I'm very relieved, though. Tomorrow morning I go to campus and meet my colleagues...will keep you updated.
Today, did some Clean Sheets stuff in the morning, planning our special bonus issue for the end of June. Talked to Roshani -- most of our conversations recently have been about her upcoming wedding, but somehow we got onto genetic ethics and had a lovely early-morning argument, just the thing to get the blood racing. More of a discussion than an argument -- we're really surprisingly in agreement on these issues.
Finally gave up on Kev's dying ivy, so this morning I transplanted another live and happy ivy into that container. Other plants appear to be thriving (when I remember to water). I wonder if miniature roses would be too ambitious...
Getting much too hot here, so I'm going to shower, bake some banana bread (we have three dying bananas), print out some stories to be mailed out, and then take off for a nice air-conditioned bookstore, I think. Probably the Borders today. And theoretically, this evening Kevin's going to drive me out to the local SCA meeting. Maybe I'll meet a few kindred souls. Fingers crossed.
Talk to y'all later...
7:45. I finished a marvelous book yesterday, Italo Calvino's _On a winter night a traveller_. Gave me all sorts of ideas. I can't believe I've never read anything of his before. And the first pages of this one are something every book lover should read. Currently reading Bharati Mukherjee's _Leave it to Me_. Interesting, but a little...hmmm...hasty? Hard to say right now -- we'll see what I think when I finish it. Spent a while this afternoon reading lit mags, trying to figure out where to send "Esthely Blue" next. Liked Glimmer Train and Ploughshare...need to find a copy of Zyzzygy...
Too tired to go out tonight. Writing poetry instead.
Systematic Pressure
Heat is pressing downon me, making my limbs heavy;
it is too hot to cook dinner,
too hard. Instead, we watch tv
together; we have always
been quite good at
watching tv together,
especially in the heat.
There is an air conditioner;
we don't use it much.
My chest has been tight all
day; someone has been
sitting on my chest, my
throat has a great big ball
stuck halfway down;
my head is pounding
in a way I have never known
before -- the ibuprofen tablets,
small and brown and magic,
do nothing. All my old
remedies have failed me;
so I lie still on the couch,
my head heavy on his chest,
breathing too thickly.
Sometimes, I have woken
in the night unable to breathe
properly; once I called
the hospital, and they said
to come in at once -- it's
very dangerous, not being
able to breathe. I got off
the phone, but decided to
wait a little while, and see
if things got better. They
seemed to get better.
The light has changed.
I am staring out the window
at the sudden missing sunlight --
storm clouds hang heavy
above me; I realize
that the rain is coming,
finally. That's all. That
explains everything. At last,
it is coming, isn't it?
The rain.