Alphabetofyourlove.

Thoughts and news.

a.) Happy 2012.

b.) My holidays were brilliant- hope yours were, too.

c.) What's new with you?

d.) These are my items for your agenda:

d) I'm working toward veganism. This is difficult (no, really difficult): I am Midwest born-and-bred and dairy is my favorite food group. But it kills my stomach, ravages my complexion, and stuffs me up. Rather than "take a lactose intolerance pill before meals" the way some people have suggested (well-meaning, I know), I am getting rid of it entirely. Slowly. Without putting any pressure on myself. My stomach puts enough pressure on me at this point.

Eggs come in March. The commitment is my birthday present to myself.

d1) M has been wonderful about all this. We both come from meat-n-potatoes families. He loves meat. But he can really enjoy a meal at home without having meat, and he doesn't really seek out dairy, anyway. He's very flexible. Flexitarianable.

d2) We are both cleansing crap from our diet for a few weeks. Week One is past. We've been eating nonstop since October. Eating out a lot. Eating holiday food and holiday leftovers. Eating too many sweets. Eating sweets because we're craving sweets from eating too many sweets. Week One was about getting rid of the bloat, which we did. M's cleanse is a bit more extreme than mine, but this week we are back on the same page. We are looking forward to Taco Night at home later this week. Everything tastes amazing and and small meals fill our stomachs. When we look at our bank accounts, we notice the sums unchanged because we aren't swiping our check cards at every cafe and restaurant on the northside of Indianapolis in a routine workweek kinda thing.

d3) So you might call these our resolutions.

e) I hate the presidential election season. Seriously. I get two television channels at home (TWO) and listen to the radio on my phone and I can't escape it. There are two things that really piss me off about presidential elections: 1.) the media making issues out of non-issues and playing the entire 2 minutes' worth of actual news on loop 24/7 and 2.) the outrage voters express about presidential elections that they don't bother to express at the Local Level (um, hello. Hello.).

f) Yoga is going terrifically. I have three classes now and no coordinator position so I can give my full focus to my classes. The new company is more hands-off, policy-wise, and has adopted this style of teaching of "less is more." The director of their program is J. Kest, and there are several branches you can opt into with the company (his style or not his style)- I have two issues with the Kest styles- 1.) talk-teaching instead of model-teaching (ideally, I could do both, so instances where I'm injured [like right now, recovering from a pulled hamstring] my class isn't completely lost trying to follow me without seeing me do the poses], but I actually enjoy doing the class as I instruct it) and the heat. These formats involve bumping up the temperature of the room and Hot Yoga formats are certainly not my favorite. Nor am I like my mother, who turns on the ceiling fans halfway through her class. But the studio gets warm enough where we teach without me messing around with the temperature box and opening a can of worms in which members (and they will) talk to me before and after class about how cold they are or how hot they are and "isn't there anything we can do about that?"

f2) We are also welcome to include more advanced inversions in our classes now. Which rocks.

g) Poetry news.

g1) Burnside Review is including more Sodergran translations in its next issue.

g2) TriQuarterly Online is scheduled to post an interview with me the first week of February. It's a long interview. Like, really long. I say some things in it that might make you mad. Or that you might disagree with and dismiss me over. Or that you might agree with. Or that you might agree with but won't admit. Anyway, that's what happens when you get asked a question like "what do you see happening in poetry today?" You get one poet's opinion.

g3) The Little Red Leaves Textile Series is including a poem of mine in its 2012 line-up.

g4) Another little chapbook (titled Salt Ballads) which includes translations and original work, has been accepted by another awesome-ass small press but hasn't been announced officially, yet, so watch my sidebar for information on that.

g5) Work begins on TAIGA issue I, which will include some original works and a lot of interview-space with poets who are also musicians (and poets who are poets but not musicians). I is for INTERVIEW. We are hoping to have the issue ready for you to order by March 1st. But you know how that goes.

g6) March 1st is when I read with alice blue at an AWP off-site. If you are "going to AWP," let me know. There's a good chance I want to shake your hand or hug you (and I do hug, just to warn you).

g7) Because I didn't post it as it was happening, I need to draw your attention this amazing Art Book version of my chapbook with alice blue. There are limited quantities (and one quilt version, which is AMAZING). I have one. It really did make my eyes watery and my nose stuffy when I saw it. That people would take that kind of care with my work baaaaaaaaasically bumps it up to this level of "this isn't really even your work, any more- it's work that is part of something bigger." I don't know how to describe that feeling any better, but hopefully you get my meaning. It'd be like seeing someone else quote your poetry on a random bathroom stall, dig. Amber Nelson and Barbara Pronsato are angels (and crafty devils). Check it out right here and check out the quilt version here.

g8) To pass along to you: I found this really great recent interview with Peter Gizzi on my phone (I listen to podcasts at work) and you should listen if you haven't.

h) And to ask of you: if you have great winter veggie soup recipes (tried n true), email them to me.

Happy week, loves. <3