tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15321976403599121462024-03-08T02:34:34.095-05:00blue trajectoryjanelle elyse kihlstrom, who writes poetry & book reviews and edits the lit journal <i>Melusine</i>, among other things, also keeps this blog, as best she can.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-75279333250316584482019-06-17T14:58:00.000-04:002019-06-17T15:00:26.245-04:00New Author WebsiteHello, anyone possibly reading this! I finally went ahead and made that author website, and all my writing-related news and updates will now be found there:<br />
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<a href="https://jekihlstrom.wixsite.com/work">https://jekihlstrom.wixsite.com/work</a></div>
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Thank you for reading!</div>
janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-80239056521673472382016-02-09T16:14:00.000-05:002016-02-09T16:42:22.305-05:00Blogging TimeI'm probably going to be transitioning this blog into more of a basic writerly website with bio info and links to poems and reviews and stuff. It would be neater and more useful for anyone who's interested in what's up with me or my writing. And there will be no inevitable sense of failure when I remember how long it's been since I've last posted!<br />
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But, again, using my two toddlers as an excuse, finding time is oh so difficult sometimes. Most of the time. I could blog about what I really think about time (that it's not really a thing, actually, anyway, and not really the enemy I make it out to be.) But I don't have the time! Har har har.</div>
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<i>Anyway</i>, here are two newsbits: <br />
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Two new poems up since last month at <i>Ginosko</i>: </div>
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<a href="http://www.ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/downloads.htm">Ginosko 17, 2015-2016</a></div>
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One of these poems is very personal and both are ones I'm glad to see out there. Many thanks to this journal that publishes thoughtful poetry and occupies a much-needed niche.</div>
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Secondly, <i>Melusine</i>'s 13th issue just launched on Sunday! This one took a while to get together, but I like it a lot.</div>
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<a href="http://www.melusine21cent.com/mag/node/417">Melusine 8.1, Winter 2016</a></div>
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Well, my daughter, the older toddler, is up from her nap. No more blogging for now. I #amwriting, though. And bettering the manuscript. And sending it out. Need to send out some more poems soon; they're ready and waiting for me to sort through the list of awesome new journals that I've only just recently discovered thanks to people who keep up with lit stuff much better than I do. Sending out a (small) boatload of submissions is the next thing on the list, actually, for as soon as there's more time...</div>
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janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-37230555357549619042015-07-24T16:44:00.000-04:002015-07-26T17:52:06.613-04:00JulyI figure that if I title a post "July" that follows a previous post entitled "June," my 0-3 readers won't notice that an entire year + 1 month, rather than simply 1 month, has elapsed since my last post. But I guess this paragraph kind of ruined that whole plan, didn't it? I've foiled my own undoing yet again.<br />
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I guess it would suffice to blame a new baby with a toddler already on hand for the blog-less year, but in truth it was an older family member's illness, combined with the time devoted to the kids, that pretty much completely took over my life from about the time of that last post until early this April, when my family member finally and rather suddenly recovered. </div>
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I don't usually write plainly about very personal events in poems that I attempt to publish, but one of the poems that was just picked up by <i><a href="http://ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/">Ginosko</a> </i>for publication this Fall/Winter<i> </i>(yay!) does talk about this experience. Caring emotionally for a very sick and very close family member, while also caring for a new baby and another very young child, was such an overwhelming experience that it's hard not to commemorate it in some way, because it really did alter my whole relationship with reality, in a way probably only surpassed by the birth of my children. </div>
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Basically, life as I knew it in August 2012, before my daughter was born, is barely recognizable to me now. I guess that's how it is with most parents. And it's not like I hadn't heard that line before. But if I'd listened enough to believe it, maybe I would have had kids earlier, so I could get on with this new phase of my life earlier. Because, whatever its drawbacks, it's so much more, well, real. And now that my "real life" is here, all I wish is that there were more of it left. There's so much I want to learn and do, but not so much for myself anymore, to accumulate accomplishments, but instead out of some drive to participate in the world, a drive that's much stronger, for me, than the drive to achieve ever was. I'm brimming with ideas, but my entire outlook has changed, and I'm not sure yet exactly what to do with them. And the unfortunate thing is that, even though my outlook has changed, not every messed-up attribute and maladaptive behavior or cognition has fallen immediately into line. What takes a lifetime to learn to do badly and view erroneously takes more than a few years to learn to do productively and in good health. All the mindfulness training and life-affirming philosophy in the world won't work miracles. During that "lost" year of being entirely engulfed in the role of a caretaker, I thought I had managed to make some kind of leap that would have been otherwise impossible, without that experience of almost losing myself, or my "self." The last few months have reminded me, at times harshly, that I'm not there yet, not even close, really, but maybe closer than I was before, and I guess that's something. So on, on. My biggest challenge lately has been maintaining focus. I have a billion things to read and find it difficult to get through more than a page of anything, and my memory is utter crap. Lack of sleep is a big part of it, and I can try to blame the kids in part for that, but there's also the trap I've fallen into of overthinking everything except the things that could benefit from a little reflection. </div>
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So, yeah, that bit of oversharing aside, there's the only real literary news I've had in quite a while, the two poems forthcoming in <i>Ginosko</i>, about which I'm pretty excited because they're poems I'm proud of; they came from an authentic place. Now to try to find more of that, the poems and the authentic place. More difficult than it sounds.<br />
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janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-9208066616138605122014-06-04T14:51:00.002-04:002014-06-04T15:02:44.766-04:00JuneAnd another three months have passed by ... but this time I have a pretty good excuse. I welcomed my little boy into the world during a St. Patrick's Day blizzard here in Maryland (not a particularly common occurrence.) Despite the leonine weather conditions at his debut, he is a little lamb, the sweetest-tempered baby I've ever seen -- although, in stature, he may be leaning somewhat toward the leonine side. His height and weight measurements were off the charts at his one-month checkup, but after his second-month, he's back to being just a bit tall, which is good enough, I think. His sister is petite, and if he is aiming to be a giant, it wouldn't be long before people were confused as to which is the older. At least my brother and I were grown before people started making that mistake.<br />
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In poetry news, I just found out the other day that I made the short list for Kore Press's First Book Award. Since I had already seen the winner and two other finalists announced earlier and thought that was the last I'd heard of it, I was actually rather psyched to see my name on the short list. Winning is nice, but "almost" is still encouraging. There isn't always a lot of feedback in the writing world, so this sort of thing is what makes it easier to persevere. There's another contest deadline coming up, and I'm kind of excited now to polish the thing off, add a few new poems, maybe subtract one or two more, and send it out again.</div>
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I also just saw the cover for the issue of the <a href="http://www.freestatereview.com/affairs.html">Free State Review</a> where my poem will be appearing this summer ... excited about that, too!</div>
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I had been feeling a little discouraged lately about the writing endeavor ... there is never enough time to do as much of it as I'd like now. I did manage to write a new poem recently, though, and am fairly pleased with it. I've actually written three since March, which isn't bad, actually. Not really bad at all.<br />
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janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-23480397179927897982014-03-01T22:59:00.001-05:002014-03-01T23:29:54.666-05:00MarchI'm not sure how I missed this very lovely, thoughtful <a href="http://www.prickofthespindle.com/reviews/7.3/kihlstrom/kihlstrom.html">review of my chapbook</a> in <i>Prick of the Spindle</i> that appeared in their previous issue from September. It was written by Jen Dempsey, who is currently teaching English in South Korea.<br />
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The <a href="http://www.melusine21cent.com/mag/node/377">Winter/Spring issue</a> of <i>Melusine</i> launched this past Sunday, which I am very happy about. Besides the fact that I am proud of the issue, I'm also glad to be free to think about other things literary and non-literary. Well, mostly non-literary. Baby #2 is due in just a little over two weeks, which is kind of crazy. For the longest time, it seemed as if I still had six months to prepare, mentally and otherwise. I hope Baby #1 handles the company OK. It will be pretty exciting for us to meet the baby boy, obviously; I hope his big sister will feel the same. I think she will, at least in time. She is a loving little girl, and there is plenty of love to go around these days... For now, I'm enjoying the hours spent, just the two of us.<br />
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I have a personal/writer's website in the works that is almost ready to launch, actually, and has been ready for a while, pending some finishing touches. But, as with a lot of things, the next month or two won't be the time to put finishing touches on things, and so things will have to wait a bit longer.<br />
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In the meantime, maybe I will make some room on this here blog to compile links to the chapbook's reviews... It was released in 2011, but it's cool to think people are still reading it, and I'd love to expand its readership by another reader or two, despite my lack of finesse in the area of self-promotion. I have one other literary project planned for the next week, but I'll see if I can manage both. Then, of course, I might want to consider <i>actually writing a new poem again</i>. There's an idea, huh? I wrote more than I thought I would in A.'s first year, less so since the new pregnancy. I definitely won't be doing NaPoWriMo this April, technically speaking, but, hey, if I can write just one poem all month, I'll consider that a modest success. Maybe in May, I could try for two.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-3066684730479442732014-01-13T12:28:00.000-05:002014-01-13T18:38:47.421-05:00News, of Literary and Other VarietiesDespite spending a beautiful Christmas Day with family watching A. run around like an espresso-fueled elfling enjoying her first real holiday haul (we'll have to scale back next year so she doesn't start forming expectations of how much "stuff" she is entitled to...) I have still been fighting the winter blues as usual this season. It's especially tough being stuck inside even on sunny days because it's like 20 degrees out... and not getting outside enough this summer to get my quota of Vitamin D probably didn't help, either.<br />
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I feel (more than) a little anxiety about baby #2's arrival this March. (Did I mention this news here yet?) He was a planned surprise, I guess, the surprise being how quickly he was conceived in comparison to his sister, despite the fact that I was only barely still in my 30s when he was conceived (and will no longer be in that demographic when he's born.) So we were thrilled, but on the other hand, I'm also kind of freaked out about the prospect of raising an infant and a toddler all at once. Our hunter-gatherer forebears apparently timed their births more like three or four years apart, and so did my mom, my immediate forebear, and I'm thinking they were all probably on to something with that plan... However, I got a much later start than any of my forebears did and so waiting that long wasn't an option, although both of my grandmothers did give birth to second and fourth children, respectively, at the age of 40, so maybe that should make me a little less nervous ... but I can't help but be a little worried about the birth, and the recovery, too. When I was pregnant with A., I spent the entire third trimester in summertime, and although that meant my feet and nonexistent ankles resembled zeppelins, I was bathed in the optimism of summertime, a first-time prospective mother's excitement bred of blissful ignorance (despite the strong measure of realism that led me to delay this step for so long in the first place) and a relatively easygoing lifestyle. Go to work, or -- toward the end -- work from home, eat, sleep, read, write, entertain myself on weekends and downtime in the same ways I had for most of my adult life (with the exception of alcoholic beverages.) Now my life is radically changed -- in many ways, for the better. I spend my days with a person I love more than I've loved anyone or even realized I could love anyone. She makes me giddily, insanely happy just being her exuberant, affectionate little self. And yet it's not an easy, stress-free life full of the sorts of things that used to make me feel productive or accomplished. I neglect my writing for months at a time; <i>Melusine</i> issues lag; I can't even seem to keep up with posting baby photos on Facebook, much less socializing even as much as I used to before (which wasn't all that much.) The house doesn't look much worse than it did before; in fact, with all the baby-proofing and reorganizing we've had to do, it probably looks a lot better, but it still isn't what I imagine most people's houses look like, and forget trying to cook healthy meals from scratch. If I'm a housewife, I'm the worst one ever, a badge of shame as well as a measure of guilty pride, I guess. When I spend time on one thing, like getting the house in order, another thing, like writing, languishes, and I'm not willing to give up on the writing. I'm hoping that eventually my two contract editing gigs will earn me enough funds to hire a housecleaning service, but so far that's not been the case.<br />
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So that's what's been happening -- a much more confessional post than the vast majority of what I put up here, but what the hell; I may as well be honest. And in the end, I still have no regrets; I just wish I had a lot more time, in the near-term and long-term sense of the word.<br />
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On to some poetry updates. Well, for one thing, I actually wrote a poem! I had checked my log on New Year's Day and realized I hadn't written anything in six months. I've been polishing and sending my full-length manuscript out to contests, but I haven't been writing anything new. So that morning while A. and her father were hanging out at the book store, I just sat down and typed up a poem. It is a lot easier to write with six months' worth of unwritten poem juice brewing -- no need for writing exercises or my usual stream of consciousness tricks, and it wouldn't have mattered the subject; I was just ready to write something, good, bad or mediocre.<br />
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Secondly, I got a poem accepted in the <i>Free State Review</i> last month, which is exciting since it's been a while since I've had a poem in print (non-digitally.) The issue will be out this summer.<br />
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Thirdly, I was included in the fun Tumblr blog <a href="http://womenpoetswearingsweatpants.tumblr.com/post/71901610396/janelle-elyse-kihlstrom">Women Poets Wearing Sweatpants</a> that ran briefly but memorably at the turn of the year. I realize the impetus of the blog was a response to a feature story and I suppose there are politics surrounding that, but I'm not too interested in getting into the why of it all; I just think it was an awesome idea for a blog that took on a life of its own, and it was great to see that it touched a nerve among women writers, and maybe some guy writers, too, and made us all especially excited about what we do for a few weeks. Poets don't always get moments like that, but I hope we see more of them this year. Kudos to <a href="http://beccaklaver.blogspot.com/">Becca Klaver</a> for helming the project.<br />
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Finally, there's another belated <i>Melusine</i> issue to wrap up. Fortunately, I'm not as far behind as I was last year at this time, when I should have just admitted that I had stacked my plate too high with giving birth in September and aiming for a new issue by the end of the year. It seems like those two things should both be possible in a four-month period, and I'm sure there are others who could manage that, but then I'm not the most energetic person in the world, nor was I the most well-versed in the skills required for new motherhood coming into it, and then there's the fact that I have yet to recruit any kind of editorial staff for the journal. I guess there's a bit of the control freak in me sometimes, but not the kind who wants to control anyone else, just the live-and-let-live kind of freak. But sometimes it's good to admit I could use a hand with something. On the motherhood front, baby #2 is probably going to remind me daily of that fine point as well.<br />
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Here's to more poetry (of all kinds) in the new year. I'll raise my insulated paper cup of half-caff with milk & cocoa to that.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-31568715216691768992013-10-23T14:54:00.002-04:002013-10-23T14:56:45.991-04:00New poem online, etc.Wow, it's been a few days since my last post. Time does move at a different pace (both slower and faster) with a kid in the picture ... It's been fun, though -- a lot more fun, in general, than the earlier months, although the early days have their magic, too, but since A. got mobile and her personality started really emerging, it's been a blast -- OK, not a 24/7 blast; there's still plenty of drudgery inherent in parenthood and stuff like "alone time" and "sleep" that I still remember wistfully, but the little girl is so much fun. She's very different from her mother -- vivacious and, shockingly, athletic. I had talked early and walked just on time, was calm and quiet, and later serious. She's a little ball of energy, mischief and affection, walked early and is still working on the talking (I don't think she has much interest in working on the calm and quiet, but that's OK. She makes me smile. It's going to be a crazy but fun ride with this one...)<br />
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Anyway, in poetry news, here's a new one in the fabulous journal KIN: <a href="http://wearekin.org/author/jekihlstrom/precambrian">http://wearekin.org/author/jekihlstrom/precambrian</a><br />
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janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-631427197051426322013-05-31T14:02:00.000-04:002013-05-31T14:14:10.409-04:00MayMay has been a good month, in general and literary-wise. I finally launched the belated 10th issue of <i>Melusine</i>, which you can see <a href="http://www.melusine21cent.com/mag/node/357">here</a>. It has been a long haul with this issue, but I'm really happy with it.<br />
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And earlier, a poem of mine appeared in <i>Ghost Ocean Magazine</i>'s <a href="http://www.ghostoceanmagazine.com/#!__issues/vstc9=issue-12">12th issue</a>. </div>
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Writing is still happening. Poems are still flowing. Other people's exciting work is still being edited. Yay for that.</div>
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And my daughter is still kind of darn cute, if I may say so. Cute is as cute does, and she does cute, too. She has a sweet but fearless little personality. When she smiles with her four little teeth (and two more on the way) I can barely stand it. She is also a budding artist, again from a very biased opinion, but I couldn't resist featuring her first two efforts (with help from daddy) in my <i>Melusine</i> editorial <a href="http://www.melusine21cent.com/mag/node/356">here</a>.</div>
janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-33197650953041498932013-02-23T00:09:00.002-05:002013-05-27T17:02:26.218-04:00What I've Been Doing Lately<ol>
<li>Taking care of the baby.</li>
<li>Taking care of the baby and going a little stir-crazy, although still crazy about the baby... It will get easier in the spring, or so I'm telling myself.</li>
<li>Had a poem accepted for the next issue of <i>Ghost Ocean Magazine</i>, which was awesome news.</li>
<li>Wrote two poems today, which, believe me, is not normal for the past six months. But I've written five poems since the baby was born, which is more than I expected to write.</li>
<li>Considering submitting to a chapbook contest -- kind of last-minute, as I wasn't sure I had enough poems for a second chapbook and was just going to focus on the full-length manuscript, but I think I actually might, so why not?</li>
<li>Working on the Spring, formerly Winter, formerly Fall/Winter issue of <i>Melusine</i>, which is now slated for [redacted rather than revised due to a bad track record in predicting launch dates ;] But the issue<i><b> is </b></i>coming along, little by little...</li>
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janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-13167041324239722012013-01-01T20:18:00.001-05:002013-01-01T20:28:07.139-05:00Last Year's ResolutionWell, finally I kept them all, 100 percent of 'em. OK, there was only one, and I kept it. Boy, did I ever.<br />
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<a href="http://jekihlstrom.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-years-resolution.html">Resolution '12</a><br />
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Although, honestly speaking, I only kept it in some senses. I didn't completely change everything. One of the less welcome side effects of parenthood is that it seems to shine a harsher light on all one's hidden and not-so-hidden flaws, as if one's self-esteem was particularly high to begin with. I sometimes wonder how I ever fooled myself into thinking I was ever competent at anything. So needless to say, I have been writing and submitting less lately. Mostly that's about finding the time, though.<br />
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So there are a boatload of things I could resolve about this year; it's difficult to pick just one. There seem to be two categories: things I suck at (which is a mammoth category) and things I am OK/fairly good at. So I'd like to shorten the first list a bit but also put more work into the stuff in the latter one, because frankly I'll never be a Renaissance woman, and I need to choose where to put my energy. The exception there would be trying to reach out to people more and contribute more despite inhibition/social anxiety/tendency to be bad at articulating nonwritten language/sheer laziness. That's always on the list, but it's the one thing that's always worth continuing to work at, no matter how little progress I seem to make.<br />
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On that soberly prudent note, happy new year.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-61765832574343981862012-12-17T16:49:00.001-05:002012-12-17T16:51:28.222-05:00For the HolidaysIt occurred to me why images of the Madonna and Child are so moving, even to me as a nontheist. After aeons of hot and cold stars and crashing meteors, in at least one place in the universe life gave rise to mammals, with their chemical capacity to bond, and then to self-conscious mammals whose look of recognition implies their shared awareness of that moment of mutual animal trust, which is kind of beautiful. <br />
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So merry Christmas, after all.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-51153579059973618402012-11-29T14:31:00.001-05:002012-11-29T14:31:13.415-05:00PoemI wrote one today after all. Well, yay for encouragement from fellow poets and babies who are kind enough to sleep an extra 15 minutes or so...janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-86051881366833048622012-11-28T19:03:00.000-05:002012-11-29T16:22:39.699-05:00Publication and Baby UpdatesSo it's been a hectic three months since my last post about appearing in an upcoming anthology and expecting my first child in a matter of days.<br />
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To our delight, the child did appear in a matter of days, healthy and happy (or as happy as a newborn can be, I guess), and pretty darn cute, if I may say so from my biased vantage point, and now the anthology is out as well, and it's lovely. I just received my copy yesterday. There is an Amazon link on the press's website, if you're interested in purchasing it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.chatterhousepress.com/index.html">Reckless Writing: The Modernization of Poetry by Emerging Writers of the 21st Century by Chatter House Press, edited by Penny Dunning</a><br />
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So now I'll get back to all the things I need to cram into the few hours when baby is sleeping and mommy is not yet about to crash as well from exhaustion. Some days those things just include the essentials. I mean, the bare, bare essentials. Cleaning the house is pretty much a luxury, but then I never was much of a house-cleaner on a good day. I'm not sure how I'm going to find the time to go back to work, even part-time, but I guess I'll figure that out in a month or so. I'm working on imposing some sort of schedule on our days so that maybe I can get a bit more done. There are so many projects on my calendar, like starting work on the new issue of <i>Melusine</i>, book ideas, website ideas, that keep getting kicked like the proverbial can down the road. I have to admit I can't even imagine the luxury of sitting down to write a new poem yet, although I'm sort of hoping one will come to me one day despite myself, as poems sometimes do, happily for the lazy among us. But at least I've begun to send out my full-length manuscript.<br />
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For someone prone to the winter blues even in easier years, though, I have to say I'm finding life relatively good, all in all, this chilly November. The child is a handful, but she's also pretty awesome.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-87785745154233567102012-09-02T21:24:00.001-04:002012-09-02T21:31:06.164-04:00Poems Accepted for New AnthologyI just learned that four of my poems were accepted for the <i>Reckless Writing</i> anthology. I'm not sure if that means they seem to have been written recklessly or with reckless abandon (well, either way, it's probably a good thing for me, if I've been found erring on the side of caution and hermeticism in the past.)<br />
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In other news, baby is swiftly on her way into our world. This time next week, I will probably not be sitting at this computer, although I will no doubt have some kind of electronic device connected to the Internet close at hand, maybe even this laptop, although both I and the laptop will probably be found in a more babycentric location. Seriously, though, I'm excited. It takes a long time to grow a baby, but for the most part, it's been a fascinating ride. But now my back hurts when I sit to type, and so I'm about ready for the next phase to begin, as crazy as it no doubt will be, and also no doubt fascinating.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-68148144247101413142012-07-20T16:16:00.004-04:002012-07-20T18:46:52.185-04:00Blue Trajectory is Reviewed in EclecticaA <a href="http://www.eclectica.org/v16n3/purdy_banker.html">new review</a> of my chapbook, <i>Blue Trajectory</i>, appeared this week in the new issue of <i>Eclectica</i>.<br />
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I found the review, by Gilbert Wesley Purdy, to be fair and thoughtful, with some astute and useful observations. I have to admit that I had to read it twice to take in some of the most thoughtful points. I was thrown off at first by the fact that the review was combined with that of another book, a full-length collection, and that, as a thesis to link the two together, as is usually required in a combo review, a sort of comparison seemed to have been drawn between the other author's book and mine in terms of our backgrounds and our respective openness about our personal lives as revealed in our work, as well as our relative attempts at sophistication versus simplicity, two words that are used somewhat ambiguously here, I think. Is one of us good at sophistication and not so good at simplicity, with the reverse holding true of the other, or is simplicity, when done right, always to be preferred over sophistication? Since I don't think of my poems (or their author) as aiming at either sophistication or simplicity, it's hard for me to answer this question.<br />
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When I approach a review myself, I always feel a bit strange about placing too much emphasis on the author's background, especially when my knowledge of it is incomplete. In the case of mine, the (albeit reasonable) guess that I completed my MFA (or M.A., as JHU calls theirs, not that it matters much) from Hopkins in my mid-20s seems to give an impression that maybe life has been smoother for me than it has been. In fact, I received the degree at the age of 35, after a decade or so of floundering about, education and career-wise. If the last couple decades of my life were less smooth than they look on paper, there is no back-story to go along with that fact other than the usual, a temperament that needed some time and testing to find its niche.<br />
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What this means for my writing, I don't know. I know my temperament is a private one, and I guess my comfort with a certain level of privacy comes across more in my work than I realize. As a strongly introverted sort (cliche for a poet, I know, but it's true) I don't find it daring to infer my life from a distance; I find it natural and comfortable. I feel that at times the statements in my poems are very frank, but it's probably true that these statements, as the reviewer notes, stand out because they are in the minority. I also know that my approach regarding style and subject matter has probably drawn inward, rather than outward, with time. Several of the poems I published in the first year or two of beginning to place my poems were more direct in voice. Although I still write poems with the same level of directness, oddly, lately, these poems aren't picked up, and the less direct ones are. I'm not sure exactly why this is.<br />
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There may be other, more substantial differences between the two sets of poems than directness/ lack of directness, but whatever the differences are, it seems that I may be better suited to writing the latter sort of poem. The reviewer mentions transience and tenuity. I guess these concepts are in line with my philosophy of poetry and its role, as distinct from the role of narrative prose. Poetry can imitate dreamscapes by being impressionistic and fluid; it can live in the moment and not always feel the need to take a stand or draw a conclusion. Once in a while, it can or it needs to take a stand or draw a conclusion, and then it should, but I don't think this is required or would be desired of every poem.<br />
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Mr. Purdy makes a fair point in his closing comments, too. I do struggle with consistent and effective closure, and that is part of the ongoing challenge. I don't mean that cheekily; it truly is an area where I struggle, but it's also part of what keeps inspiring me.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-26916144703780507632012-07-08T01:09:00.000-04:002012-07-08T01:19:42.653-04:00Things That Are NewSorry it's been so long since my last post. I can't say I haven't had news, but it hasn't been of the literary variety. I do have some lit news now, though. The Spring/Summer issue of <i>Melusine</i> has finally launched, and you can see it <a href="http://www.melusine21cent.com/mag/">here</a>. I really rather like this one. OK, I've liked them all, of course, but this is one of my favorites.<br />
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As for the non-literary news, I snuck it in the issue's <a href="http://www.melusine21cent.com/mag/node/332">editorial</a>. But, OK, I can summarize: I am expecting my first child in early September, and her father and I are very excited. It looks like she will be a girl.<br />
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For various reasons, I have been spending less time blogging, Facebooking, Google-plussing, and tweeting this year, but I will probably begin embracing some of these outlets again as I inevitably find myself seeking ways to express how I'm processing all the new things I'm going to soon be experiencing. When I'm not writing (because at times, when writing, I can be loud, not unlike, at times, when I'm drinking, but that's another story and also something I haven't been doing much of in the last year) my natural mode of being is quiet, and it's been good to be quiet. I'm beginning to feel a disturbance in the quiet, though, and that's OK, too. And I think I know what her name is.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-70755840975082873022012-02-24T16:33:00.000-05:002012-07-20T18:27:11.179-04:00First Review of Blue TrajectoryThat's <i>Blue Trajectory</i> my chapbook, not to be confused with the current name of this blog, of course, since that would probably be a very short review given how often I update it.<br />
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Livia Kent reviewed the chap for the new issue of <a href="http://linesandstars.com/index.html">Lines + Stars</a>. Her review was so beautifully and thoughtfully written, it made me very happy. Please check it out <a href="http://linesandstars.com/reviews13_2.html">here</a>, if you like.<br />
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It's a warm but rainy February day and I am feeling sleepy (decaf was probably a bad choice) but still happy.<br />
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Spring is coming soon. AWP is coming even sooner, although I unfortunately won't be going. I am planning for next year, though, which reminds me I need to get to work on the <i>Melusine</i> print issue so I'll have something to bring to the table, so to speak, <i>Melusine</i>-wise. I have the lineup selected; I just need to find a good layout tool... This next month's big project, I think... Then for April, I'm finally doing NaPoWriMo. I've resisted it thus far, but I've hit a long patch of writer's block and I think I really need it this year...janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-91519038893269162822012-01-10T22:16:00.000-05:002012-01-10T22:17:40.748-05:00A Couple of MentionsJust a couple things I noticed whilst shamelessly Google-stalking myself:<br />
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Thanks so much to <a href="http://www.eclectica.org/v16n1/editors.html">Eclectica</a>, the very first journal that published me, for mentioning my chapbook in their new issue's editorial.<br />
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And I just noticed that this here blog is listed in New Pages' directory, <a href="http://www.newpages.com/blogs/writers-blogs.htm">here</a>.<br />
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Cool.<br />
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What else? It's January -- not much to say about the weather, although to its credit it's been unseasonably warm. More importantly, it's a new year, and I'm still feeling good about that.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-79992725897404869542011-12-30T17:52:00.002-05:002011-12-30T17:54:24.557-05:00This Year's ResolutionChange everything.<br />
That's all.<br />
No, I don't mean that literally.<br />
Of course.<br />
I mean it, though.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-86476910446302461592011-12-12T00:06:00.001-05:002011-12-12T20:42:42.542-05:00New Melusine...... is out. And I'm posting about it absolutely everywhere, including here. And then I'm going to get some sleep, I hope, after eating a salad and maybe some ice cream.<br />
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Update: I was apparently so tired last night that I forgot to actually include the link in question. It's <a href="http://www.melusine21cent.com/mag/current">here</a>.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-87293943971295365962011-12-09T17:56:00.001-05:002011-12-14T16:58:17.948-05:00DecemberIt's been a really tough couple of weeks, but one of a handful of bright moments came when I received two literary goodie-packages in the same day: the new issue of <a href="http://www.tigerseyejournal.com/">Tiger's Eye</a> with three of my poems in it, and <a href="http://www.themedullareview.com/">The Medulla Review</a> anthology featuring one of my poems.<br />
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I feel a strong need to write something in the way of poetry to help me work through some really sad recent news, and I did start on a piece last week, but I know you can't rush these things. In the meantime, I'm working on the new issue of <a href="http://www.melusine21cent.com/mag/current">Melusine</a>, hoping to launch it by Sunday night. This one has a photo essay and some fun cover art by a promising new photographer, so I'm looking forward to seeing it take shape soon.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-43364523349962012782011-11-14T19:13:00.001-05:002011-11-14T19:52:33.565-05:00Review of Judith Skillman's The White CypressMy <a href="http://iowareview.uiowa.edu/?q=reviews/nov-14-2011/judith_skillmans_the_white_cypress">review</a> of Judith Skillman's new collection has been published in <i>The Iowa Review</i>'s blog -- very happy to be featured there, and I've become quite a fan of Skillman's work over her last few collections, so it was a pleasure to be able to delve into the particularly rich material she covers in this one.<br />
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And that's about all the news for today. Late autumn still has me feeling a little drowsy and a little taciturn. I think some humans still have a gene for some vestigial form of the hibernation instinct. If I were a scientist instead of a poet, I would check into that hypothesis. But the very fact that I would posit it is probably sufficient proof that I am not a scientist.<br />
<br />janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-24984073101706009952011-11-04T18:29:00.002-04:002011-11-14T19:33:48.636-05:00In the Book, So to SpeakDaylight Savings Time hasn't even ended yet and there are still plenty of green leaves on the trees, but I'm already feeling that late autumn melancholy. Maybe it was the freak October snowstorm last week, which was just an annoyance for me in that it reminded me winter's going to insist on coming around again this year, but it knocked out my parents' power up in Pennsylvania for almost a week, which was pretty scary.<br />
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And maybe I drank a few too many jack-and-cokes last night because I was feeling stressed about various non-writing-related things that just haven't been going so well lately. But at least on the writing front, life has been kind lately. It's good to have at least one area of life going one's way at a time. At the least. More would be OK, too. <br />
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So here's my entry in the <i>Poets & Writers</i> directory: <a href="http://www.pw.org/content/janelle_kihlstrom">http://www.pw.org/content/janelle_kihlstrom</a><br />
<br />janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-54965603379064518602011-10-17T23:40:00.000-04:002015-09-19T23:06:52.362-04:00Blue Trajectory (My Chapbook) is Now Available...So October has been a good month, lit-wise. I now have some really exciting news to share. My chapbook, <i>Blue Trajectory</i>, is, as of today, available from Dancing Girl Press and can be purchased <a href="https://dulcetshop.myshopify.com/collections/dancing-girl-press/products/blue-trajectory-janelle-elyse-kihlstrom"><b>here</b></a>.<br />
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I can't wait to see my copies. Dancing Girl's editor, Kristy Bowen, did such a beautiful job with the cover. I'm really proud of how it looks, and I hope anyone who checks it out will enjoy what's inside. I think the poems sort of cohere; for the most part, they feel like they belong together. Some of them started out as part of another chapbook project with a slightly different theme, but they ended up following a different, well, trajectory, and I'm happy with where they ended up.<br />
<br />janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1532197640359912146.post-46047250850316516872011-10-11T18:15:00.000-04:002011-10-11T18:15:19.396-04:00Two Posts In One WeekThis one is just a short note about something I was excited to learn, that a book review I wrote will be appearing in <i>The Iowa Review</i>'s online series. I am excited because it's a great journal and because, at the risk of sounding mercenary, as I'm not exactly flush with cash, the compensation they offer is welcome. But I'll be even more honest and admit it's really more the idea of being compensated for a piece of literary writing than the check itself. It just doesn't happen too often these days, and I can completely understand why. We can't afford to pay at <i>Melusine</i>. No independently funded small journals or presses can. There was a time, oh so long ago, when all creative writers were paid for their words, and those times have been fading faster and faster. I'm not really here to lament that fact. As long as there are day jobs or university positions and writers' retreats/workshops/conferences or coffee shops, writers who want to write and need to write will find a way to write and earn a living as well <span class="st">—</span> as long as there are people who read, even if those people are solely other writers. But the people who read do have to continue to exist, in order for the writers to continue writing. Long may they. We, that is.janelle elyse kihlstromhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18162366449071011645noreply@blogger.com0