Category Archives: Dear Johns from the Po Biz

2013 is the year of Awesome / accidental confessions / Amazing discoveries and wondrous visions / announcements / appearances / awesome / awesome presses / BOOM. / Breaking up is hard to do / Chchchchanges / COLLECT! / contemporary poetry / Corrections / crafting / crafts / creative nonfiction / creative writing / Dear Johns from the Po Biz / Emma is very lucky / EPIC WIN / Glitter (pretty version) / Going to eleven / gratitude / hopes and dreams / inspiration / Internet culture / Letters to Inanimate Objects / living without linebreaks / love / love poems / magazines / Milestones and suchness / Movin' on / nonfiction / One Can Find Me Here (Or At Least My Words) / Online culture / Online literary magazines / Other Lit Mags One Should Admire / Other Poets / Other Presses We Should All Be Looking At / poem challenge / poem for the day / poems / poetry / Poetry Daily / poets / publishing / publishing (or not publishing / rejection / rejection slippage / relationships / revision / shameless self-promotion / Squee! / Stationary Objects and Collisions Therewith / submissions / Thanks and thanks again / The big move / the genre line (and stepping over it) / The grind / the poem factory / The Secret Life of Objects / Very Excellent News / where are you going where have you been / Where You Can Find Me (Or At Least My Words) / wonders and apparitions / writing life / You gotta have friends

The Story Behind “The Damage”

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In which Emma has a dream come true and talks about it for you. AND MAKES HER SUMMARY RHYME. Continue reading »

2012 / 365 / A festival of photos / accidental confessions / aesthetic theory / Amazing discoveries and wondrous visions / awesome / balance / cool/not cool / crafting / crafts / Dear Johns from the Po Biz / disagreeable/agreeable / disappearances / drafts / Emma hits a wall / Emma's attempts at normal life / Emma's attempts at real life (failed or otherwise) / Epic Fail? EPIC WIN! / failed or otherwise / fashion / Film / flickr / Glitter (pretty version) / Going to eleven / gratuitous photos of whatnot / Happy accidents / hopes and dreams / instagram / IRL Drama Llama / It is ON 2012 / it is ON. / kidney stones / learning patience slowly / lists / Losing courage and other freakouts / multi-tasking / perfection is boring. period. / Perspiration? Inspiration? / Photo for the day / Photography / poems / poetry / Pretty glimpses / Probably quite a bit TMI / publishing / publishing (or not publishing / rejection slippage / Resolutions / Retrospectitating / Retrospective / revision / Sew what / shameless self-promotion / Squee! / stalled / Stationary Objects and Collisions Therewith / submissions / summations / That Was The Week That Was / The Drama Llama / The Great Kidney Stone Battle Royale of 2012 / The grind / The latest medical anomaly / the poem factory / The Secret Life of Objects / The Year of Projects / What Emma is up to / wonders and apparitions / Words of Wisdom / writing and not writing / writing life

That Was The Week That Was: Week Thirty-Six

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In which Emma shares some hard-learned lessons and also some pictures of stuff. Continue reading »

A manifesto of sorts / A teacher's education / accidental confessions / Amazing discoveries and wondrous visions / Art and life and love and The Big Stuff / Bizarre associations and other odd tendencies / bright shining spots in the very much dark / Chchchchanges / cool/not cool / Corrections / creative nonfiction / criticism / Dear Johns from the Po Biz / definitions / disagreeable/agreeable / drafts / DUENDE / Emma hits a wall / Emma is very lucky / Emma's theories on what makes for Very Good Poetry / EPIC FAIL / Epic Fail? EPIC WIN! / EPIC WIN / Errata / evaluations / Even goddesses get insulted / failed or otherwise / Failure Schmailure / False Dichotomies / family / Fear and how to face it / hopes and dreams / How Emily Dickinson changed (saved?) my life / inspiration / IRL Drama Llama / kidney stones / learning / learning patience slowly / Losing courage and other freakouts / mullings and ramblings / My nerves are bad tonight. Yes bad. / nonfiction / NOT COOL. / perfection is boring. period. / Perspiration? Inspiration? / pictorial representations / poems / poetry / Poetry as therapy / Poetry Exercises / poets / Probably quite a bit TMI / publishing / publishing (or not publishing / random musings / re-purposing / Recharging the mental batteries / rejection slippage / revision / Righting Wrongs / The Drama Llama / The evolution of Emma / The Great Kidney Stone Battle Royale of 2012 / The grind / the heft of cathedral tunes / The latest medical anomaly / the poem factory / thought for the day / training / visual representations / What Emma is up to / where are you going where have you been / wonders and apparitions / writing and not writing / Writing Anew / writing life

“She doesn’t want a husband, she wants a wedding.”

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In which Emma ditches her dreams of a fancy party at the altar because she realizes they aren’t the point. Continue reading »

A brief break from the poetry / A teacher's education / Academic inquiries / Art and life and love and The Big Stuff / AWP Denver / Brief Updating / cool/not cool / Dear Johns from the Po Biz / disagreeable/agreeable / disappearances / edumacation / ill omens / Inquiries into academics / mullings and ramblings / On the book and putting it together / Perspiration? Inspiration? / Poetry Rock Stars / poetry superheroes / publishing (or not publishing / q & a / random musings / ranting and raving / re-purposing / The power and the money / The Thoughts of a Poetry Fan Girl / where are you going where have you been

“And it appears to be a long time …”

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In which Emma attempts to make sense of the Very Strange Feeling she got from the AWP Conference in Denver. Continue reading »

A manifesto of sorts / appearances / awesome kids we should all keep an eye out for / bad behavior in public places / Dear Johns from the Po Biz / edumacation / Emma is very lucky / Emma's theories on what makes for A Very Good Poetry Submission / Georgetown College / Inquiries into academics / IRL Drama Llama / learning patience slowly / magazines / mullings and ramblings / nonappearances / Notes to Gentle Reader / pedagogy / perfection is boring. period. / publishing (or not publishing / q & a / random musings / ranting and raving / re-purposing / Recharging the mental batteries / rejection slippage / requests / revision / shameless self-promotion / submissions / summations / teaching / The Georgetown Review / the poem factory / The Thoughts of a Poetry Fan Girl / The Twelve Days of Blogging / training / Winter tries to kill me / writing life / You gotta have friends

On the twelth day of blogging …

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In which Emma returns from the abyss with some tips and tricks of the trade. Continue reading »

A festival of linkage / Brief Updating / Dear Johns from the Po Biz / Emma hits a wall / hopes and dreams / ill omens / Macbeth doth murder sleep / mullings and ramblings / Pearl Jam / publishing (or not publishing / random musings / rejection slippage / Rock Screams / Stationary Objects and Collisions Therewith / submissions / summations / the poem factory / The siege in the room / The Who are too awesome / witches in stitches / wonders and apparitions / writing life

The Siege in the Room, Report for Day Two: Double, double, toil and trouble.

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I’m knee-deep in research right now — almost literally. I’m working with at least three notebooks open at once, and my laptop open, multiple windows aimed at some really fantastic databases. I discovered, with much joy, that the Cornell University Library has an extensive collection of materials on witchcraft, and I’m busily attempting to come … Continue reading »

A festival of linkage / awesome presses / Conan O'Brien continues to crack me up / Dear Johns from the Po Biz / evaluations / hopes and dreams / magazines / mullings and ramblings / NaPoWriMo / random musings / ranting and raving / rejection slippage / submissions / the confessionals / the poem factory / writing life / [expletive deleted]

As for me, I am a watercolor. I wash off.

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A visual aid to the forthcoming story provided by Eric Conveys an Emotion: One day at young writers’ camp, my friend Seth, who had just the night before been prescribed some incredibly strong decongestants for a stubborn cold, stumbled into breakfast with a well-bandaged hand. “Seth!” I said, “what’s with the hand?” “I punched myself … Continue reading »