024:

First, COMPILATION.
MANDO SEASON 3HREEEEEEEEEE

Went in for some progressively gross abdominal pain I've been having and the consensus is "probably gallbladder, time for some tests." Nice to have something that's probably easy to resolve instead of, y'know, migraine or allergies or weird reflux.

Finally made an appointment for the oil change the Subaru has needed since, like, early November. And at the same time transmission fluid that has never been changed since we bought it... Also the front sway bar mounts and diff oil, but those are less pressing. This poor car, though. I just want to give it a hug. Like it was beat on before we got it, but we haven't exactly been the best to it, either. Gotta be better if it's going to outlive us.

Yay. Ice-resistant migraine.

I legitimately don't know if that transmission filter has ever been changed. That's, uh, that's bad.

Well neat. Changed a bunch of fluids and stuff on the Subaru yesterday, and today we develop a radiator hose leak. Peachy keen.

Me: Alright! Radiator hoses changed!
a more different hose: Ha ha fuck you, I'm actually the one leaking!
Me: Ah, beans.

Updates: actual infracting hose changed on Subaru. It does not appear to be leaking. I haven't actually driven it anywhere yet, but SO FAR things seem good.

I really need to put more submissions out there this year. Not necessarily to "legit" outlets. Weird non-mainstream places. I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever getting that book published, though. I could probably self-pub it and make most of my previous submission costs back if I really tried. (By which I mean spent literally all my time shilling it.) It's worth noting I've outlived Jack Spicer at this point.

Me: *sees a cool thing on Instagram*
The comments: Wow look at all these braindead sheep with their phones out. What losers. My big brain is bigger than their small brains, which lack the capacity for feeling.
Me: ???? Seems like an awful lot of people are enjoying themselves?
Comments: Actually scientifically they are not. I know this because I was not there and just get instantaneously angry when someone does something I don't like.

It's easy to forget how many cool-ass people I know and/or get to work with.

And so today is the day that I learned that part of Trump's bullshit tax act from 2017 was eliminating the deduction of moving expenses for anything but strictly necessary military relocations.

Second, A SLIGHT ASIDE ABOUT THE POTENTIAL IN PEOPLE.
You know, sometimes I think all those people that use inappropriate commas for timing in text would be better served by line breaks. It makes me wonder how many of them would never consider themselves poets.

This isn't to criticize their grammar and usage. This is to say that I think people are more creative than they've been lead to believe. Someone told them once that they're bad writers, or that poetry is difficult, and so they write what they write regardless and the poetry sneaks through anyway.

All form does, in my mind, is inform you how to read the poem. Lines and breaks are timing and emphasis. Anyone can do that. They just have to pay attention to how they speak. The punctuation comes later (or not at all.)

(Incidentally, this is a very June Jordan sort of outlook on what poetry is, and I didn't really realize it until that last bit.)

Point is, as much as my inner grammar critic wants to scream THAT'S NOT RIGHT, the older I've gotten and the more I've learned, the more I've tried to let go of that and read for meaning, not rules. It's not to say that I don't strive for correct usage on my own, but I can always be more generous in my reading, and I will always be encouraging people to be their authentic, creative selves. And poetry, especially, is for everyone. To mangle some Radiohead: anyone can play poetry.

Third, CONSUMPTION.
- Reading Ghost in the Shell. If you listened to the episode of the podcast from the last letter, which I'm guessing you didn't, you know that this was the book I listed as being the one I was "looking forward to" for 2023. So far I've taken many pictures of it to hopefully remember things. I'm enjoying it. It's very much, shall we say, "of its time," with regard the art style, but I quite enjoy pretty much everything other than the artistic depiction of women. (One could argue that's part of the point, but, well. *shrug*)
- The kiddo had a paper to write for film class, so we watched Knives Out! (my second time, the first for the kid and spouse.) We then watched Clue, and then Glass Onion. All in one day. I'm interested to see where Johnson takes the third movie. Not from a plot standpoint, that will be fine. From a style/tone standpoint. The first film was serious but funny, Glass Onion was funny but serious. The first was dark and close, the second bright and open. The first had less known actors with some big names along with, the second had huge names with fewer newcomers. The former was a reconstruction, the latter was a present-tense flip-flop. One thing is for sure: it will probably have something known to be sharp in its title.

Fourth, PROMOTION.
This is the part where I talk about my book, A Void and Cloudless Sky. The book is up for sale on Amazon and BN.com, as well as Bookshop.org! The best deal is with Mr. Bezos, but Bookshop actually lets you support your friendly local bookstore if you want.

And as usual, if you'd like to support this whole endeavor more directly, you can check out my Patreon, where I post poetry, notes to poems, the occasional essay, and whatnot. At upper tiers I even write poems FOR YOU!

If you like what I do here and don't have the scratch or the inclination to do the above, please share this newsletter with your friends. I like making words wiggle people's brainjuices.

Finally, THE OUTRO.
My sister was looking for things to read for Black History Month, so I made a list. Under normal circumstances I'd link to these, but since the majority of these writers are poets, you can likely just google and read anything from there, or check poets.org or poetryfoundation.org.

Anything by:
Reginald Dewayne Betts
Jericho Brown
Lucille Clifton
Kwame Dawes
Camille T. Dungy
Nikki Giovanni
Aracelis Girmay
June Jordan
Donika Kelly
Audre Lorde
Morgan Parker
Saul Williams
NK Jemisin
Toni Morrison
Octavia Butler
Ta-Nehisi Coates
bell hooks (SERIOUSLY READ ALL ABOUT LOVE IF NOTHING ELSE)

That's the stuff on my shelves.

Also check out my professors, peers, and friends if you can find their work:
Curtis Crisler
CM Burroughs
Matthew Shenoda
Benjamin Williams
HD/Haydee Souffrant
Christine Goggins
Deiselah Thompson
Jamiece Adams

I'm missing so, so many names here, but I figure this is as good a place to start as any.