Looking Back

The radio news is full of war, and not just the current struggles but also World War I, as it began 100 years ago with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This Reuters article notes striking parallels between the current state of the world and the state of the world then. Sigh...

John Guzlowski is looking back on his reading, his losses, and World War II in these poems in Escape Into Life, posted with beautiful and heartbreaking art by Margarita Georgiadis, also seen here in paintings titled Time Past and Anointed.

I've been looking back at my own poems this spring and summer, as I revise and submit them and prepare and revise chapbook and full-length manuscripts for submission. Since we are six months into 2014, I realized I should do a tally toward the 100 Rejections project again, and, after struggling only a weensy bit with the inevitable math of it, I came up with totals that actually added up! I have sent out 42 submissions, had 15 acceptances and 11 rejections; 15 packets are pending, and 1 is an N/A as it was returned unread since the publisher is backlogged. And it was a nice return.

What a busy time it's been and will continue to be this summer and fall. I like it, but I am also glad of down time, quiet mornings on the patio, steady breathing in the pool during meditative lap swimming, reading books of poems and short stories, and moments just staring at the petals of flowers or listening to birdsong.