Tuesday, April 19, 2005

No good reason

So I was (or am, hard to tell, exactly) feeling discouraged, down, blue, what have you. But discouraged is generally the right word. Sitting here, listening to Guero and then Gold Medal, which helped some, I decided to take a walk: motion, sunlight, trees spilling shade like a girl's long hair, the mountains in the distance -- all that is medicinal.

And it was. Until.

Until I had to swerve to avoid being clipped by some tool in his Manifest Destiny Land Cruising Destroyermobile (read: SUV, probably an Escalade). Which caused me to get stuck in a drainage grate in the road. Luckily, a nice guy was right there and gave me a push.

Behind the Memorial Auditorium (where I've seen Bob Dylan two or three times and, um, Def Leppard on a blizzardy night), my chair skids to a sudden halt. No power, no go. No va.

Great, just great. I'm nearly run over and now stranded within five minutes of leaving my apartment. And nobody's around.

I finally flag down a security guard who calls the UTC Police, who show up, yank the batteries, reconnect them, and restore power. Apparently, when I had to swerve, got stuck, the jolt partially disconnected them. A tiny bump on the sidewalk then shut me down.

I headed home. Clearly, ill omens are flying about, even on this beautiful day.

***

This beautiful day in which I had lunch beneath a tree with a friend.

***

Congratulate the cagey David Hernandez. His second book has been accepted for publication. I also have it on good authority he's been named editor of The Antarctic Review. If you know his previous history with them, then you'll have some idea how surprising that is.

***

Would anyone like to read the manuscript for my second book? I'd like some fresh eyes with a hankering for (presumably) fresh poems.

6 comments:

Jeannine said...

I'd be happy to read it, Paul. My e-mail is webbish6 at hotmail dot com. Plus, you can autograph it for me and I'll finally have a signed Paul Guest original :)

princessdominique said...

Where are you located? I have a tv show that features authors.

Paul said...

Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Jennifer said...

At a mexican restaurant in Wenatchee once, Scott was really tired and had rested his head down on the table. Our server thought something was wrong; he patted Scott on the shoulder and said, "It's gonna be ok, amigo".

It's gonna be ok, amigo.

Escalades suck.

I'd love to read the MS.

Alison Pelegrin said...

I'm against Escalades. I'd love to lend an eye to your manuscript if you can wait until mid May for me to start on it.

ALison

apelegrin@selu.edu

Paul said...

Hey Alison, I'm against Escalades too . We should unionize. As for the manuscript, whenever is good for you; no pressures.