From the Springville Museum of Art

Here are a few pictures from my recent visit to the Springville Museum of Art. It was really nice to show off my small home town to my students and see how they reacted to everything 'small town' still hanging on by the fingernails.

I never look at the names of artists when I go to the museum. I like my visual art to be anonymous. I like to know who poets are, and obsess over by-lines and bios, but I never care who a painter is, even when, as above, the art really catches my attention.

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As for my own writing, I think I am going to start submitting my newest explosion of poems in a few weeks. Like I said, several are ready to submit. Even though I like to submit via e-maul (spelling intentional), I have formatting issues to consider, and a great deal of these new poems may have to go out through more traditional means. Either that, or arrange to send along MS Word attachments.

So far, I have about 14 pieces. They are intended to be very short bursts of poetry, and their ideas are coming easily enough. I have decided on 24-25 for the final draft of the chapbook, but I want to over write so that I can choose the best and strongest. I have 4-5 very strong pieces set to anchor the book, but I wast everything to be just so. This is the second time my idea for a chapbook (of the now four I have decided to do) which has had an extremely clear and focused format. The other one was Gathering up the Scattered Leaves. With Four Way stop, I didn't even know I was writing a chapbook until I had most of it written. With Working in the Bird House, I had an idea I wanted to work with, but the manuscript went through a dozen solid incarnations before its final form. If it ever gets printed (now lingering a full year in Acceptance Limbo) you will get to see that it took a long time to establish its narrative arc. It may even still be too subtle.

As for my full length manuscript, there is some question as to whether it will ever see the light of day. I adore the poems in there, and the bulk of them is found in my first two chapbooks, but there are some hidden gems which have never quite fit into the constraints of a chapbook. I have mentioned this before, but I may end up creating a book based upon 10 years of Utah poems. As I write this, two presses are supposedly considering my full length book. It will never win any contest, nor will it ever be considered hip or vital, so submitting it with reading fees was never an option. If these two say "no," then I will never send it out again. Don't cry for me, Argentina and all that crap, I suppose. The truth is, that I really do believe poems have a shelf life, and there's nothing more smelly than spoiled poems.

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CODA

I suppose everything is relative, and as such, will eventually work itself out.

Fade out music: Michael Buble's version of "Come Fly with Me."