Sturgeon's Law

Standard disclaimer: narrator not me.

After a couple minor postal issues, I mailed out the last of the Muse contributor/sponsor copies (and those copies ordered in the last few days) yesterday. More substantial posts may follow soon.

Edited to add: if you read this blog and have a copy coming to you, let me know in the next couple weeks if it doesn't arrive (unless you're overseas or ordered a bunch of copies).

Jordan doesn't have comments enabled on his blog, so I'm going to say thank you here for his kind words about The Eleventh Muse. Thank you also to everyone else for the feedback and for the lovely, lovely poetry you let me use for this issue.

I e-mailed Vanderbilt and Wyoming yesterday to let them know I wouldn't be attending their MFA programs. It's a very tough thing to do, and I can't help but feel like I'm letting people down, even though rationally I don't think it can be taken that way--they have people choose to go elsewhere all the time, and they reject people all the time too. Ultimately, it came down to the fact that I'm happy enough with my poetic and personal situation right now that if I'm going to uproot and move and pay money to get mostly the experience of getting this basically useless piece of paper, it needs to be the perfect situation, and neither place felt quite like it. I think I was closest to going to Wyoming, but I got the feeling that I'd go somewhat crazy (crazier) living in Laramie, I discovered I very much enjoy my steady employment and fiscal solvency, and I also realized that if I'm going to move for an MFA, I'd most like to move to St. Louis, or near there. I think I'll apply next year to several schools in that area. People keep asking me about the low-residency MFAs, but that route doesn't particularly appeal to me.

Zachary Schomburg posted a team self-analysis for the fantasy baseball league we're both in, and I feel like doing one too. If you don't care about fantasy baseball (or at least baseball in general), skip this.

C-Victor Martinez, Cleveland
Because this is a very deep 20-team league, I decided to go with a "positional scarcity" approach and draft good players at positions where there weren't many good players. This helps at catcher, where Martinez is easily the best at the position, but it didn't help my outfield or starting pitching.

1B-Albert Pujols, St. Louis
I had the second overall pick. With ARod gone, this was an easy choice. Good thing too, since my draft window crashed when I was trying to make it.

2B-Ryan Freel, Cincinnati
If he stays healthy, he covers my stolen bases. A good pick where I made it, especially considering I didn't have any other great speed guys.

3B-Eric Chavez, Oakland
Probably a bit of a reach where I took him, but if he ever gets over his slow starts, he'll be season-long excellent.

SS-Clint Barmes, Colorado
If you can grab a full-time Rockies batter in the mid-to-late rounds, especially a relatively proven one like Barmes, it's great.

Utility Infielder-Prince Fielder, Milwaukee
I generally don't like to take prospects, but Fielder is a cut above most prospects in terms of mashing taters.

OF-Matt Holliday, Colorado; Curtis Granderson, Detroit; Mike Cameron, San Diego; Rondell White, Minnesota
See, I waited waaaay too long to draft outfielders. Holliday is solid going on the Rockies rule mentioned above. Granderson is a top prospect having a good spring after flashing potential last year--he could be a 20/20 guy. Cameron is a 20/20 guy, as long as you can take the low average (his OBP isn't quite so awful, which is good since OBP and not average counts in this league) and the strikeouts (which also don't count in this league). You know what you get with White: a solid batting average and homers in the teens, with at least two trips to the disabled list. His fantasy nickname isn't "RonDL" for nothing.

Utility/Bench-Conor Jackson, Arizona; Casey Kotchman, Anaheim
I drafted way too many first baseman. I'll cut or trade one for an outfielder soon enough.

Starting Pitchers-Randy Johnson, New York; Dan Haren, Oakland; Matt Morris, San Francisco; Jae Seo, Los Angeles; Brad Penny, Los Angeles; Justin Verlander, Detroit
This is a very hit-or-miss staff. Is Johnson too old? Will this be Haren's breakout year? Will Morris get hurt? Was Seo just a half-season fluke? Will Penny ever have a breakout year? Verlander is theoretically a good prospect, but I'm not expecting much from him.

Relievers-Brad Lidge, Houston; Ambiorix Burgos, Kansas City; Scott Eyre, Chicago Cubs
In a 20-team league, you need at least one top closer to keep you afloat in saves. Since this league counts holds, a solid setup guy like Eyre is a good idea too. Burgos is a waiver wire pickup for previous KC closer Mike MacDougal, who's out at least six weeks with some shoulder injury. Burgos also helps me meet my quota for guys with cool names.

It's been quite awhile since I posted some best of poems online.

"Small Ending" by Dora Malech (Chelsea)
"Deep Sea Dantesca" by Carol Quinn (The National Poetry Review)

Today was a good day on the poetry receiving front: both a Mid-American Review and The National Poetry Review in the mailbox. No submission replies in quite some time now.

I got back from my mountain weekend yesterday. Sadly (or not so much), I don't have time for a big post.

• I've started sending out The Eleventh Muse 2006 in batches, and I hope to be done with it by the end of the week. If you read this blog and have a copy coming, give it a couple weeks to arrive, and if it hasn't by then, please let me know.
• I just charged back my credit card for a poetry-related purchase: a t-shirt I bought from a journal I was published in last year. I ordered the shirt in October, and after repeated inquiries and multiple claims from the editor that it had been mailed (along with an additional copy that I also never received), I've given up. Though the journal itself is lovely, I found my dealings with it to be thoroughly disappointing.
• I've been reading the Digerati anthology and enjoying it greatly. Alison Pelegrin's "Your Psychic Powers and How to Develop Them" is a particular favorite so far.
• I really, really need the break time from the Muse that will be coming up once I get these mailed. I need to get back to my muse (a term I don't particularly like, but the wordplay here trumps that, apparently).
  

The 2006 issue of The Eleventh Muse contains a superb array of 55 poems by 44 poets from 23 US states and four countries.

The issue is available for $8. Purchase via Paypal to poetrywest@yahoo.com or please mail checks (no cash) to:

Poetry West
PO Box 2413
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80901

The complete list of writers appearing in this issue:
Alex Williams, Andrea L. Watson, Tony Trigilio, Joanne Tangorra, A. E. Stallings, John Pursley III, Stephen S. Power, John Poch, Robert Perchan, Jeff Newberry, Steve Mueske, Peter Meinke, Clay Matthews, Erin Malone, Jeanne Larsen, Rebecca Laroche, Greg Kosmicki, Jennifer Koiter, Katie Kingston, Carrie Jerrell, Thomas Jardine, Mark Irwin, Brandi Homan, Jenn Habel, R. S. Gwynn, Hillary Gravendyk Burrill, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Jeffrey Franklin, Allen C. Fischer, Marta Ferguson, Ellen Kirvin Dudis, Lucille Lang Day, Jordan Davis, Leigh Anne Couch, Gaylord Brewer, Ash Bowen, Mary Biddinger, Shaindel Beers, Sandra Beasley, Jeffery Bahr, Scott M. Bade, Amanda Auchter, Susan Kay Anderson, M. Lee Alexander, & Deborah Ager

Congratulations to the winners of the 2006 Lois Beebe Hayna Award for best poem in the issue, as selected by the entire editorial staff:
1st Place: “Windows,” Mark Irwin
2nd Place: “Ciphers,” Leigh Anne Couch
3rd Place: “Unflown,” Sandra Beasley

Honorable Mentions
“Canticles,” Jeff Newberry
“For M. D.,” R. S. Gwynn

Congratulations to the winners of the inaugural Eleventh Muse poetry contest:
1st Place: “Einstein's Brain,” Andrea L. Watson
2nd Place: “Houdini Kiss,” M. Lee Alexander
3rd Place: “What Will We Do With You? This Bone Has Almost No Flesh Protecting It--,” Shaindel Beers

More information is available here. I will be mailing contributor copies early next week.

I'm putting together an NCAA tournament field at Yahoo. If you like picking brackets, please join.

Here's the information:

Visit this link to set up a pick set.
Group ID#: 110526
Group Password: sturgeon

• I've got some lovely cuts on my fingers from broken glass, now disposed of. Fun story.
  
• Just got back from the Aaron Anstett/Jake Adam York reading at the Tattered Cover in Denver. Good reading as usual, but the crowd was somewhat disappointing. Go read Jake's "Elegy for James Knox" if you haven't already. And check out Aaron's page in my Recommended section.
• In the "when it rains" or "they come in bunches" category, my sonnet "Rum and True Religion" has been accepted by The Dark Horse. Now I must try to write something very edgy indeed.
• My brother and I are heading up to our dad and stepmom's in the mountains Friday early afternoon for St. Patrick's Day (not because we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but a mere happenstance of days). Ought to be fun. We will probably drink in the spirit of the occasion.
  

Two poems picked up by Avatar Review. Take that, you slackers at AWP! (Seriously, I'm jealous of you.) [Not seriously, but whatever.]

"Science fiction is what we point at when we say, 'This is science fiction.'"--Damon Knight

"Sure, ninety percent of science fiction is crud. That's because ninety percent of everything is crud."--Theodore Sturgeon

"He could not argue with an angry bed."—-Philip K. Dick

So for an MFA program for Fall 2006, I have to choose between Vanderbilt, Wyoming, and not going. Here are the key factors going into my decision (not necessarily in order of importance):

1. Money. This really is a big deal, as I have no desire to go deep into debt to get a degree that will be of minimal financial value. Vanderbilt has offered me half tuition plus a $3,000 fellowship, and I don't yet know what Wyoming is offering. Not going, of course, is the financially best decision in the short term and quite likely in the long term. Fortunately for the process, money isn't the only factor going into the decision.

2. Friends/Social Network. This is also very important to me, as I love my friends and also don't make close friends quickly. Well, my best network of friends and acquaintances is definitely here in town. However, one of my better friends just moved away, and I expect another two will leave in the near future (say next year or so). The friend who just moved is actually in Laramie now, one of the reasons I applied to Wyoming. I don't really have a network in Nashville anymore, but it is a much bigger city than Laramie (which is small enough to worry me), and I'd get to meet A.D. and Jilly (and anyone else around there I've forgotten, sorry)--on the other hand, the program is going to be much smaller, so less chance to meet people that way. My top choice here was Washington-St. Louis, since my best friend lives there, but no dice with them.

3. Teachers/Learning Environment. This is one area where Colorado Springs really loses--there are some great poets and teachers here in town, but none of them is actually obligated to be my teacher, and I have a lot of well-established distractions here (some of which will travel with me anywhere, of course). At Vanderbilt, I know two of the main poetry teachers: Mark Jarman and Kate Daniels. Mark is a great teacher and one of the main reasons I'm still writing poetry. I only had Kate for one class, and it was very beginner and a bad split poetry/fiction format--it didn't go that well. Rick Hilles is also on there now, and I've heard good things about him, and also apparently Beth Bachmann is there, though I can't find any mention of her on the actual Vanderbilt page, so maybe she isn't now? Anyway, I don't know much about her. And at Wyoming, there's H. L. Hix, whose poetry I love and whom I've heard great things about, and Craig Arnold, who is a damn good writer and with whom I've gotten along nicely when we met. There's someone else I can't remember also.

4. Distance from here. Here is obviously very close to here. Laramie is close enough that I could visit fairly easily. Nashville is not. St. Louis would not really have been either.

5. Prestige. Sure, it matters a little. Both programs are new or new-ish, so there's probably not a huge amount. Vanderbilt is the more prestigious name to put on a resume, but I do already have it once. WashU would have been the winner here, for what small amount that's worth.

x. Intangibles. Honestly, I feel like this category is the reason this whole thing got started, and the whole reason I'm still thinking about going even though my first choice turned me down. Something internal wants me to have an MFA and wants me to try something new. Of course, there's a big intangible desire to stay here, too.

Since I'm basically thinking out loud here, I'm sure I'll come up with other factors that are affecting my decision. I'll add them as I do.

Just got a really nice "You were in the final batch" rejection letter from Virginia Quarterly Review. Good news/bad news, I guess.

I hope to come back this evening or tomorrow and really write out the thought processes that are going into my decision for if/where to go for my MFA, a decision that is definitely not finalized yet. See you then...

Just testing out the "BlogThis!" feature. A few tidbits from the past couple days:

Whoops, just discovered problem #1 with "BlogThis!": bullet points are a pain in the ass. Great. Too late to back out now.

-Went to Joel Brouwer's reading at UCCS last night. Excellent reading, and Joel is as nice a guy as he is good a poet. There was a big poet gathering for drinks afterward, with Joel, Aaron Anstett, Dave Mason, other poets, some Colorado College students (all 21), and me. Good times, even if I was very tired this morning.
-After completely avoiding poker for about two weeks after my previous poker-caused meltdown (see the blog entry a few down), I got back on the horse, played a few friendly games with my brother, and then played three 10-person sit-and-go tournaments. I didn't do well in the first one, but then I finished 2nd and 1st in the next two.
-The Eleventh Muse will (I hope) be ready next week, so those of you contributors and sponsors who read this blog can expect your copies in the next couple of weeks.

Ugh, I forget what else I wanted to blog about. I have stuff to finish up. More later.

Looks like I'm in at Wyoming, out at Washington-St. Louis...