poet news
hello, all. welcome to year 14 of our quarantine.
Okay-dokey folks. Here we all are together again.
I briefly tried another platform, hand-entered your names, then realized mailchimp maybe wasn’t so bad comparatively & came back. What I got from that was gratitude for all your interest.
I hope you have been lucky in health. (Isn’t it nice not to have colds & flus this year? Unless you got it from your kids but kids have their sweet moments.)
I’m not sure what you saw or missed so I’ll recap then share the newest news.
Topics: footlights, instagram, blog, poetry projects and upcoming releases.
footlights.
It has been super well-received. People seem to “get it” and I’ve had over half a dozen people make reviews. Many books never get one. I feel very lucky. It has sold over 100 copies! Here’s to the next 100 and the 100 after that. It’s on audiobook and ebook but indie bookstores carry paper and that form has been the overwhelmingly popular choice.
footlights got a bit of a buzz when it was long-listed for the Pat Lowther Award for poetry by a Canadian woman. Such good books this year!
Incidentally, this could be a long newsletter. You might want to make yourself a nice cup of herbal tea. I’ll still be here.
I have been on instagram for years but don’t fully understand how to find anything or anyone. I redoubled effort.
Exploring through tags is mad fun. It reminds me of the early days of the internet when you can contact anyone anywhere with no language barrier, no nation, no gender, no presentation expectation. A direct exchange. It’s heady.
I was using the forum to see news about people I knew & letting my news to people that were safe. I was in a rut.
At Facebook I feel I risk if I share with someone who doesn’t reciprocate with as much. With twitter there’s no depth. IG People post optimism & hope, not replying only to the news cycle. It’s heartening that with all the photo filters, it still feels unfiltered, unmediated. You want to post a sunlit brick, cool. Wanna see my printer glitch? It’s like the best kindergarten show & tell.
I suppose all social media go through open sharing then shut down to 3rd party shared public information when trolls arrive. I haven’t seen under the bridge but the view from the top is dazzling.
IG has reignited my desire to play with design and inspired me to pick up a camera again. I’ve been going through published & unpublished poems since 2007 and highlighting bits or poems. I’m finding all sorts of bits I forgot about. Like today's IG post in the header here.
My new instagram is www.instagram.com/pearlpiriepoet
pesbo
I realized my blog turns 16 years old(!) this year. It could drive, if it had feet.
I dropped the blog for a few months of the early pandemic. (Like so many people dropping things then.) It’s back.
I talk about books I read, events, ruminations, and lately I’ve been highlighting older chapbooks. It’s migrated through a few platforms. It’s now housed at my author site and updates more than weekly. wwe.pearlpirie.com/blog
Some of the info is in condensed form on my twitter but twitter is not everyone’s cuppa. And there’s a lot of flow so finding one Pooh stick is easier at the blog than twitter where I follow more science than poetry.
Writing news
Some things I can say. I have one book pitched, one chapbook accepted, another chapbook pitched, one book about to be sent out. I have many ideas on thoughts to explore. 2 chapbooks, a novel & poetry collection are underway.
Watch for mid-May news at blog of a reading from footlights in the Heart of the Library Series & for news in summer of a chapbook release. The former will be launched on Facebook at 100 Mile Artist Network.
We get our first vaccine shot tomorrow. Phew. Poetry is of little concern if you’re dead, on a ventilator or down for years with chronic long covid, right. Like politics, health is always relevant to poetry. If you’re wondering about which vaccine, this articulate Vix video explains why whatever vaccine you can get is the best one to get: https://www.youtube.com/embed/K3odScka55A
Classes with Studio Nouveau seemed to go pretty well. A few people found the classes kickstarted their writing.
The next set, which I thought might be launched in March, didn’t. Probably by May the registration for Editing Your Poems will happen. Y’know, for shaping all those beauties you made in National Poetry Month, or years ago.
That’s the news. As soon as I press send I’ll think of something else or something else will happen. That’s okay.
We’ll talk again. Tell me your news.
Pearl
Not Quite Dawn
This chapbook is $15 with shipping. It is all haiku and tanka. Email me to order. More chapbooks on site.
I have copies
$24 with shipping. I can sign or leave blank.