Developments (Not Arrested)

There have been some developments on many fronts in the Jenkins-Braun household.

We finally are getting around to getting rid of the books we have doubles of, including our Norton Anthologies, and we have had arguments over whose marginal notes are better and for what reasons; most of my notes were argued for because they made jokes about the authors or had funny drawings on the upper righthand corner of the page, etc. Will's notes were generally found thoughtful and possibly helpful for understanding the text. You can see why such arguments occurred.

We're also not wasting any time in replacing the empty spaces in the bookshelf. Just yesterday I purchased Vita Nova by Louise Gluck and Lucifer at the Starlite by Kim Addonizio, both books which I am pretty excited to read. I read the first few poems of Vita Nova last night before I went to bed at 7:30. Which brings us to another development:

I have mono, and have had it for several weeks. It's nice to finally know why I have been a lazy sack of blood lately.

Sidenote: there's a dude outside walking down the sidewalk and he's wearing a skirt. Not like, a kilt either. It's definitely a hippie girl skirt, flowing, earthy, lady skirt.

Okay. Some other things:

Robert Lee Brewer, a blogger for Writer's Digest, held a contest for a poem in form. The poem had to have ten lines, with ten syllables in each line. I submitted my poem and it won first place. So that will be featured in Writer's Digest's September issue.

One of my poems got picked up by Thunderclap! Press today, and will be out in their sixth issue (possibly soon?). It's so weird to get so many acceptances right in a row like this.

ALSO! The May issue of elimae went up yesterday and you can find one of my poems there.

Anyway, the only other news is that I'm going to Applebees now and going to get looked at strange by the waitress again when I order a house salad with no bacon bits and a side of garlic mashed potatoes.

Extra! Extra!

I have spent the past twenty minutes trying to start writing my poem for the day and all that's coming out is weird sentences about running people over with cars. I don't know where that's coming from.

Since I last blogged, there have been some developments on the publication front. Today I got a glowing acceptance email from fwriction : review. My favorite part was when the editor said he felt "a bit blessed" to have encountered my work. Naturally, I fainted in my chair, and my minions came running with wine soaked sponges, wheat crackers, and enormous leaves to fan me. That said, fwriction : review is a great new magazine. You can read a fantastic story by Roxane Gay there. You can anticipate seeing my work there in July.

A relatively huge development is my acceptance to Beloit Poetry Journal. This is probably the best magazine I have ever had the privilege of being published in, and I'm totally over the moon with excitement. I have been preceded by some phenomenal poets here. From their website: "We have been fortunate to be the first or early publisher of such poets as Galway Kinnell, A.R. Ammons, Anne Sexton, Sharon Olds, Maxine Kumin, W.S. Merwin, James Dickey, Philip Larkin, Rosellen Brown, Charles Bukowski, Philip Booth, Adrienne Rich, Philip Levine..."

I also heard from a recent BPJ contributor and friend that the magazine published Susan Kinsolving early in her poetry career. I have had the pleasure of studying under SK at Bennington; I admire the hell out of her and am excited to pretend to be following in her footsteps.

Poetry Reading @ moto-i

Come out to moto-i (the first sake brewery restaurant outside of Japan!) on May 13th @ 8PM for some magical verse that will knock you on your bum (couches supplied).

Featuring poets

Molly Sutton Kiefer
Brett Elizabeth Jenkins
Meryl DePasquale
Colleen McCarthy
Colleen Coyne
and
Gypsy Sauerwein

Sweet poster to come soon!

Best Sick Day Ever!

Look what came in the mail today!


Not only my two brand new shiny contributor copies of the spring issue of Potomac Review, but a long overdue contributor copy of G.U.D.!

Our coffee table will be so happy to hold them. Almost as happy as I am to show them off. I'm in the PR with Ted Kooser?? That feels weird.

What's In A Poet's Bag?

I'm home sick today & somebody asked me to do this, so here it is. This should tell you a lot about me, actually.

- Planner

- Journal

- Papers from work, stained with coffee

- Envelope I never got around to sending

- Bunch of envelopes??

- Clear nail polish

- Checkbook

- Wallet, falling apart

- Some Moleskine notebooks (one with a penny on it)

- Deodorant

- Chapstick

- Motion sickness pills

- Lipgloss, used once

- Vaseline?

- Many pens (of different colors)

- Really old sucker

- Two bottles of baby shampoo, given to me by co-worker

- Cold pills

- More pens

- Lighter Hayley got me in Ireland

- Binder clip

- Another Moleskine

- Spare keys

- Listerine strips

- Sachet of tea (just in case)

- Pound of lint/trash (not pictured)

How About This Rejection!:

Some nice lines in there, Elizabeth. “[ ___________ ]”

We have finally decided to pass this time.

That is my rejection letter in its entirety, minus the quote (brackets here) from my poem. My name was plastered all over my submission. I guess people really can't believe that there's a girl named Brett. Even when you sign your name that way. Or tell them your name is Brett. Maybe my name requires the disclaimer "I do not go by my middle name, though it is part of my name."

GUH.

Short Review: Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi

Today I finished reading Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi. It's been a while since I read a book I didn't want to put down, or that I wanted to spend my entire lunch break reading at work. After seeing her at work in one of my favorite shows, Arrested Development, I knew I wanted to read this book, and after a long time on the wait list at the library, it arrived a few days ago.

Some minor typographical and grammatical issues aside (there were not many), this book was simple, heartbreaking, and refreshing. I didn't feel like I was reading a book about eating disorders. I was reading a well-crafted memoir that simultaneously revealed the self and moved beyond the self.

I won't say much else about it. I do recommend that you read it.