I just walked through some woods on our property that I haven’t been in before. We picked out a spot for our gazebo, overlooking the pond and adjoining creek. It’s lovely, veiled by spruce and cedar boughs, the white noise, music of rushing water close by. My first opportunity to blog in a while, so going back in time . . .
Saturday, May 9, 09
At the Magnolia Hotel, in the morning, with Pete, after driving down to Victoria yesterday from Nanaimo, after crossing the water on the big boat. In our element, it would seem. He’s happy to see his old buddies Jim Christy and Robert Priest and Trevor Carolan at the reception for the Pacific Festival of the Book. We had a hell of a time finding the church hall where it was being held, my bag of books and computer weighing me down. I met Richard Olafsun of Ekstasis Editons, my new publisher, who explained that he “likes to embrace chaos.” Should I be worried? In any case, he’s a friendly fellow; I’m encouraged that we’ll be able to work together on Window Seat.
Sunday, May 10
We were planning to leave after our readings at the Mothers Day gathering today, went over to Centennial Square after a reunion and brunch with my old girlfriends Solly and Jenn to find the usual confusion. No one seemed to know when, or even if, Pete and I were slated to read. It was cold, windy and our butts were still smarting from three hours in a church pew the previous night. We just looked at each other and went, “Let’s get outta here!” In any case, I have to get back to my place the same night as I am performing in Vancouver tomorrow night. I have to make sure to rest well. Our timing was impeccable! BC Ferries added another sailing and we drove straight onto the 4 pm boat. I thought we might be stuck in Nanaimo until the 9 crossing. It sucks though, wish we could have stayed longer.
Thursday, May 14
Holed up. Sort of. Feeling disgusted, been in a funk ever since I had a chance to settle down, in. Back home from Victoria and feeling wasted, like I have to recover. Well, it has been a whirlwind of activity around here for weeks, allergies still afflicting me. I am tired, cranky. So here I sit at my desk, trying to ignore the headache that has come and gone all day. I need to send revised manuscript for Window Seat out to Richard and Ekstasis. Sent a few queries out for Bushwhack, the art book with Tina Schliessler. Though times are tough economically, I feel strongly that this book will be published. It’s classic and cutting edge at the same time. There are a myriad possibilities, publishers but it’s always good to come up with a Plan B and we will go the self-publishing route if necessary. Tina has some of those kinds of connections in Germany. The book possesses its own momentum and with the two of us as engines, it will be birthed one way or another. I love how organic all of this is, the serendipity of our meeting and coming together to create this singular vision.
Plans for the summer include a golfing trip to the Okanogan with Junior, a visit from my godchild Ave Rose and her mom, girlfriend Teresa. They are coming from southern California and Ava wants to see snow. In June, I am hosting visiting poet Allan Briesmester—the last salon I am bothering with for a while—and attending the League of Canadian Poets conference, doing a reading there as well. I have a photo shoot with Derek Von Essen lined up and Josef and I want to go see Candye (Kane) play at a festival in Portland. I am hoping to combine that with a birthday celebration for Emily, our young niece. Roderick and I have to shoot our AURAL Heather video this summer as well but first we will host Junior’s annual summer party when school lets out. He has his friends come over, they play video games, tease and torment each other, jump on and sleep out on the trampoline and devour pizza. Josef takes them to Richmond for a day of go-carting, bowling, a movie and more pizza. Yes, we indulge them, they all love it and are chomping at the bit to come over and camp out for a few days. Junior injured his wrist recently though, rough housing on the trampoline and that concerns me. I do not want it to happen again. He needs to play, practice golf. We lost his coach, looking for a new one. There is a woman golf pro named Jeri O’ Hara who is now teaching out of the Bowen Island Golf Club and he balked at that but I’m going to make an appointment with her anyway. It’s important.
I just finished writing up my workshop description. I am presenting S I D E W A Y S : Alternatives to Print at the Write On Bowen Festival July 10-12.
For poets, writers and artists seeking diverse vehicles of expression. Reframe your perspective; think outside the book, beyond print. Explore our 21st’century media arts and culture frontier with pioneering poet, author, musician and media artist, Heather Haley.
Host and curator of Visible Verse at Pacific Cinémathèque, architect of Telepoetics Vancouver, the Edgewise ElectroLit Centre and the Vancouver Videopoem Festival, Heather Haley presents a guided tour through a maze of (multi) media. With an emphasis on creation, process and performance, Heather will speak from her own experience about production methods and strategies. She will perform poetry off-book and share selections from her CDs and videopoems. Topics of discussion can include the spoken word, videopoetry, social media, “peep culture,” YouTube, blogging, podcasting, online publishing, Internet marketing and funding sources to ensure an excellent introduction to the myriad modes of production and dissemination available today. Participants are encouraged to bring a poem or story they are considering for adaptation.
Heather Haley pushes boundaries by creating across disciplines, genre and media. She has been published in numerous journals and anthologies and is the author of Window Seat, forthcoming on Ekstasis Editions, fall 09 and Sideways, (Anvil Press) described as “brawny and uncompromising” and “supple and unusual.” She was an editor and writer for the LA Weekly, publisher of Rattler and the Edgewise Cafe, one of Canada’s first electronic literary magazines. She is the producer and director of videopoems, Dying For The Pleasure and Purple Lipstick, an official selection at over a dozen international film festivals. Haley is the host and curator of SEE THE VOICE: Visible Verse at Pacific Cinémathèque in Vancouver, North America’s sustaining venue for the presentation of new and artistically significant poetry video and film. RPW Records released her critically acclaimed AURAL Heather CD of spoken word songs, Princess Nut, in June 2008.
Roderick and I-AURAL Heather-will perform at the festival’s opening gala as well.
Our show at Vancouver City Limits went well. The organizers, Bruce Gerrish and Colin didn’t-get-his-last-name were very enthusiastic and helpful. Petunia was on the same bill and I had a great time watching him play with the Viper Band. He is a stellar singer and performer and I love his spooky, neo-western swing. These nights in town are hard though. It’s business. I would be happy to hang out and visit friends but by the time I’m off the stage and wrapped up for the evening, they’ve gone home. I guess I should try to arrange to meet them for dinner before the shows but that’s usually when sound check takes place, another reason to abhor sound check. Okay, off to work on my novel. I am determined to meet Mother Tonque’s deadline May 31.