Summer Writing and Reading

Now that summer is here, I am hoping my writing picks up a bit. I've also got three somewhat time-consuming things behind me: two Guest Editor stints, one for the Rio Grande Review and one for Asian American Poetry and Writing (both issues are out soon; RGR is already up online)--and my full-time job, teaching at Fresno City College. This semester I had great students, so it was a pleasure, really. But now that grades are in and summer is here, for all intents and purposes, I am looking forward to writing more. What always gets me motivated to write is to read, and so I am delving into some poetry collections I've been wanting to crack open---Linda Gregg's All of It Singing, most notably. Other books I have waiting for me include: Christopher Buckley's Sky, Charles Baudelaire's The Flowers of Paris and Evil Spleen, and two of the many books owned by my recently passed on grandmother: a first edition hardback (1938) of Thomas Mann's The Coming Victory of Democracy and Franz Kafka's Diaries 1914-1923.

I am also trying to work through titles for my second manuscript. I want the word "acoustics" in it, and the one I'm thinking about now is All the City's Acoustics. What do you think of it? I know you haven't read the poems, but as a title alone, I like the sound of it. I think of Patricia Smith's response to the question about Blood Dazzler, where she simply said she just likes the way it rolls off her tongue. I've also thought of All This City's Acoustics (slight variation on the first), Han Acoustics, and Acoustic You. I have a feeling none of these will eventually be the title, for some reason. I wish something would come to me like This Many Miles from Desire did---that title came to me very early, and it never left.