My poetry reading at the Thomas More Institute on February 11th went very well indeed. I was featured alongside three of my friends, each of us Cactus Press alumni with published chapbooks.

Jerome Ramcharitar took us on a journey through dreams, nightmares, and apartment break-ins with readings from The Riddle of Three Crimson Doors and The Wrong Poem & Others Like It.

Carolyne Van Der Meer read her emotionally authentic poems about dealing with Alzheimer’s and grief in Birdology.

Willow Little read from her in-progress retelling of the Pygmalion and Galatea myth (it promises to be every bit as mind-bending as (Vice) Viscera.

And I read from my chapbook Pilgrimages, a journey through the Outer Hebrides.

When I first made contact with Thomas More, the then-director, Jonathan Powers, told me I would have a place there, not only to explore the world intellectually but as a home base if I wanted to host a poetry reading or book launch as I developed in my career as a writer. After nearly seven years, I can say that day has come. Thank you Jonathan for making me feel welcome and explaining so clearly how TMI could help me along my writing career.

I had the exciting experience of serving on an arts grant jury this month. I won’t say more about it until the official announcements, but the jury met and deliberated and it was eye-opening to read so many proposals for arts projects and be in the room as we decided which would receive funding. We wanted to fund all the projects (or very, very nearly all of them!), but with a limited budget, we had to make tough calls. In March, I plan to attend an grant writing workshop to further deepen my experience in this domain.

My writing projects are somewhat stalled at the moment, but as March begins, I’m finding my groove again. I’ve been busy, working gigs as an invigilator while searching for full time work. I’m trying to get back into writing and reading more but it’s proven a challenge. I always feel that I have to keep my eye out for an opportunity.

One book I finished this month is The Mona Lisa Sacrifice by Peter Darbyshire (Wolsak & Wynn), who also wrote the Angel Azrael series of Weird West stories featured in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. It’s about Cross, the man who now inhabits the body of Jesus, and his adventures across two thousand years of history as he seeks the man who betrayed him: the shapeshifting Judas. It features Gorgons, Alice in the Wonderland, angels, Morgan le Fay, and Cross himself, the series’ snarky, badass narrator.

À la prochaine.