One of those days

I'm having one of those days where I feel pulled in a zillion directions.  I hate this feeling.  What do I want, you ask?

1)  Sunlight.  Although it isn't sunny today, I am noticing the light.  I don't know if it is considered a wavelength?--but the strength of the light.  It isn't as weak as it is during the winter.  We're on the cusp of the spring thaw.  The sun is also coming up earlier.

2)  Moon.  Full.  Enough said.

3)  Outside.  I want to go for a walk but I have a million things to do that require my attention.  Also, it is muddy slush with ice patches on the road.  Still not the greatest walking conditions.

4)  Grading.  Ok.  Well I don't really feel pulled to do this except the deadline is tonight for grades and I should just suck it up and finish.  I suppose complaining takes more time than actually doing...

5)  Writing.  I just put together another piece of my puzzle yesterday and now I'm wanting to write but I won't until I get this stupid grading done.  I do enjoy death scenes.  Does that make me perverse?

6)  Reading.  I'm sucked into Patrick Rothfuss' book The Name of the Wind.  I am enjoying the voice and the structure of the story.


Moon Report:  100% of full.  Full moon.
Outside:  Soggy snow and mud.

Lucille Clifton

I totally suck as a person with both an English BA and an MFA!  How could I possibly miss the death of Lucille Clifton??  She died last Saturday (February 13th, 2010).

The poetry of Lucille Clifton is not overwhelming; it does not beat the reader down.  There is a quiet power and deep love in her work.  It is a weird analogy but her patterns always remind me of water ripples--the reverberations feeding out from the central point until they touch the edges of our outer self.  It brings comfort and transformation.

Links 

Sorrows.
Won't You Celebrate With Me. [video]
Remembering Lucille Clifton.  [Poetry Off the Shelf]
Far Memory.

Vaccu-suck and share

Ok.  Last week I had one of those vaccu-suck experiences on the web.  I was innocently clicking on links I visit regularly--and wham--I was following links from blog to blog and site to site reading all kinds of wild and fun things.  So I thought I'd share a few...

1)  Whatever.  John Scalzi.  There are lots of great links and lovely introductions for new books.  Also he declared February 15th to be International Grover Appreciation Day.  Really--I swear!  Anyone who loves Grover is A-OK in my book.

2)  Blake Charlton.  New writer with a his first novel coming out on March 2 [Spellwright].  Med student.  All-around multi-tasking genius.  His blog is excellent--well written, intelligent, and funny.  If there's ever a remake of West Side Story featuring internists and surgeons...or maybe you need a sympathetic soul after witnessing a talking pile of laundry...

3)  Making Light.  Theresa and Patrick Nielsen Hayden.  I don't even know where to begin.  Let me start by saying I've never seen so many links to everywhere and everything in my life! I enjoy the commentary...

4)  Seven Stories Concerning Joss Whedon -or- The Road to Damascus.  Posted January 11, 2010 on Patrick Rothfuss' blog.  Actually he's pretty amusing on the whole.  See the post on how to determine his "cool factor" on the Gaiman-Day rating scale...


Moon Report:  20% of full.  Waxing crescent.
Outside:  Sunny.  Icy crust snow--very sharp on bare ankles.