Confession Tuesday: The Long End of Summer Edition

Dear Reader,

I have disappeared for quite a bit. My apologies.

In the summer I tend to disconnect to help untangle my mind. It did untangle a bit. I did work more than I wanted, but in the end, I camped, I paddleboarded, I sat in the sun and thought.

Poets on the Coast is sort of my official end to summer.  And this year we switched locations up to La Conner, Washington, it was truly a beautiful time.

But there's been sadness this year. Some personal and some furry and golden.  I'll explain.
All summer, I had a feeling it was going to be the last summer for my golden retriever, Buddy Holly. He had a tough year because of his failing health, and it's been hard to watch. Knowing this made me both present in the moment while paradoxically three months ahead in my mind dreading the future.

Buddy passed on Thursday evening, September 25th. We were outside and as his body slipped on to another place the clouds opened up and we were hit with heavy downpour of rain. I held him and felt the clouds open up above me. It was incredibly painful and yet, there was this odd beauty as nature shifted for his leaving. A sunny day turned to storm, I felt as if I was in a scene from a movie and this was the metaphor I was drenched with.

Our last trip to Cannon Beach, August 2014

~

So September has been hard to me to catch up, remain focused, and to feel good. But there's a part of me likes the melancholy of fall, part of me that likes to tuck in and disappear for a season in my writing.

And that is good. And even sadness is good because as writers we use it make art, and well, it's a part of being human.

Confessional 101:

I confess tomorrow I'm heading over to a poet's house to write poems all day.  Three of us will be snacks, writing prompts, our laptops, pillows, comfy clothes, blankets, and we will write.  All day from 9: 30 am until 6 pm.

I confess I also have three (3!) writing residencies this year.  And I cannot wait to work on my own poems!

~

I confess in the middle of this crazy time, Two Sylvias Press released a new book of poems by Natasha Moni, The Cardiologist's Daughter, which is just SO good!  

Here's Natasha reading at Richard Hugo House in Seattle last week:

I confess I have become a book designer along with an editor, and I will say, I think this is my favorite cover I've created.

~

I confess while I've been away from Book of Kells, I have returned, and have some sweet reviews coming up on two AMAZING and highly recommended books-- Dorothea Lasky's book called ROME, Ellen Bass's LIKE A BEGGAR published by Copper Canyon Press. Two very different books, both which are a MUST for your personal library!


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I confess in the middle of my sorrow, I learned Tinderbox chose my poem "After the Death of a Friend, I Feel Enlightened for Approximately Three Days" for Best of the Net.  So a little celebration between the loss. That, my friends, is life.

Amen.

~ Kells 
 
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