Fresh from the press: new postcards featuring my watercolor “Arbutus Pond at Dawn, Yellow Dog Plains” — these gems are vivid, high-resolution, offset-printed reproductions (with a UV coating to protect the surface from scratches). Ready for scrawled-messages-from-the-heart and postcard stamps! I’m just thrilled with them.

Hot off the press! Two weighty, gorgeous copies of Water~Stone Review just arrived in my mailbox, and I’m absolutely delighted to be included in this year’s issue! Beautifully designed, book-sized, and chock-full of terrific writing:

And I’m not just saying that because they’ve published my poem “Yellow Post-It Note with the Message: What If?” — Water~Stone is seriously top-notch, top-shelf. Attend their fall reading (Hamline University in St. Paul MN on Friday, November 4, 7:00), if you can make it. Write yourself a post-it note, as a reminder, so you don’t forget….

My poem “Overlooked Heroine, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” has been nominated for Best of the Net 2011 by the editors of decomP literary magazine. Read the announcement: http://decompmagazine.com/blog/?p=408

Best of the Net promotes “the diverse and growing collection of voices that are choosing to publish their work online, a venue that still sees little respect from such yearly anthologies as the Pushcart and Best American series.”

I’ve received the good news that my work has been selected for inclusion in the National Park Service’s upcoming (juried) exhibition “Through Your Eyes.” Through Your Eyes will be a series of three online multimedia exhibitions, featured on the National Park Service website, to highlight the creative outcomes of artists-in-residence experiences.

The National Wildlife Refuge system held their 2011 conference in Madison WI, on the topic of “Conserving the Future.” Several poems from my recent experience as Artist-in-Residence at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (WI) were selected for publication in a special “Conserving the Future” issue of Refuge Update, published by the National Wildlife Refuge System, and distributed to conference attendees. Download a copy of Refuge Update (PDF) here.

My poem Marsh: A Partial Menu appears in the current edition of Fox Cry Review (University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, May 2011). This poem was written during a prolific artist-in-residency at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.

Newest Stage: Second Coat of Polyurethane!

I finally got around to a project I’ve been itching to do for some time…. removing a carpet to reveal the old plywood floor, which which I’m now staining and refinishing (inspired by a beautiful floor renovation project by my friends Kinji and Nancy). Stinky work — but it is turning out beautifully, I think! Here are some progress shots:

Last week, I unexpectedly received an “Antarctic Service Medal” for the time I spent in Antarctica (via the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program).

On my long drive from New Mexico to Upper Michigan, I stopped at Marian University (Fond du Lac, WI), visited a couple writing classes, broke bread with some great faculty, and presented a reading of my poetry – accompanied by a visual presentation of creative projects/process – in their beautiful Stayer Center Auditorium.

It was a wonderful experience, and a terrific way to wrap up a long, productive, contemplative and often solitary time at the Wurlitzer Foundation. Deepest thanks for the warmth and hospitality of Marian’s English Department, especially Dr. Jennifer Ann Caruso, Prof. Christina Kubasta, Dr. John Walser, and everyone who turned out for my reading.

As I left Taos to drive north, Taos was bursting into spring bloom!