I got home last night

... after an extremely full extended weekend in Regina, and the cat, being a cat, spent the night making sure I didn't get the sleep I so desperately need. Whenever I'd cover my face with the blankets to prevent her from pressing her wet nose to my eyelids, she'd dig my head out, using her claws of course.

Anyhow, Talking Fresh 5 was great. Hats off to the organizers and presenters. And hats off to Tracy for hosting the first annual muse party! Here's my t-shirt limerick to which she refers in her post.


I might add more to this post later on, but for now I'll just point to a review that was mentioned by Trevor Herriot during his session. Here's Marilynne Robinson on Dawkins.

The road

...not taken.

Update:
March 27 - Yesterday I spent time among the mangled culverts that were blocking a road. I just posted more photos over at Culvert Installations. By the way, my culvert research continues and my collection of culvert anecdotes is growing. Someone emailed me another doozy not so long ago.

Talking Fresh

...begins this afternoon! See you there!

By the way, if you're ever at La Bodega in Regina, be sure to have the mushroom strudel. It's divine.

Here I go

...on about Backwards City Review.



Oh ya, I should mention that JD and Dickens are cats who live with certain bloggers.

Update:
March 20 - There's a snowfall warning in effect. According to Environment Canada it will continue to snow until late tomorrow. Eek! Anyhow, I've been watching it snow and thinking about this post on Bookninja, and how this comment in particular applies to this post, especially the bit about "the desire for community." Yep, right now I wish you all were here, shovelling out my driveway for me.

Update:
March 20 - Ok. An email offer just came from the Globe and Mail. Apparently you can win $10,000 just for commenting on a Globe story, discussion or blog. Sadly, you won't get $10,000 for commenting on my blog. All you win here is 10,000 smiles. The grand prize is 10,000 giggles. And to win 10,000 smiles or 10,000 giggles you do not have to answer a time limited mathematical skill testing question.

I followed the link

...from Asthmatronic over to Matrix and, yes, what a lovely new site! It's super speedy, something their old site was not. Anyhow, since I know a number of you write poems that tackle science in one way or another, I thought I'd point out this call for submissions.

Speaking of science, I sure wouldn't mind getting this as a gift. It would look great in my office.

I just stumbled

...upon a huge collection of "linguistically relevant Simpsons jokes" on HeiDeas, a linguistics blog. How fitting, considering what I was doing today in preparation for the upcoming muse party. I've been working on my muse party project for days now. In fact, I had to appeal for help and help came from several provinces away. Thanks to that, the project is now complete. Muse partygoers, prepare to be amazed!

Last year there was a symposium

...at Brandon University that I wanted to attend, but it was held the weekend before Talking Fresh. Living far from major centres means a trip to any event is challenging in terms of time and cost, so I frequently spend much time mulling over my choices. Last year I chose Talking Fresh. This year Brandon University presents "What is Resonance? Poetry-Science Symposium," hosted by Canada Research Chair in English Di Brandt. It starts tonight. I'd love to be there. However, Talking Fresh 5: Writing and Faith takes place next weekend. I have meetings and the first annual muse party to attend while I'm in Regina for Talking Fresh, so once again the event in Brandon is out of the question. I hope next year the two events will be spaced a few weeks apart.

Poets take leaps in their work

If my leaps of association aren't enough, here is "Leaping Into the Unknown: The Poetics of Robert Bly's Deep Image" by Kevin Bushell.

Update:
March 11 - In the comments Ariel asks if there's a version of this where I fall down. Fair enough. Sometimes leaps don't go as planned...

I grew up on a farm

...and I'm familiar with cattle and the pulling of calves, but I know little about sheep, so it was a pleasure to see this post and video by S.M. Steele, a poet I had the good fortune of spending time with recently.

Going for coffee

...is something I love to do. Today H and I had coffee while we listened to Zachariah Wells read "Overhead Crane," a poem by Peter Trower. I knew H would love the poem. According to Zach's post, he came across Trower in an anthology called Going for Coffee, edited by Tom Wayman. H and I first encountered Wayman back in 2003 at the first Talking Fresh. Wayman gave a great reading. Moving and funny. H laughed and laughed. The next day I attended an excellent workshop by Tom Wayman called "Protest Poetry: Its Cause and Cure." There I met Rhett for the first time. Anyhow, on Thursday March 1, 2007, the day of Zach's post, I met Rob, a blogger, writer and friend of Rhett's, for the first time. Tracy and I met him for coffee. There I mentioned meeting Rhett at Wayman's workshop. After I got back, I checked Zach's blog and saw the post. It's funny how things go.

Speaking of Talking Fresh, it's coming right up! I hope to see you there. I've been to every Talking Fresh and they've all been great. I hope the weather cooperates. I spent over 10 hours on the bus yesterday. The roads were horribly icy in places. I'm sure the other passengers were glad to finally be rid of me and my eeks.