Tagged.

Dr. Write tagged me to answer these questions about a writing project. Here goes:

1. What is the working title of my book?

It's flicker.  Also, I have another manuscript, and its working title is Now disappear. It's been awhile since I looked at that second one, and where I once feared that title might be pretentious, I now am pretty sure that it's pretentious.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

Who can say? Why do people write poems? What is poetry for, anyway? Sorry, I got distracted there by the utter senselessness of my endeavor. NO! Stop it! I am interested in the intersection of sacred discourses and everyday life. That's what the idea of my book is.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

speaker of the poems, option 1.

My book falls under the sign of POETRY.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I have already signed over the rights to flicker to a major motion picture studio, which cannot be named here, sorry. I hear they are talking to Charlotte Rampling to play the lead, but I also heard they might ask Tilda Swinton. I'm okay with either.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

speaker of the poems, option 2.

flicker traces the intersection of sacred discourses and everyday life, its speaker seeking reconciliation and finding it only fitfully.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Neither. I hope I hope I hope my book will be taken by a press that publishes poetry. I will accomplish this by continuing to send it out and also by means of small, magickal rituals which I cannot, unfortunately, describe here for fear that their efficacy might be diminished.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

This iteration? I guess a couple of years. But one way or another I have been working on some version of this book for a really, really long time.

8. What other books would you compare this to within your genre?

Maybe The Wild Iris because of its themes? I count among my poetic influences Elizabeth Bishop, Hopkins, Frost, and Lorca.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Honestly, my life within my faith, my life with sacred books, my life within my family.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

Hmm. The language is vivid and the writing is musical, and the poems are interested in talking to you, the reader.

I tag: Kristen, Pam B., and Brandon A. Do not shirk!

Oooooooooh, tag.

Dr. Write tagged me! The idea is to answer these questions with just one word, so here I go. If there's a parenthetical after my answer, it doesn't count, since parentheses cast whatever they contain into the abyss (I'm pretty sure that's what Derrida meant by mise en abyme, and if it isn't I don't want to hear about it). Here I go:

Where is your cell phone? bedside
Where is your significant other? doomsville (work)
Your hair color? graying
Your mother? supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Your father? Rockin' (in the Free World)
Your favorite thing? movies
Your dream last night? Obamafied
Your dream/goal? writing
The room you’re in? bedroom
Your hobby? shopping
Your fear? irrelevance
Where do you want to be in 6 years? here (SLC)
Where were you last night? book club
What you’re not? tidy
One of your wish-list items? publication
Where you grew up? Japan/California/Tucson
The last thing you did? obsessed (over the elections, obviously!)
What are you wearing? clothing
Your TV? cabled (dished, big diff)
Your pet? Boddhisatva (aka Bruiser, the enlightened one)
Your computer? overused
Your mood? optimistic (my duty in a democracy)
Missing someone? kids
Your car? Camry (of Power)
Something you’re not wearing? socks
Favorite store? Target
Your summer? blissful
Love someone? Multitudes
Your favorite color? yellow
When is the last time you laughed? six p.m. ("Two and a Half Men," sorry!)
Last time you cried? afternoon (working on a poem)

I tag: Hands Across the Water, Deacon's Mommy, The Nitty Gritty, The Inner Workings of . . ., Gillian, Middlebrow, and Counterintuitive. Do it! I'm begging you!

Food court.

While the internet is working . . .


Running son and I went out to the mall today, because he needed to have his watch band adjusted and there's a 1 hour jewelry repair place there--I know, because I have had the chain on this one necklace I wear all the time and love there about a zillion times, easily equalling the original cost of the necklace a couple of times. It turned out that the watch band adjustment took about 3 minutes, but we decided we'd get lunch at the food court anyway--why not, we were there, and there's something for everyone at the food court.

We chose the Italian Village, which is a local version of Sbarro's, basically. You know what I'm talking about, right? Food that looks waaaaay better than it tastes, and sits heavy in the stomach afterward? Oh yeah. Food court. The best thing about this meal was easily the Dr. Pepper.


What saves a food court meal, which I only ever eat when I'm at the mall with my kids (or at the airport, but that is its own special circle of hell), is the conversation. We discussed: the disgusting state of the trash receptacle within eyeshot; the dire need of the Utah Jazz for an outside shooter; the amazing stats of Dirk Nowitzki last year (the last person to have his stats? wait for it . . . Larry Bird in his heyday--yes, two of the whitest men ever to play basketball); the nothing-but-inside game of the Utah Jazz; possible new jobs for running son now that the electrician's co. has laid him off.


After that he considered a new game for his Wii, I considered a sale dress at a store. Neither of us bought those things. Instead, we drove home whilst discussing how there are no bad songs on the new Foo Fighters, and wondering whether my son-in-law (running son's brother-in-law) was on drugs when he said of this album, "Where's the rock?"


Taggage: Scotland daughter (at http://davieshandsacross.blogspot.com/) has tagged me, the gist of which is to share seven random facts about myself. It also means I'm tagging some of y'all to do the same. Here's how it works:

The Rules
1. List the link to your tagger (like I did with Janet) and also post these following rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird, etc.
3. Tag 7 people at the the end of your blog also leaving the links to their blogs
4. Let them know they are "TAGGED" by leaving a comment on their blog

Seven facts about me:

1. I was born in Delaware in a segregated hospital.
2. I have yellow, purple, red, blue, and green shoes. Not all on the same shoe.
3. I have six kids, a project I started when I was twenty-two.
4. My first recorded music passion was Glen Campbell--the Wichita Lineman and the Galveston LPs. After that, I switched to Simon & Garfunkel. This was in junior high.
5. I never thought I would live in Utah this long--I came from SoCal. and thought, somehow, I might return to live there. That was 30 years ago.
6. I love to shop and have to fight with myself not to go into a store and buy something nearly every day. Often, I lose this fight.
7. I stay up till midnight almost every night, even when I'm tired.

Now: I tag

the orris http://signifyingnothing.com
middlebrow http://middlebrow.net
dr. write http://dr-write.blogspot.com/
counterintuitive http://counterintuitiverundonotwalk.blogspot.com/
assertively unhip http://assertivelyunhip.blogspot.com/
otterbutt http://nikwalk.blogspot.com/
and sleepy e http://thenewsleepy-e.blogspot.com/

Don't hate--post!