Preoccupations

Another 10 or so hubskiers showed up on the check-in since the original count. That was fun. By the time mk gets the Stripe payments platform fixed, steve and I will be able to donate about $200 to hubski.

Edit Knowing who's out there makes me want to show up more.

Poetry

A friend of mine was diagnosed with esophagal cancer. She was working on a poetry book for a publisher - but it can take two years to go to press, so we're going to privately publish 100 copies and, I hope, have a small launch for her now rather than posthumously.

We once had a small publishing company called "Pinking Shears Publications." We created it to publish anthologies for literary festivals that we ran together. The Pinking Shears account had $1000 in it, so we can use that money.

I've been doing a close line edit and many of the poems are very powerful -- about the experience of getting this diagnosis. For example, sitting in a medical waiting room with a goldfish tank, she describes the orange fish, and then

  Patients dressed in all colours sit in chairs, 
  surrounding the tank. Purples, blues, greens, wine-dark red, 
  khaki and black – but no orange.
  Their faces – our faces – 
  blank as fish 
  quiet as fish 
  with occasional ripples of information,
  consternation, consolation,
  a glimpse, here and there, of despair, 
  fear, or patience. A smile toward a fellow-traveller
  floating through this sea of possibility.

I'm kind of preoccupied with that. I should be able to take it to a local publisher next week. Sigh. The quote I've been using at the bottom of my email is this:

Speak now, kiss now

Before the river freezes altogether

　　　　 (from "Spring Forward, Fall Back" by Troy Jollimore)

Meanwhile, outside today it is -10 degrees C (or 14 degrees F for some of you). Speak now, kiss now, before the river freezes altogether!