Hard to believe, but today or tomorrow I'll be sending One More Theory About Happiness out for the first time. That's crazy talk right there but true just the same. It's very strange, somehow, almost foreign, to be doing this and that doesn't seem right. Very early versions of Notes had been going out since 2003, I guess it was, garnering a lot of finalist spots but never getting over the top; I was very much in that rhythm of sending out. Then there was the whole business with another press that essentially did nothing for an entire year. When I withdrew Notes, I only had a few prizes to enter it in and, happily, didn't need any more. So I haven't been doing this much at all since 2005, aside from the lucky few last year. Hence the strangeness. It's fun, though, and I'm looking forward to it.
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Is there anyone on American Idol that's any good? At all? I haven't watched any of it but last night caught some clips. It looks like a cavalcade of completely unremarkable singers.
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Overcast the last few days but when I've been out and the sun has reappeared, I've stopped to bask a bit. Twice now, drivers have stopped to ask if I'm ok, if I need help. Which is very sweet. But I wasn't aware I was expected to be in perpetual motion when in public. I'll work on that. So if you see me, be prepared to chat while jogging alongside.
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I'm reading next week at the University of West Georgia, home to Sir Chad Davidson. I don't think he's really been knighted. But he probably should be. Maybe.
About Me
- Paul
- Paul Guest is the author of four volumes of poetry and a memoir. His debut, The Resurrection of the Body and the Ruin of the World, was awarded the 2002 New Issues Poetry Prize. His second collection, Notes for My Body Double, was awarded the 2006 Prairie Schooner Book Prize. His third collection, My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge, was published by Ecco Press/HarperCollins in 2008. His fourth collection, Because Everything Is Terrible, was published by Diode Editions. His poems have appeared in Harper's, The Paris Review, Poetry, Tin House, The Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. His memoir, One More Theory About Happiness, was published by Ecco in May 2010 and selected for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program. The recipient of a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2007 Whiting Writers' Award, Guest lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
3 comments:
I'm not a fan of American Idol but got sucked into the train wreck this season. Keep an eye on Melinda Doolittle if you see if again. She wasn't great this week, but my bet is on her.
A friend of mine has a very good manuscript that has been a continual finalist for something like eight years now.
Embarassing that I have to guess that this title is some collection I know nothing about. Long, long way from you're sending me your newest poem. Go ahead, Paul Guest, ignore away. It was I, Dearie to find you as your voice streamed through those Alabama radio-lines. Good fans are hard to come by. You shouldn't blow them off.
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