My Poetry Book is at the Printer!

 Yes, I've been publishing poetry in small magazines since the 80's.  I may have been wearing a mullet when I wrote some of them.  And I always dreamed about having a book collection out there in the market, but I never took much action to make that happen.  

But my poetry book, Bootjack, is being printed, or at least in the queue for being printed.  It's the second book publication from Pasque Press, the publishing arm of the South Dakota State Poetry Society.  The book features some poems about South Dakota, but there are also many travel and literary subjects.  It would be great to have that in hand before Christmas time.  Many of the poems are very recent, but some date from those mullet days.  I'm proud to having it come to fruition, and if you're reading this, you'll be hearing more about it soon.  

If you're not familiar with bootjacks, they were a standard item in the houses where people wore cowboy boots.  Bootjacks made it easy to get your tight boots off, which can be tough if you like your boots nice and snug like I do.  And bootjacks were a required project in our high school shop class, so everyone (all guys, back then, no girls), took one home, cowboy boots or no cowboy boots.  

Check out the other holdings from the South Dakota State Poetry Society and the opportunities there at sdpoetry.org. They publish Pasque Petals, a twice-yearly magazine that focuses on poems and poets with a South Dakota connection.  And they host contests and workshops.  This year they're also hosting Poetry on the Road events throughout South Dakota.  If you have a chance to get to one, you'll hear good SD poets and have a chance to read poems of your own at the open mic!  

Welcome to February, Humans

 It's the last day to submit poetry to the spring issue Pasque Petals, which is the publication of the South Dakota State Poetry Society, and for which I am the editor for the fall issue.  So, naturally, it's time for me to submit some poems.  

Who knows why a person like me, procrastinator extraordinaire, waits through the months and weeks until he comes to the very edge of failure, to finally act?  

Who can say?  Some of us hold on to the idea of possibility as long as we can, releasing it only at the last minute, when actuality is required.  

A Purge

 The wife and I near the end of another successful purge of material items from our home, 496 items, one for every numbered day in the month of January.  One item for the first day, two for the next, and so on through the month.  And they're not trivial items, including some books that were easy to hang on to, hand made ceramics, and irreplaceable souvenirs from trips.  

Have we used the item recently?   Do we need it?  Do we love it?  Most material things, things we keep in the house and ignore for sometimes years, are only burdens, weights on a sense of freedom.  They're things we choose to keep in our care, whether we have to dust them or not.  If we wanted to pack up and move to Italy, for example, we would need to deal with the items, whether we sell, donate, or set them on fire.  

Right now many of the purged items await their fate in our dining room, and there I see some things that were projects long delayed.  Most things have gone to the thrift store; some, gifts from generous friends and family, have gone to distant thrift stores.  

Our 496 or so items are merely a drop in the bucket.  We've had a brief discussion about extending the purge through February, so if you're in the market for a beer-making kit, rarely used, or wine-making items, shoot me a line or watch the online markets.  We might lighten our burdens further.  

Edit:  Shortly after posting the message above this morning, I read an article in the Guardian indicating that Marie Kondo, the Japanese woman known for preaching de-cluttering, has decided she now has other priorities--her three kids.  Now, she says, her house is messy.  So there.