Signifying Nothing

the poetry of silence

Shhh. Settle down.

I need a moment. I’ve been going at breakneck speed and I think what I need to do is reflect and withdraw. Can I though? Nope. I’m in the middle of writing a dozen grants. I have an event Tuesday. I’m planning a huge dance party and coordinating a conference booth for early March. I’m looking ahead to schedule a book tour for my forthcoming novel. I need blurbs. Reviews. Residencies. I’m looking for sponsors for May and readers for next year. I’ve got to wrangle my Board (they need to also wrangle me) I met with a new group of Lithuanian Professionals, I watched a poetry reading on a zoom, attended a Women-Founder networking event, saw another fabulous grad school author-friend, went to a queer storytelling slam on the Lower East Side, and the only thing I had tickets for that I missed this week was an ice-sculpture demonstration on Governor’s Island (the weather was 11 degrees and I couldn’t get myself to leave the apartment…so toasty inside.)

I feel overwhelmed by the need to also see my friends, family and bind tightly to the loved ones that make me feel good about myself. My phone lights up every few seconds. My email inbox pings faster than a racing heartbeat, mostly with AI-created marketing emails scheduled to fill the “quiet” times of email traffic - so no worker is sending them out and yet I have to look at them, at least to delete them (or I could set up a second automation to sweep all the automated emails - oh yes we are cluttering the internet beyond the beyond.) I am going out nearly every night so that I remember to laugh and keep great company and enjoy the life I get to lead in NYC. Even just now - a text-group I’m in is sending around a cute meme and everyone in the 26 person group feels the need to add a reaction emoji, so my phone looks like a disco light on my desk.

And me? I’m blathering on about it.

What is blathering? From the 1520s! It’s so old! Even back then people of Norway were speaking in Old Norse and told they were blathra-ing ‘talking nonsense’, (from blathr ‘nonsense’).

Is this all we do anymore, wag our tongues? Babble?

Let’s stop a second. Let’s listen to the nothing. Or let’s just…. sit.

And let’s see what comes to us in the silence.

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Writing

This week I am going to be hosting my usual Second-Tuesday of the month Literary Salon. This time I’m interviewing four writers - including poets, fictioneers, and essayists. (Ching-In Chen, Lane Igoudin, Terese Svoboda, and Priya Hutner) with my new co-host Marina Aris. It should be really interesting - the topic is Fluid Boundaries. Feel free to sign up for a free ticket. Audiences for the Livecast recording can chat questions in real time to me and the other authors. Here’s the link. Join me!

Wrote a new poem. Wanna read it? It’s here.

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Random Final Thought

Sauron is watching over the Olympics……