This is the set list for Lithium Autumn, the manuscript of poems I sent to Copper Canyon Press tonight. Yes, my Halloween night culminated in that. A writing of a cover letter and a $25 submission to my local poetry press.
Every submission up until this point has been a little easier. This one has been… much more nerve-wracking. Knowing there’s a $3,000 prize in the mix, and a publishing deal. This would be the first real ISBN book published, as that’s the contest. Yes, that’s also right, this submission is competitive. So I’ m going up against god knows how many people, and at my back I’m bringing what I think is some of my best content. Lithium Autumn, as a collection, is centered around identity, appreciation of life, and enjoying fall. All things I feel like I’ve refined my approach on over this past year.
With today, October dies, and suddenly the entire month seems like it left far too quickly. Just as well. I clocked in at 8:30 this morning and then after work I went to class, and then finally got home at about 8:15 PM. My family was definitely off doing some cool Halloween stuff elsewhere, and here I was getting home and just kinda okay with not having been up to much. Though, we could wear our costumes to work today, so I wore a ghillie suit! But I’m having fun with having full days. It means things happen.
So I play with stocks now. Bought GPRO a week ago at $9.37 and sold it today at $10.40. I can see how people make careers out of this, but I’m no economics major. Though, this is nearly as fun as chemistry, and when I say chemistry I mean PYROTECHNICS. Which I used to be a real pyrotech in freshman year of high school. But economics is pretty fun.
What else is new? Today I offloaded all of the writing from my various implements back onto my laptop. Up to 929 poems, now. Which, I think is quite a thing. Last year at around August I think I hit 500. Nearly 500 poems in a year and change. I’m only getting more to write about, but a little less time to write with every new adventure. Not that I’m complaining, but I do like my write time.
Experiencing is at the top of my list. That’s a way to consume reality.
Here’s an excerpt from something I wrote today, “Ghillie”:
“I am the moss
That grows
On the trees
It is the air
That you breathe
That reeks of me
Of bogs and dank thickets
Vapor from my lungs
Is the fog low-lying
Close to the soil and rock
Passing through branches
That hovers over streams”
About the feeling of being one with the forest, but not quite. About a ghillie suit. Imagine that. Also in the spirit of the holiday, I’m listening to Pantera’s “Cowboys from Hell”. Making that moxie rise.
Today was a good day, for not doing any scaring. Usually I use October to build my costume and refine my scare tactics but I would have gotten started far too early. So I’ve got a whole 365 days to make the costume I’ve got in mind. I’m going to make a rig that lets me powerslide on the street. Like those slider guys at amusement park haunts, that trail sparks using flint embedded in gloves. I’m gonna do that!
But that’s in a year. What about tomorrow? Tomorrow I have a day off. Time to clean my car, rearrange my room more, do some laundry, and make a credit card payment. Also: seeing where my AMD stock goes when the markets open up in the morning. Hell yeah.
Happy Halloween from Radio Reality City! Hope you got some good scares, and I hope you gorged well. Tomorrow is back to autumn as autumn can be, the season of pumpkin patches and cider mills. Enjoy!
Consume reality! Radio Reality City!
Consume Reality! 