1. Rejected by another literary magazine. Woo-hoo.
2. I am now a reader for a San Diego poetry press called Cooper Dillon! I met the editor in Denver at a literary conference, and immediately volunteered my free poem-reading skills. Full-length poetry submissions now clog my inbox, and I don’t hate it.
3. Favorite poem this week found here (it’s too long to insert into post, but worth the effort I promise!).
4. Below, a poem sent to me by a good, good friend.
Something I Know About Her
by Gerald W. Barrax
She touches when she talks–
must touch to smooth out syntax with her fingertips,
must lay on her hand to hear her echo,
to feel the words you don’t speak
below the ones you do.
What she means by it is warm,
if she touches you, listen:
to surprise her at it
would be like waking a sleepwalker
between two dreams–
would trap her in this tedious
world of mere words.
* * *
panache, perhaps 
Read “The Present”. This is where I feel totally inept or maybe uneducated or maybe its fair to say simply “I just don’t get it”.
Then I wonder, “is this smart, well written, moving and SHOULD I get it?” Poetry is doing this to me now – am wondering if its like the visual arts where a certain amount
of exposure and education is required for me to be able to appreciate/like/understand this poem. So, do I study more to LEARN to like something or do I just like what I can grasp/understand and leave it at that?