brittany cavallaro

Darcie Dennigan, Madame X

Canarium Books

Like the best feminist dystopian neurotic cake ever. I reviewed this for Devil’s Lake, I’m bringing excerpts of it to my graduate poetry workshop for show and tell, I keep it by my bed. I’ve been in a slump recently where I have no desire to read any poetry and what I have read, from recommendations or from my own library, does nothing for me creatively. This book showed up at the absolute right time.

Tana French, In the Woods and The Likeness

Penguin

Fact: These aren’t genre mystery, much in the same way that Donna Tartt’s Secret History isn’t. That book, actually, was the one that lead me to The Likeness – it’s billed as the next thing, of sorts, if you’re one of the legion of Tartt obsessive re-readers, clock-watching for the launch date of her next novel (which feels like it might be never, at this point). The Likeness really does feel like The Secret History, in its setting, its cast of characters (and really my only problem with this book was that Daniel felt like a dead-ringer for Tartt’s magnificently fucked-up Henry). French has spoken in interviews about loving Tartt, and it shows in the language — these books are dream-like, lyrical, first-person accounts of damaged people struggling with their pasts while neck-deep in impossible presents. Ignore all the Amazon reviews from angry genre fans not liking the open-ended nature of these books — they seem to be especially mad about the end of In the Woods, maybe because it’s so naturalistic, doesn’t tie up into a bow. And read In the Woods first, to let Cassie Maddox’s blustery bravado and sadness in The Likeness be more of a gut-punch than it is on its own. I didn’t follow that advice; now I’m waiting for enough time to pass for me to reread these. Like maybe another week.

Okay, fine, fine, fine, I will post my poem a day poem titles. I have been resisting largely because I know I’m not completely caught up and if I don’t keep a list then I won’t know, and if I don’t post it publicly, I feel less accountable. But if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it, right? (Right?)

APRIL POEM A DAY

1: Young Adult Novel
2: Forever
3: The Productivity of Loss
4: from The Hooded Woman, or: Her Last Run (i)
5: A Taxonomy of Sex
6: Where Are The Seats At The Feast? Where Are The Revels In The Hall?
7: Any Ordinary Hell
8: Coda
9: A Mile to Avalon
10: (missed)
11: Like a Lady’s In Sleep Sunk
12: (missed)
13: (missed)
14: Not a Question
15: Waiting
16: Shibboleth
17: Performance
18: from The Hooded Woman, Or: Her Last Run (ii)
19: Party

*

I will fill in the missed ones as I go.

If you’ve been in my apartment in the last three years, it’s likely that you’ve heard me put on music by Dustin O’Halloran. I’ve listened to his Piano Solos so often since moving to Madison that they’ve become a kind of constant soundtrack. I listen to him when knitting, when writing a poem (I’ve had to resist naming many of them after his songs, especially as they’re largely called Opus number what-have-you), while lying under a quilt rereading Jane Eyre (which I do more or less constantly). Anyway, his latest album, Lumiere, captures the spare, snowy quality of his solo work that I so love, but layers the piano with strings. I’ve been listening to “We Move Lightly” all night while writing my poem for today. (Yes, I’m doing another poem a day project this April. I am clearly a masochist.)

He’s also apparently done the score for the recent film Like Crazy, which makes me even keener to see it.

& for those who aren’t so much fans of wholly instrumental music, there’s always his indie band (with Sara Lov), Devics:

So many, many, many congratulations to my dear friend Jacques Rancourt on his Stegner fellowship. He is one of the best people I know — and one of the best poets, too — making this my favorite news from AWP. (He got the email at a cocktail party at the Chicago Firehouse and held it out, speechless.)

AWP was overwhelming and wonderful, as usual. This year in particular it felt like everyone from every phase of my life had congregated at the bookfair. (Like, no exaggeration: I ran into my senior prom date outside the Hilton. Hi Matt!) It was wonderful to see friends from Interlochen, the 2008 Bucknell Seminar, the NFAA conference I attended in high school … wonderful too because this means they’re all still writing. I got to spend some quality time, in particular, with my fellow waiters from last summer. In true waiter fashion, they kept me out until 3am Friday night. All that was missing was the bonfire and the Vermont mountains. (We had the bourbon part more than covered.)

This year I spent a lot of time running from table to table, selling shirts for Devil’s Lake and helping Ross White out with the Bull City Press table. I’ve had such a good time as an editor for that press, and it was great to meet some former contributors to Inch and talk shop with Ross, who I haven’t seen since Bread Loaf.

It was also really great to brunch today in my parents’ town with Jacques, Nancy, Chloe, and Angela, and pass around a phonecall to Louisa Diodato. It felt illegal to be at AWP without her, especially the Devil’s Lake table — she and I spent three days straight there, selling t-shirts and handing out bookmarks, so nervous and happy to be representing our labor of love. The new staff’s doing a bang-up job, and I’m happy it’s in their hands, but it felt criminal for me to be at that bookfair without my partner in crime.

Finally: when I picked up my car from my parents’ place this morning, I also grabbed some stray mail, and found nestled between the emissions testing letters and license renewal notices a note saying that my manuscript “Girl-King” had been a finalist for the Yale Younger Poets prize. I’ve heard secret tell of the winner, but I don’t think it’s officially announced; still, my secret congratulations!

Almost at the end of poem-a-day, the first I’ve completed! Jacques and I spent our weekly writing date yesterday at Madison Sourdough planning out which poems we’ll continue working with and finalizing some logistical stuff for AWP. I’m happy it’s so close this year; hopefully it’ll go down without us running over a raccoon in our university-rented PT Cruiser (Denver 2010) or getting snowed into my parents’ house for 36 hours, three to a guest bed, waiting for our flight to be reinstated (DC 2011).

Speaking of AWP: I’ll be giving a reading with the other 2011 Bread Loaf Waiters on Friday, 6-8, at The Green Door Tavern, if you’d like to come out.

Finally, some nice news yesterday — my manuscript “Girl-King” was a semifinalist for the Crab Orchard Open Competition. Congratulations to the winners!