tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-266880502024-03-13T16:28:57.939-06:00Dialectical MigrationsSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.comBlogger430125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-75060226976442605922021-02-21T11:27:00.006-07:002021-02-21T11:27:50.337-07:00Ernest Sandeen Poetry Prize<p>My collection, "Magnificent Errors," is the recipient of the 2020 Ernest Sandeen Poetry Prize and will be published by University of Notre Dame Press in the spring of 2022. I am grateful to the judges, Orlando Menes and Joyelle McSweeny.</p>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-24129089676327846972014-03-06T20:03:00.001-07:002014-03-06T20:03:16.582-07:00I am fighting the good fight up the hill. Here is my second collection SEVEN (3: A Taos Press, 2013). It is a good book as I feel it is much stronger and more cohesive than PITY THE DROWNED HORSES which came out in 2005. Please consider checking out SEVEN if you haven't done so. It can also be purchased at<br />
the Small Press Distribution Website.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Sheryl-Luna/dp/0984792511/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394160289&sr=8-1&keywords=sheryl+luna"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4160Mtlql8L._SY300_.jpg" /></a><br />
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http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Sheryl-Luna/dp/0984792511/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394160289&sr=8-1&keywords=sheryl+luna<br />
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ThanksSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-31390090083888442402013-11-03T12:30:00.000-07:002013-11-03T15:18:40.368-07:00<br />
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This is the most recent painting. It's my 13th. It looks a bit better from a distance. I am slowly improving. Wrote two drafts of poems yesterday as well. Trying to type up manuscript #4, but procrastination has come. Will type two poems this week. That's my goal. I have a title for the fourth collection. Scared mostly about finding a publisher for #3 and #4, but pleased that I have written so much in the last year.<br />
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Thinking a lot about compassion for myself. And others. Thinking about the poems of Alfred Corn (<i>Contradictions</i>) and Robert Creeley (<i>Earth</i>). All alone in cyberspace. Thinking about anonymity as a poet, but more so how I am learning some things about letting go of ego. Just beginning, but starting where I am. It is difficult to let go of ego, to move on towards joy. But that's where I want to go.<br />
<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-35987103262678234192013-10-24T05:52:00.001-06:002013-10-24T05:52:14.124-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg70EKceparP57TD0HDFGpDrONjFgGhdUkUeNTRy7_N6KKfPn5dFJ6IlOrtZlqvb9MVFvUb8_rg6kyaQSO8M2khyphenhyphens_lGcTTXBFVPcrSmt96vvJLfm9MB-2yr6QABrtycWBnQXcMVw/s1600/WP_20131024_004%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg70EKceparP57TD0HDFGpDrONjFgGhdUkUeNTRy7_N6KKfPn5dFJ6IlOrtZlqvb9MVFvUb8_rg6kyaQSO8M2khyphenhyphens_lGcTTXBFVPcrSmt96vvJLfm9MB-2yr6QABrtycWBnQXcMVw/s320/WP_20131024_004%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I think this is my 12th painting. I was going to take a class in painting with acrylics, or 6 classes at the Active Adult Center in Wheat Ridge, but it will have to wait until later.Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-67270666450041923292013-10-08T15:34:00.001-06:002013-10-08T15:34:41.825-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPovWNRGc08gr3N6F5d9GUsK1wy-L6h7Ph3piIDQx6mRGhwybKn4OjOsJX66jSBawSFMLa8V-F4QRnoXXuH1dZtQ4qQKzchUmgdt1QWIFjPhP182W9OXHoZzvkk4aeZeRrDqFcJA/s1600/WP_20131008_001%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPovWNRGc08gr3N6F5d9GUsK1wy-L6h7Ph3piIDQx6mRGhwybKn4OjOsJX66jSBawSFMLa8V-F4QRnoXXuH1dZtQ4qQKzchUmgdt1QWIFjPhP182W9OXHoZzvkk4aeZeRrDqFcJA/s320/WP_20131008_001%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Here are my sunflowers. They need more work than I thought. I think this is the 9th or 10th painting and people say I am too hard on myself-- in general of course. So I wish I'd added more petals, but it's okay. Will try to add more detail to purple flowers which are supposed to be morning glory.Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-86832547920096466612013-09-11T21:28:00.002-06:002013-09-11T21:28:46.795-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj53gBMgF63ubvaQGbo0KuxRpsBcr86Jy9RzFu2-5kWQgfFo_-aZLHvxA7P1Pgev08tEcUmZTBzOHdPYY9PUoEgRPpp5lkKL-X6Tjt9cf2ufxaOLj98hSB0Bj6Xrz3tZ_09LBYWVA/s1600/WP_20130911_005%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj53gBMgF63ubvaQGbo0KuxRpsBcr86Jy9RzFu2-5kWQgfFo_-aZLHvxA7P1Pgev08tEcUmZTBzOHdPYY9PUoEgRPpp5lkKL-X6Tjt9cf2ufxaOLj98hSB0Bj6Xrz3tZ_09LBYWVA/s320/WP_20130911_005%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here are two more paintings I did at the Living Arts Co-op<br />
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<a href="http://www.livingartsco-op.com/">http://www.livingartsco-op.com/</a><br />
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I'm still enjoying painting. I'm a beginner, and I'm too hard on myself!!!Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-85902959793358415392013-09-10T08:07:00.001-06:002013-09-10T08:07:32.166-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-71673414106240977642013-09-02T16:45:00.001-06:002013-09-02T16:45:45.844-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi2VSKggrWlFTF160MgmQ-swx8TUFxBWOrsoX3lnZrC0-7ReHPV8lhqwP3k-ptZQjFFu0XG7EHYXwF07_X7jm_6TmQ68ubUmSYRy913w7k-tx6f1cHLD0llqP7dAGm2v87eDfwzA/s1600/WP_20130902_002%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi2VSKggrWlFTF160MgmQ-swx8TUFxBWOrsoX3lnZrC0-7ReHPV8lhqwP3k-ptZQjFFu0XG7EHYXwF07_X7jm_6TmQ68ubUmSYRy913w7k-tx6f1cHLD0llqP7dAGm2v87eDfwzA/s320/WP_20130902_002%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A color mess! Ugh. Well I need to buy more paint and use the color wheel thing. This was an atrocious day of painting. LOL!<br />
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At least I did something creative. I think this may be a sign from the universe that it's time to go back to writing.<br />
<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-86582838429186733362013-08-29T22:00:00.001-06:002013-08-29T22:00:25.065-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcSYX_PsoDtpXD_cOkOtiAG37igYjB-lS3eg-fG8VDL5UkuJyZRbY6gcXw0CImiJPqXUrCJFKhQPkwzqN7JoEtR6KfHqkynnjX0NSTZp1t-EiXy1X5H0TQ_CEev0HN3V_JXb44Tw/s1600/WP_20130829_005%5B2%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcSYX_PsoDtpXD_cOkOtiAG37igYjB-lS3eg-fG8VDL5UkuJyZRbY6gcXw0CImiJPqXUrCJFKhQPkwzqN7JoEtR6KfHqkynnjX0NSTZp1t-EiXy1X5H0TQ_CEev0HN3V_JXb44Tw/s320/WP_20130829_005%5B2%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Here's the most recent painting I've done. Still needs a lot of work. A friend said not to re-do parts, but I want to do so. It's my 8th painting. The seventh one was so bad I plan on painting over it.<br />
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Talked to a friend tonight who used to belong to a radical Chicano group called The Crusade. Very interesting stuff. Often with radicals comes hypocrisy.Not that everyone in that group today is a radical, but wanting to help an abstract conglomeration rather than real people is lame. Wanting to help only a certain type of person is also lame, especially when this regards gender or socio-economic standards (ie: only helping or interacting with people who went to Harvard or some other top notch school or are well situated geographically.) Lots of support for Latino men, little support for Latinas. It's often unconscious too. I'd like to continue interviewing Latinas because we should be in the forefront, not the background. I am interviewing some women now, but want to do one more round after that and have kindly been offered a venue which could help give Latinas some more visibility.<br />
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-37261758729427276612013-08-22T21:49:00.003-06:002013-08-22T21:49:45.108-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYfA3tIJY6eUvE1uTTmpZtTFruU8LTxSJECOW7l4zgA6wbdS6wbAaeLfw-rSYsQxwobITiEyHjULWt9YcIh2GEpjEQjb_Z-kzW6JXF_XTCp-cDxcB9O3d0juylClE2HsSq6DD8w/s1600/WP_20130816_007%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYfA3tIJY6eUvE1uTTmpZtTFruU8LTxSJECOW7l4zgA6wbdS6wbAaeLfw-rSYsQxwobITiEyHjULWt9YcIh2GEpjEQjb_Z-kzW6JXF_XTCp-cDxcB9O3d0juylClE2HsSq6DD8w/s320/WP_20130816_007%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a>Here is the sixth painting I did in acrylics. I tried to paint the last two nights and it did not turn out well. I suppose it's similar to writing in that much of what is turned out needs to be tossed. </div>
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-23351527833429609682013-08-14T14:57:00.001-06:002013-08-14T14:57:42.165-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXvj7pwBn4YEAEyABMqIdG0T4ftkclTkARafJBOhhZcKCdpsQX_BqVmvc0vAlQ71KnR_24_U_iEuiVzQVgsKODwY5n0zJ6UzVpNYTvXE9JnR8IU99Vpj22vsbQAWN1qK0e2KBazw/s1600/WP_20130810_002%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXvj7pwBn4YEAEyABMqIdG0T4ftkclTkARafJBOhhZcKCdpsQX_BqVmvc0vAlQ71KnR_24_U_iEuiVzQVgsKODwY5n0zJ6UzVpNYTvXE9JnR8IU99Vpj22vsbQAWN1qK0e2KBazw/s320/WP_20130810_002%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's some basic artwork I did at Living Arts Co-op. My beginner's trees. One is in acrylics and the other is oil pastels with q-tips and mineral spirits. I've been doing more art than writing and enjoying the art tremendously. It's a release of sorts, a way to relax and enjoy life, and it makes me feel like a kid again which is a healthy thing for the imagination.<br />
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I do have a third manuscript circulating a little bit and being looked at by a few people for errors and lack of clarity. Plus I have about 13-14 newer poems I will be working on soon!<br />
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-21377445283011579922013-08-04T22:10:00.001-06:002013-08-04T22:10:14.883-06:00Seven - Sheryl Luna : Small Press Distribution<a href="http://www.spdbooks.org/Producte/9780984792511/seven.aspx#.Uf8lmwG6vNQ.blogger">Seven - Sheryl Luna : Small Press Distribution</a>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-58674460556226279132013-08-04T17:50:00.001-06:002013-08-04T17:52:30.899-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaaaFZvyBnwcToogYCn1IAPR7Sq9OkowgsV7BRYLLFshqxGIIYM7hmKRZriw8unf79JPOfRQWO77QtkS2ITpGhFfT6WbXAhhVNSZJ4cYF9s_wIFj39Fzj4_jCohXu3WcNz-nvCg/s1600/WP_20130731_001%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaaaFZvyBnwcToogYCn1IAPR7Sq9OkowgsV7BRYLLFshqxGIIYM7hmKRZriw8unf79JPOfRQWO77QtkS2ITpGhFfT6WbXAhhVNSZJ4cYF9s_wIFj39Fzj4_jCohXu3WcNz-nvCg/s320/WP_20130731_001%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's some art I did at the Living Arts Co-op. The first is my second attempt at acrylic paints and the second is my attempt with oil pastels, markers and colored pencils. I enjoy doing this, but I find paint expensive. Lucky for now the Co-op has paint.Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-27791708352362755232013-07-23T16:29:00.001-06:002013-07-23T16:29:51.716-06:00Feeling much better today. I will be making a lesson plan for the creative writing class I am helping teach. I have to admire creative writing teachers who come up with their own writing exercises for students. I will look at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Practice-Poetry-Writing-Exercises/dp/006273024X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374618144&sr=8-1&keywords=the+practice+of+poetry">THE PRACTICE OF POETRY</a> for a couple of exercises for the class. Teaching for a mental health center is somewhat similar to teaching a college course, but the best thing is that there is no grading involved. This allows students to extend themselves, to take risks, to have fun. It also allows me to relax and lead without any anxiety. I am however more of a peer, as I am not the main teacher.<br />
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I've been sending the manuscript out, but I've decided to really buckle down in terms of grammar and any phrases that are too blurred to make heads or tails of-- Guess I do believe in clarity. Mystery is nice too though. The stray lines or phrases or images that need to be reigned in will be. This new collection of poems is more surprising, more unusual, and I honestly feel my style here has changed. It feels good.<br />
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In terms of poetry world b.s. I've decided that I've been much more blessed than I think. I have hope that persistence will be the name of the game. And if there's one thing I'm good at-- it's persistence.Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-61193138096041854112013-07-22T20:11:00.000-06:002013-07-22T20:11:45.043-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In Dallas visiting family. Just was in touch with someone with some hopeful news about a potential future publishing connection. Fingers crossed, but I need to really work hard on the manuscript for a while, maybe a couple of months. Will get some poems ready to send out soon. Am thinking about tense in poems and how conservatively people like a poem to be in one tense. I am having a battle with this in how some poems move towards reflection from the past to the present and reverse in their thinking, so I'm going to have to communicate this to an editor who likes things to be in one tense. I'm not so sure they need to be.<br />
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I've been at times getting down about the reception of SEVEN, which I think is a strong book. Maybe the fear is all in my head, but I'm just not sure about the poetry scene, and I express this in a recent interview. All I can do is try to be genuine and work hard with my own writing, and let go the b.s. that surrounds us all. It's kind of crazy sometimes how bad work is promoted over strong work, but <i>se la ve</i>. The important thing is that we live fully and vibrantly, and that is outside of the po-biz and even the writing.<br />
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Also want to send a couple more stories out to journals. Writing is much more fun than sending out new work. There's so much to contend with these days.<br />
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This one guy, Seth Abramson is his name I believe, wrote a long, long, long article at the<i> Huffington</i> <i>Pos</i>t which seemed to knock just about everyone down including avant-garde poets, confessional poets and so forth. Here's the link: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/on-literary-metamodernism_b_3629021.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/on-literary-metamodernism_b_3629021.html</a> I don't want to be part of the new thing? The article felt like Marjorie Perloff all over again. It seems that we shouldn't have to put one another down to get good work done. Sometimes I think the new thing is the old thing with new rags. But there's the expectation that one be innovative, yet even when one is doing something new, people don't see it because it's all sensationalism and know-it-all ism. It seems at times people are putting on an act or several acts. All we can do is write and write and write and try to be genuine. Speaking/Meaning/Saying and this broken identity searching for wholeness-- isn't that what poetry has always been about?<br />
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Well, I'm feeling at the bottom of the barrel these days with the poetry, but I'm hopeful that it's all in my head, but it sure looms dark today. Fact is, I work hard, and I sense I'm underestimated and well, largely invisible. The preoccupation with such things has deep roots, and what truly matters is arriving at pleasure and growth from writing. Everyone probably feels this way.<br />
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-47912677313869662132013-07-13T16:41:00.000-06:002013-07-13T16:41:07.162-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here's a painting I did in acrylics for the Living Arts Co-op. I was told it was good, but I'm not so sure. In any case, it's a lot of fun! I did another one and hope to do some more. I had been doing oil pastels so painting is very different. Most of the people in the Co-op have a lot of experience doing artwork. They can paint realistically or precisely. My uncle is an artist, and his work really makes this look like a joke, but we start where we're at, and I'm sure I'll improve.<br />
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I enjoy creating something. Need to get back to revising my third manuscript today. It's not bad. I'm a better writer than painter! This is true.<br />
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My poems are getting better. They are getting pretty wild, somewhat out there, but I sense my work is doing something different than I've done before, and it's exciting. I like swinging surprising juxtapositions. I don't really think what I'm doing is enjambment. Yes, a bit, but more so swinging from line to line with unexpected imagery and also now a lot of abstractions. I'm seeking a middle ground somewhere between avant garde abstraction and linguistic play and narrative. I think this is the way to go-- tilt the canon slightly ajar, no need to knock it over. At least that's what Eliot said. I used to hate T. S. Eliot as an undergraduate.<br />
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I need to look at about 30 pages of poetry to catch slight errors and fix phrases which can have more clarity. I'd like to finish this by tomorrow evening as I want to get it in the mail. No matter how many times I send work out, I find ways to make it better. I am far from exhausted with the revising at this point, but I'm wanting to get it out and circulating. No more farting around. I'm serious about the poetry.<br />
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I have written three stories and have sent one out to a couple of journals. So overall I'm expanding my creativity, and it feels good. Nothing wrong with having fun!Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-64560407955882444782013-07-09T21:28:00.001-06:002013-07-09T21:28:30.802-06:00Surprisingly, I wrote a pro-MFA post on facebook yesterday. I want to reiterate here how getting an MFA and/or a doctorate can help one become a better poet. Some guy said that you could just buy books and read them -- forty dollars worth! Ha! I am sure we've all read more than that. Anyways, some bemoan the MFA as a money making cash cow for universities. Although there is a lot of truth to the statement it doesn't follow that the MFA is "worthless." The guy said one should take community workshops or find a mentor they admire. The "either/or" attitude there doesn't work. There are some fantastic community workshops and some horrible community workshops. I attended one where the guy running it hates MFAs and PhD's for the most part. He thinks he knows more than most of us who earned an education. He is so bitter that he is blind to learning new things. This community workshop was a failure.<br />
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I think that hating what these degrees offer is strange as there are so many programs to chose from, which are all very different. The two programs I attended, University of North Texas, and University of Texas at El Paso were completely different in ideology, workshops, reading lists, mentoring, form and criticism.<br />
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In any case, I don't want to argue with the man as he has deemed himself an authority regarding the worthlessness of the MFA. I wonder if he has one? I hope he doesn't find me here in the ether.<br />
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The whole thing, the generalizing has made me re-think my language and opinions regarding academics who are poets. I tend to distrust the political privilege that goes on in an academic setting, but to say that one doesn't learn a great deal in MFA/PhD programs is ludicrous. It depends on the program. It depends on the student. Not all of them are expensive. Not all of them are just interested in the tuition money. People care genuinely about their students. Learning from people who teach well and write well is the goal. I was fortunate enough to learn a great deal from professors, fellow students and visiting writers. Yes, there were some bad things learned as well, but those things taught me a lot about what kind of writer I wanted to be.<br />
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I also took a number of fiction workshops and recently sent out three stories. My education, which I have long regretted, was not worthless or a waste. Knowledge is something which is essentially priceless.Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-73166462701586827912013-07-03T15:22:00.001-06:002013-07-03T15:22:57.141-06:00Reviewing and teachingI have a couple of book reviews I need to write. One, I have been told will appear on la bloga; the other will appear in an online journal. I also have to answer some questions regarding my second collection SEVEN (3: A Taos Press). I'm certain I will get to these tasks after the fourth. I very much look forward to reading the two collections and answering the questions. Usually once I get started reading the books I am simultaneously immersed in the review process.<br />
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I am also blessed with plenty of time to concentrate on writing work, which is a good thing. Not sure how I used to juggle teaching five classes with this stuff.<br />
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Glad the teaching overload is over. I feel sharper, more intense and more focused that I ever did while I was burdened with low pay and excessive classes. So much for universities tightening budgets and trying to scrape out a living despite that practice. Colorado is ranked towards the rear in higher education pay and it is clearly obvious when in some places 80% of the faculty is part-time without benefits. Wonder what this is doing to the future of our country. Seriously.<br />
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I did however help teach a creative writing class at the mental health center which was interesting. Lots of talented students. Lots of insight in terms of cliches being used intentionally versus unintentionally, striking metaphors and sheer emotive energy. I was impressed. The neatest thing about the experience is that I came out with two poems due to the exercises assigned. One was simply based on a poem of questions. So one poem was a series of questions and the other poem was a series of answers. Both were working for me. Things just clicked shut and open and shut with the poems. I felt all the poems the students wrote were energetic and challenging for a reader yet playful and furtive.<br />
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I used to strive to hear the click of a poem shutting at the ending. Now, I'm finding the poems may linger, come out to play, play hide-n-seek and simply hide at some level or streak through the parking lot.<br />
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Hope to help with the class again in two weeks. I can put forth some knowledge, encourage and teach something about poetry and learn as I go.<br />
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-57259123044854534412013-06-29T10:16:00.001-06:002013-06-29T10:16:26.557-06:00I'm very glad that my publisher isn't promoting herself, (as a poet), over my book. I was extremely lucky to have published with 3: A Taos Press. My publisher has a lot of class, and overall it's been a fantastic experience. It's very important for a publisher to take care of his/her writers in terms of encouragement, commitment and some publicity. It makes a writer want to promote the press. My publisher also was committed to thoroughly helping with the editing process and making changes according to my requests. This was not completely done last time around with the first book, so overall I feel the second collection is a stronger collection. I hope more people will purchase it and read it. A couple of positive reviews have been written, and I suspect a few more will be written about it. It's difficult to know how things are going in terms of reception, but I have faith that things will turn out better this time.<br />
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It took me a long time to feel comfortable with the collection since it dealt with trauma and recovery. I think that's why it took so long to write. It is my hope that the book will touch someone and help them with these issues-- to not hide and feel shame.<br />
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My next manuscript also deals with trauma and recovery. I've been sending it out to presses. It's my hope to have some good luck with it soon! This manuscript came together much more quickly. I think this is because I have progressed in my recovery. I think it's working well! It will be interesting to hear back from another press and to re-send it to the earlier press which said they liked it.<br />
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Looking forward to a couple of books this fall! (Especially Rachel Daucus' and Paul Manuel Lopez's)<br />
Not a lot going on in Colorado. Will spend some time with family on the fourth, and then I hope to get back to revising third manuscript and hopefully writing some new poems. It's amazing how much more time I have to write and how that has made a huge difference in terms of productivity. Time is money, and money is time, but I'd rather have the time than the money, and for this, I am truly, truly blessed.Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-45269007542663853212013-06-22T18:16:00.000-06:002013-06-22T18:16:08.802-06:00Exhausted and recognizing that I do this writing here to relieve stress, irritation and over all misplaced ambition.<br />
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I've been writing a lot. Recognizing I should open a tumblr account or something, but I like the blog format. We'll see.<br />
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Worn out by poetry snobs these days. Seriously.<br />
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Let it go--<br />
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One thing I learned at Leadership Academy (Colorado Mental Wellness Network) is that to be a leader means to serve. I don't think this necessarily means serving in a highly visible role. Sometimes it means lurking in the shadows and teaching something like developmental writing while peers are teaching poetry or ethnic literature or something that may make them feel quite self-satisfied. Sometimes it means helping others quietly. Sometimes, it means working outside of mainstream institutions in the community, for real.<br />
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Like I said, I'm a bit irritated, but it's time to think about the third collection I am working on, and I am working hard at it. There is always work to be done, and I suppose that doing such work is the backbone to contentedness-- in part.<br />
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I have no desire to dictate to others what needs to be done via the "community" as in my opinion, everyone is different, everyone has their path. Trying to force my path on someone else doesn't seem like a worthy endeavor for me. I believe in freedom and responsibility need not be someone else's demanding agenda.<br />
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Listening to Fur Elise and relaxing, trying to relax, outside beneath a large black umbrella. A mesh of net to keep bugs away, flowers everywhere. Time to revise and write.<br />
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-20322252337371161882013-06-15T21:09:00.001-06:002013-06-15T21:09:14.830-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Recognizing that I've written only one scholarly essay of late. Somebody was encouraging me to write more since I have the PhD. I did recently write something on trauma and Latina Poetry. It will be interesting to see how it is received. I've written it in terms of cultural and personal trauma, but I'd rather not go too far into it on the blog as it is being considered elsewhere.<br />
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I'm trying to think what writers and thinkers and artists have been major influences, and one answer is obviously Bob Dylan. Other influential poets include Yeats, Eliot, Plath, Sexton and interestingly enough, Wallace Stevens. More contemporary figures include Stephen Dunn, Forrest Gander ("Eye Against Eye," John Ashbery, Joy Harjo, and people like Tony Hoagland, Dorianne Laaux and Lorna Dee Cervantes. This is not to say that I find everything written by these people my cup of tea, but I do feel they all have recently and in the past affected my language and stylistic choices.<br />
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I am still learning, and I'm recognizing the sheer loneliness of being a writer tonight. One is sometimes surrounded by friends and peers, yet one is ultimately dealing with an extensive amount of solitude, reflection and consternation, but there is also pleasure that comes with the territory. Some days one might even question the talent or capability one has. Some days one might even overestimate the talent or capability one has. The pendulum, for me, is often swinging back and forth, but the balance comes "outside" of writing and finding what really matters in life. That takes me outside of myself, and it helps me see what I'm doing more clearly. This kind of balance is new and healthy.<br />
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For some reason, Bob Dylan remains a central figure in my continual development as a "poet." I find his work compelling and always have found it so. Used to listen to<i> Blood on the Tracks</i> intently, among other albums. His language is always intense, sometimes soothing, sometimes reflective, angry, wild, soft, impatient, hardened, loving and hateful but always precise and cutting. This seems to me central for a writer or poet, to have a range of emotive and/or intellectual reach. I want piercing language, and I want to challenge myself to find a cadence, a rip, a rift, and a reason for the choices I make. I don't want to write something that is haphazard and not thought out carefully. Mostly I want something that matters to humanity. I strive to make sense of what is often nonsensical. Sometimes I relish in the playful harmony or disharmony of language. It is this unearthing of the unconscious that I find appealing. Often, I do not know that the unconscious is speaking. It makes a poem more layered and oftentimes results in a subtext which is beyond the writer's consciousness which is interesting.<br />
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I do not tend to focus on others sense of language, politics, urgency or sense of community. I try to focus on the poems, and although I have been a slow writer the last eight years, I'm finding a burst of creative language and poems are coming very quickly.<br />
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I do not want to command, cajole, demand or condemn other poets anymore. This has a lot to do with that balance.<br />
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A bit of humility is a good thing, but perhaps I've had too much of a sense of a false humility. It is difficult for me to say I am careful with my language as a writer, and I try not to rush poems. When they come they arrive often as surrender, prayer, dream and gift.<br />
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I am feeling that sense of isolation again, and it is perhaps a good thing for people to walk down that path.<br />
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Need to send out some questions to some Latina poets again, write two book reviews and continue to revise third collection, which is coming together.<br />
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Not sure why I blog when blogging is over. It helps me to think things through, to be true to myself and my writing. I think the poetry world is totally full of crap, and I feel I have a voice, and I do in the end have something relevant to say.<br />
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-42276045274699699582013-06-11T18:11:00.001-06:002013-06-11T18:11:58.057-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was invited to help teach a creative writing class at the local mental health center. It seems my path is working out in the community rather than in academia of late. I am so happy! Also, I attended a state caucus on mental health and have been taking a class called "Wellness Recovery Action Plan" which teaches one how to be an effective peer for others. I am still interested in becoming a "peer specialist" in the mental health field.<br />
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I believe that creativity heals. I recognize that sounds hokey to some people, but I believe one can not write about others until they understand themselves. Again, this is why I believe in the first person lyric. It seems a necessary step, like learning the classics for me. I believe in narration because stories matter. One can be innovative in these forms too. Poetry is not restricted to one narrow aesthetic. People are free beings and we will write what we wish to write, not what others dictate to us!<br />
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104 degrees here in Texas yesterday. At least 100 today. Will go to library tomorrow and write/revise. I need to get busy with it.<br />
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-48685826014755457642013-06-01T18:40:00.002-06:002013-06-01T18:40:20.048-06:00<br />
<a href="http://theconversant.org/?p=4091">The Conversant</a> re-published the interviews I did with Christine Granados, Cynthia Cruz, Carmen Gimenez Smith for HerKind. I plan to do some more interviews of the same type later this summer, but I'll publish them in a different place.<br />
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Will be heading to El Paso, Texas next week. Very excited. I have a reading with Matt Mendez at the Percolator downtown. It will be at 5pm on June 14th. My book SEVEN was selling nicely, and it seems to have slowed down a bit, but I think the reading in El Paso will help. Lots of activity here in Denver as mom is in town.<br />
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Thinking a lot about how I need to get back to the manuscript for the third collection. This one was written fairly quickly compared to SEVEN. Needed to work through some things obviously. Ironically it took seven years, plus a year of editing to get SEVEN out in the world. A Poetry Therapist has shown interest in the book and said it can be of help to others dealing with trauma. This makes me happy.<br />
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In any case, it's time to work on manuscript #3. I've been unfocused on polishing it the last month or so, but I did send it out to a contest, and will get it out to a couple of presses soon. I've cleaned up some typos/errors and formatting issues since I sent it to that press. Hopefully another press will like it as much as the first one did. I have a good feeling about this one, too. It came together very quickly, (about ten to twelve months or so), but I'm not teaching, so I have had more time to write.<br />
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-89883245256614688882013-05-19T19:08:00.001-06:002013-05-20T19:42:55.194-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Song to Woody<br />
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A beautiful day in CO. Read some more interviews in POETRY IN PERSON: Twenty-five Years of Conversation with America's poets. Many of these poets were interviewed in the late seventies and early eighties, and they seem to remove themselves from the first person lyric I, which I addressed a few posts ago in regards to trauma and recovery and the fragmented self. Healing involves finding and celebrating that self and reconstructing an identity based on new core beliefs about one's self.<br />
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The collection I am working on, as a press has noted, successfully meanders through internal landscapes, once again tied to trauma and recovery. A bit at odds with this view that first person I or internal landscapes are a bad or immature thing to do. We do what we must do as writers. I understand how such self-involvement without concern for the external world is viewed as immature or something young writers do, but again I stress those narratives that have been suppressed and taboo in not only the larger society but in the literary world are necessary. Recovery helps others who have gone through the same thing. These issues are not mere family drama; they devastate lives, harm psyches and objectify women.<br />
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Poetry is not an exercise in cleverness necessarily where narrative is something to sneer at because it's been done. So much depends on the poet, what his or her art is doing (hopefully). This is one reason I am glad Sharon Olds received the Pulitzer, though I haven't been crazy about STAG'S LEAP, which I've been unable to read. I do remember in grad school, the guys making fun of her. I think omission and dismissal of violence, sexual abuse and trauma is inhuman of late. When I hear such dismissals in the future people will discover I have found my voice.<br />
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26688050.post-79702965627748820822013-05-14T21:22:00.000-06:002013-05-14T21:22:36.278-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I really have second doubts about what I posted yesterday. My displacement in academic settings is however real, and most everyone I know believes I will be a better peer specialist in the mental health field. Letting go of ambition, unhealthy ambition is difficult. But I have for the most part let go of any hope of having an academic career. Yet, I am still writing and this is a good thing as there is time now to write. My third collection, recently rejected by a very well known press, has me feeling giddy as the press sent some very encouraging words about the manuscript. This manuscript was at the outset very rough, but I sent it out on a whim. Just goes to show core concepts which are negative self observations need to be thrown out the window!<br />
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<br />Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714880589297494206noreply@blogger.com1