like coffee and are ever in KC definitely go to Broadway. Also, if you're ever in SF definitely check out the Bluebottle Coffee Company; they are both exquisite roasteries.

Jesus' Spicy Side

I really pretty much suck at blogging but I'm going to keep trucking because it can be fun. That said, my son, Gavin, engaged Megan and I in a conversation about good and evil yesterday. He had questions and theories about the devil (i.e., Satan, the dark one, the fallen angel, etc., etc.). Then our oldest son, Elijah, chimed in and told us that the devil is Jesus' spicy side...of course jokingly. Whether his comment was theologically correct or not doesn't matter...it was brilliant and very creative. I'm sure there would be some fundamentalist evangelicals who would be aghast at his comment but Megan and I thought it was hilarious. Jesus' spicy side?!? Perhaps those of you who occasionally read this blog are thinking: spicy side??? Check Spicy Town out. Brilliant!!!

On other, semi-spicy news: I love Matthea Harvey's poetry. I'm finishing up both Sad Little Breathing Machine and Modern Life. Perhaps I'm jumping on the M. Harvey band wagon. I don't give a shit...it's fun and poetry needs to be fund and inventive and complicated and puzzling and simple and interesting and wild. I mean shit..."The Future of Terror" and "Terror of the Future" poems are brilliant. I'm also reading Leslie Adrienne Miller's The Resurrection Trade, which I like so far, and Tony Hoagland's What Narcissism Means to Me which, at least so far, is better than Donkey Gospel. Of course this is just my opinion and I'm neither admitting or denying that I'm a fan of Hoagland's work. I'm also reading We by Yevgeny Zamyatan. Quite a full plate...but to write well...one must read well. I think William Shatner once said that.

Tonight I'm watching WWE Smack Down with the boys. When they go to bed I'll be chilling and drinking some Breckenridge Brewery Autumn Ale: good stuff.