in joy / intellectual communities / in two parts

Just returned from celebrating the birth of my favorite K. She's not actually old until Sunday, but I convinced her we should wine and dine tonight. We found ourselves at Sushi in Joy, then at Target for pomegranate ice cream, and finally in front of K's TV watching some movie with Hugh Jackman. Considering how much of the night was exactly what I needed after a crazy work week, I'm not sure if I should be allowed to count it as the celebration of K. Although the cute server at inJoy did give (both of) us free ice cream.

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I've meant to post this week in response to last Friday's post and the comments it generated. Well, that post and AA's chat comment to me about my need for intellectual communities.

I didn't mean to imply that April or FOB or Poetasters were dead to me. I live for emails and blog posts and IMs and the occasional visit, like the one I just wrote about. K keeps me on my toes aesthetically; Ginsberg offers careful consideration of what I'm doing in my writing which almost always leads to stronger drafts and new poems; Anna and Brooke are two of my best cheerleaders; TB will let me bitch about how pathetic I am without making me believe it; Theric pushes me to send out my writing; etc., etc., etc. There is no end to the support I have in writing, and in my life. The only drawback is that you (collectively and individually) are not here. We don't meet once a week to discuss, in person, what we're working on. I miss that. I miss the back and forth that those writing groups allowed me. And I miss having people I can sit down with to talk about line breaks or narrative structure or. . .

I'm not sure how much longer either of us can read this post. I just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate who you are and what you have been and are in my life--writing and otherwise.

P.S. Ginsberg: I'm giving myself five more years.