Vernal + Verbal

The ice series, said a certain someone, is done. So it is, even though the ice persists a bit, even though we passed the Vernal Equinox during which I was in a roomful of writers I admire, even though it may have climbed to 60 degrees today.

But am I ice-obsessed? Yes. It is a luxury we'll wish for later, like Aunt Dora's string of pearls we can't seem to locate, or that last gallon of distilled water on Walgreen's shelf.

Read an article saying that the mind was made to wander. Don't know where I read it, but I know where my mind has wandered today:

creative writing pedagogy, two conversations in which the words "going on a payment plan" were mentioned, the phrase "hobbyists and lobbyists are of no use to us," water birds with dark heads and white chests, buying binoculars (can't afford), other blogs bright and cheery, teaching poetry from a place of ignorance (seems do-able), a conversation in which one writer says to another "I really, really need that money" with the other writer replying "I know. I don't have any control."

Other places: new liquor license at Cafe Marika, gas bill equalling more than I make in a month, where to pay gas bill, replying "I don't have any" to the question "how much do you spend on health insurance a month"?, conversing with an old boss, architecture, non-profit boards, need paper, when to see the new David Lynch movie, water, poetry portfolio, grants, how old my dogs are, the neighbor's cat spraying the boxwood hedge.

Order both refills, or one refill and pay gas bill?

Can't do without dog food + coffee + someday we'll sell everything we have for clean water. Creative writing Ph.D.s, Advair inhaler, Arts Collinwood, pussy willow in bloom, roquette arugula, my friend Pam, my friend Nancy, my friend Lara, my friend Greta, art, teaching creative writing, dream job=proofreading, my friend The Rainy Day Woman, my friend Jessica's amazing thesis, my friend Jessa's "The Poem No," try to go to AWP next year, how many of us know someone who ____________, invoices, payment due, endoscopy, watersheds, get a job, check number, routing number, social security number, tax ID number, actual budget, projected budget, my former friend tequila, expense budget, turn the heat off.