Forty-nine and feeling fine...
It’s my birthday! August update: a birthday dinner, "if you could only get one book," Frost Farm photos, and (FINALLY) starting my MFA
Before I begin please head over to to check out my piece on The Death of Leisure. Thank you to of
for inviting me to write this guest post. Inner Life is a great place for intellectual discussions about culture. The same post on Inner Life will be posted on the Beauty of Things in a couple of days.
August has been an exciting month. First of all, TODAY is my birthday! A wonderful gift to me would be if you could comment and say hi. I am always so happy to engage with people on this platform, in even the briefest but friendliest of ways.
Of all the unexpected benefits of being a poor middle-aged grad student, I found out that I qualify for the student discount at IKEA, which I took advantage of on tax-free weekend. I went by myself in order to maximize van space and found out very quickly that my years of strength training have paid off just in my ability to get heavy and unwieldy boxes onto the trolley and into my car without hurting myself.
Not long afterwards I had dinner and margaritas with my friend
to celebrate our August birthdays. I think we were the only two people in this Mexican restaurant who came laden with bags of books, many of which were translations. I brought several new books and a stack of Hudson Reviews, including anniversary one that features A.E. Stallings’s long essay on the Elgin Marbles.For her part, Melanie shared with me the work of an Irish poet I had not heard of: Doireann Ní Ghríofa. Her work is absolutely stunning.
After dinner we walked to Barnes & Noble (which, interestingly enough, was formerly an Amazon Books store). We had a dickens of a time looking for the poetry section.
Turns out it is an unmarked spot that consists of a paltry three shelves(!) sandwiched between their writing books and drama section.
We ended up staying until closing time (as usual). Being the last ones shooed out of the store I felt compelled to at least get something. It was difficult to choose only one book, but I settled on Hernan Diaz’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel Trust which had been highly recommended to me by multiple people.
If you have read Trust please let me know what you think of it in comments!
Below is a gallery of photos from the 2023 Frost Farm Poetry Conference in Derry, New Hampshire on the location of Robert Frost’s first farm. I wore a bright red polka dot dress the first night which is when I met my workshop instructor, Rhina Espaillat.
All conference events are outside in tents except for the readings which was held in the barn and the Saturday reception at a restaurant. One of the barn pictures is of Brian Brodeur who won the Frost Farm Poetry Prize this year for his poem After Visiting a Former Student in a Psychiatric Unit. Please read it. It is very well done.
On the second day I got to meet A.M. Juster (a.k.a. Mike) who is to my right in one of the pictures with Rhina. I also managed to get the very last spot on the participant reading roster. It was a honor to help close out the event. Outside the barn I met the most musical sounding chickens I ever heard. It was like a Greek chorus reincarnated as hens.
I had the very last critique appointment (well after the end of the conference) with the Poet-in-Residence, Caitlyn Doyle. While I waited I read my MFA homework under one of the old apple trees. The poem was by Frost which I found providential.
I also spent the few moments of downtime walking the grounds, recording audio for the next few podcasts. Stay tuned!
The very next day I had my first MFA class which was amazing. I could tell everyone in the classroom is engaged, and many of the students are well-established writers in their own right. This semester looks very promising.
My participation in this Masters program in only made possible from my paid subscribers so THANK YOU SO MUCH for those who are financially supporting
. This means the world to me. I hope I can pay the world back with meaningful work I start in this year!
Happy Birthday! I am new to hearing your words here online. I am thankful for your work & glad you share it with this community
Hi ZIna, and Happy Birthday! "Trust" was an engaging exercise in shifting perspectives as well as still one more reminder of the challenges women faced (and face) carving out a role for themselves. Let us know what you think of it.