The Moon Incident

Many moons ago, I published a small chapbook of poems titled The Moon Incident through my friend Andrew’s small press (Seaweed Sideshow Circus). Many of the poems were taken from my graduate thesis along with a few newer pieces. I like working on themes even if the poems individually have their own moment. While I was in school, I was studying liturgical prayers and their history and decided to write some poems from them. Specifically the “Glory Be…” antiphonal prayer that’s often recited in Catholic and Anglican liturgies became a whole series, each line or phrase having a poem of its own.

The 200 Books Project

My good friend Hannah Stoney and I have undertaken an ambitious reading project we started calling The 200 Books Project. We spent weeks trying to come up with a list of novels that would take us through the canon. It was pretty funny actually; if only someone would have seen us as we spent hours combing through Wikipedia. (Who the heck is Nevil Shute?)

Our combined list culled from all sorts of authoritative and not-so-authoritative readers lists of “best novels ever”, and so we wound up with many science fiction, detective and crime novels, several by one author. I’d say, judging by readers’ best-of lists, that science fiction is the most widely read fiction.

Yes, I’m Lefthanded

Yes, I’m lefthanded. I’m the only lefty in my family, including cousins, aunts and uncles. (Although I haven’t been able to keep track of my mother’s family; she had 9 brothers and sisters and I am still accumulating new cousins and second cousins every year.) Like many lefties, I grew up thinking there was a special reason for this oddity. When I started playing softball, for some reason I batted right-handed, until my father told me, “You should really try to bat left-handed, you’d be stronger at it.” And I did, thinking that I could have the special skill of the tricky switch-hitter.