I received the Winter 2010 issue of Ship of Fools (published by the University of Rio Grande in southern Ohio) in the mail today.  Editor Jack Hart says in its preface that his "take on it is that Ship is looking for two things—a crispness, clarity, economy, and elegance of language, and for a sense of poetry as a sacred, spiritual and ritual act.  To me, the great evils of contemporary poetry are gratuitous irony, self-consciousness, and ego."  So it is simultaneously a complete surprise and somewhat fitting that this issue includes a poem of mine, written around 1997 (when I was in prison) and entitled "Under Aware."  It also includes poets from around the country, including locals Dianne Borsenik, Betty Gabrielli (of Oberlin), and Carol Tufts (also of Oberlin).  For subscription and submission info, see http://meadhall.homestead.com/Ship.html .

Friday from 8 pm to after midnight and Saturday from 2 pm to nearly midnight, I attended the 25th annual Jawbone festival in Kent, Ohio.  A transcendent experience I haven't yet fully digested, I hope to write more about it in the near future.  Meanwhile, to give you a taste, I've uploaded my photos from the event into two Facebook albums: Friday and Saturday.

Jawbone continued on Sunday, but I didn't attend.  My beloved grandmother, Audra Burroughs, died today in West Virginia at age 91.  It's hard for me to talk about this right now, though I intend to spend the evening taking my sixth grade teacher Vicki Sprague's advice and writing down my memories of Grandma.  Maybe I'll post a selection of these reflections on my blog in the near future.  Not sure when yet, but Geri and I will likely head south very soon to be with my family.  One reason we can't go immediately: Geri has jury duty at the Lorain County Common Pleas Court tomorrow morning — and since today's Sunday, the court is closed and we can't reach anyone.  If I end up offline for a few days, you'll know where I am.

Peace and poetry,
John