Sunday, November 15, 2015

Ibbetson 38 released with a poem of mine and a wonderful cast of poetic characters.

Ibbetson Street 38 is out with a fabulous list of poets. It's a great publication per usual and you can pick one up on Lulu here.

Included is my poem, "The Fifth Bloody Mary on a Sunday Afternoon"--brunch for a bad marriage. 

 

List of Contributor for Ibbetson Street  38

HEY POET 1
Keith Tornheim
THE PEARLS OF AN ARTIST 2
Louisa Clerici
DOURCEUR/SWEETNESS 3
Ida Faubert/tr. Danielle Legros Georges
TO MUCH OR NOT ENOUGH 4
Wendy Drexler
RETREAT INTO THE COLDEST CAVE 4
Marge Piercy
THE WEIGHT OF YOU 5
Emily Pineau
MID-SHIFT, AUGUST 5
Julia Carlson
LAST DAY AT THE LAKE 6
Judith Katz-Levine
TEA AND LIME 6
Irene Koronas
LONGING 6
Ruth Chad
MASHA’S EAR 7
Dorian Brooks
AGLETS 7
Gary Metras
JESSIE’S GIRL 8
Valerie Loveland
MILLIE 9
Lauren Davis
THEN COMES 9
Robert K. Johnson
SLOW MOTION BALLET 9
Susan Tepper
ICE SKATES 10
Ted Kooser
ABSTRACT LANDSCAPE 10
Lauri Soriano
BLUE-HAIRED GODDESS AT THE BLACKJACK TABLE 11
Steve Glines
FROM THE COLD 11
Lainie Senchel
THE FIFTH BLOODY MARY ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON 12
Timothy Gager
INK 12
Beverly Boyd
DINING OUT WITH OUR ZOMBIE 13
Thomas O’Leary
THE MASSEUSE: TO A DANCER (after a sculpture by Degas) 14
David Ruekberg
I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU 15
Lyn Lifshin
PAIN-SHAPE-STEVEN 15
Nina Rubinstein Alonso
NEW YEAR’S DAY 16
Philip E. Burnham, Jr.
NIGHT BECKONS 16
Kathleen Aguero
TRACKS 16
Michael Casey
NOVEMBER WEATHER 17
Llyn Clague
IN THE ACT 17
Kirk Etherton
BENEDICTUS 18
Melinda Kemp Lyerly
FORTUNE COOKIE 18
Brendan Galvin
THE GREEN DRAGON FARMER’S MARKET 19
Molly Mattfield Bennett
THE SEEKER 20
Joanna Nealon
HILLS POND 20
Miriam Levine
FIRE WALTZ 21
Nick Vittum
GUIDANCE FOR ACHILLES 21
Dennis Daly
LOST ON THE LITTLE ISLAND 22
Alexander Levering Kern
SHIPWRECK ARTEMIS 23
Karen Locascio
HYPOGLYCYMIA 23
Lucy Holstedt
HUGH 24
Eric Greinke and Glenna Luschei
FLOUROSCOPE 26
Andrea Cohen
THE THINKING OCEAN 27
Michael Estabrook
BAD MOVIES 28
Michael Todd Steffen
A WOMAN LAUGHS 29
Charles Coe
THE WIND TAKES OFF 29
Pui Ying Wong
A GRAVE PLIGHT 30
Harris Gardner
SEEING OUT THE YEAR 31
Linda M. Fischer
AND THE WINNER IS 31
Ellaraine Lockie
CLOSER 32
Margaret Vidale
BON VOYAGE 33
Bill Dill
FEED FORCES 33
Rich Murphy
THE TEACHER’S PRAYER 34
Afaa Michael Weaver
NUNC 35
John Skoyles
CASA DE LUZ 36
Krikor Der Hohannesian
THIS TIME 37
Jacquelyn Malone
YOU ARE A RIVER 37
Deborah Leipziger
PRISONER OF MY OWN KINGDOM 38
Beatriz Alba del Rio
THEY’RE NOT THAT UNUSUAL 39
Teisha Twomey
BOOKISH 39
Rene Schwiesow
Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and her Daughter Mary Shelley 40
Lawrence Kessenich

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

This is my story and I'm sticking to it....Essay published in The Sobriety Collective

 How it was

NOVEMBER 6, 2010

I’m coming out of a blackout at The People’s Republik in Cambridge, Massachusetts and I’m in mid-sentence. I know where I am because I remember coming in with some friends earlier. I can never leave early enough. I confused where this sentence is going to or even what I am talking about. I don’t know where my friends I came with are? Did they leave me here? Why? Stupid question because I know even if I wasn’t remembering specifics of this night. Bad behavior leads to lost friendships.

How do I get home? Oh, that’s right, I remember I drove here. 

Today. Here is my full story, the continuation of the above excerpt, written text of what I usually share as a speaker.

At various times here at my blog, or during interviews or other essays I've talked about my sobriety. Usually it's around the time of my anniversary date. On November 6, it is my fifth anniversary, which is a big one, a nice round number.


As a writer, I'm also a reader. As a sober person, I'm also a reader. I'm a regular reader of The Fix, which one day, brought me to a web site, new to me, After Party Magazine, from one of The Fix's editor's Anna David, author of Party Girl.

We all know how the internet works in times of boredom. You start out searching for apple picking and by the time you are done you are on serial killer pages. This wasn't as drastic, as After Party Magazine took me to the 20 Best Recovery Blogs. Here I found The Sobriety Collective run by Laura Silverman. Here is her story, and thanks for publishing mine.