good news

My poem "The Light of Seville" was published in the poetry issue of the monthly west-coast Sufi Ruhaniat publication, which is an honour.  It was also the last paper issue of The Sound (the aforementioned publication) because the foundation that gave money to printing The Sound and a lot of other non-profits lost a huge chunk of funding in the Madoff collapse.  So, it was a joy to be published in the issue and a somewhat sad and angry discovery that it's the last paper issue.  It's always a disappointment to me when people think that electronic publishing is somehow better than the good old paper way.  There's something so satisfying about a book that doesn't come with the glowing screens we're inundated with daily.  A computer or kindle or whatever comes next will never be able to replace the incredible delight of a book between one's palms and the black lettering against the creamy pages.  Anyway, The Sound didn't really have a choice except to go electronic or stop publishing.  I guess it's the better of two not-so-good solutions.

Tomorrow I leave to go back to the big city.  I'm prepared for the cold and more than ready to see my friends again.