My review of Karen Paul Holmes’ poetry collection No Such Thing as Distance has been published in the latest edition of the esteemed journal Pleiades.
If you get your hands on this gorgeous issue, you can find out why I think there are commonalities in Holmes’ work and mine. OK, here are some hints ;). She is also from Michigan, and the sense of place–places, really–is very important to her work. Also prominent are family and family history. Her book is beautifully written and extremely accessible.
On another note, I’m having foot troubles. And I also had a very telling dream. But first the feet.
My right foot is the one that has a reconstructed navicular bone. That happened 13.5 years ago and was a big, big deal. Now I have to be really careful so that that bone doesn’t shatter. About nine months ago I developed plantar fasciitis in the left foot, and no matter what I do, the pain is not letting up. This puts pressure on the right foot, of course. Then Friday morning I dropped my cell phone on my right big toe. Please let me out of this nightmare.
MRI Prep
Speaking of dreams. Did you know that if you dream of a litter of kittens it means that you are feeling swamped and overwhelmed? The other day I dreamed that the shelter where I volunteer was closed temporarily. I went to check on it. Of course, it wasn’t that place at all, but an old-fashioned storefront with the store divided into three big rooms, all with glass windows in front. I knew right away why they were closed. They were overwhelmed–literally filled to the ceiling with kittens. There wasn’t even an inch between kittens. There must have been thousands in there. I wasn’t worried for the kittens because I knew the shelter would take care of them, but I was shocked at how many there were.
So do you see how overwhelmed I have been this month????????? I know in the end it will be ok, but I have never felt so overloaded with work as I have this month. I sure hope I get April to write poetry!
(Weirdly, I have worked on a little essay, but only the last couple of days, and I don’t know if it will turn out or not).
Sending love out into the universe. Please send back some extra minutes haha.
Hang in there, it’s almost April! I don’t know if that will be any better but you can always hope.
Hah, yes, it’s almost April and now a whole bunch of stuff just rained down on my calendar!!!! What is going on anyway? Still, I shouldn’t talk. I know you have been going through a lot taking care of injured relatives!
They are getting better and there are less doc apts. Yay!
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do wish you well with the feet
Thank you so much, Derrick. My feet can use all the help they can get!
Heavens! I hope your feet feel better soon and your workload diminishes. It’s too much!! Congrats on your review being published. You are a mover and shaker! Things may snap back into place later this week.
Thank you, WJ. I can’t wait to have time to write you some emails!!!
I would say it would be wonderful to have the million kitty dream, but that would be naive of me:) As much as I love kitties, and I do love kitties, floor-to-ceiling kitties does sound like a bit much. Anxiety!! But cute anxiety!
Sorry to hear about the foot problems. I actually have an extra navicular bone in each foot—accessory navicular bone syndrome, I believe. So far, no problems. I hope the essay works out. I am in a writing funk today as I have a kitty undergoing oral surgery right now for a mass removal. I can’t concentrate, which is not a good thing for a writer under three deadlines. But, I think we will both make it, Luanne. Hope the feet feel better and everything is less overwhelming soon. ❤️
Oh Cheryl, I hope things are going ok for your kitty. Now I am wondering how it went since you wrote this yesterday. I will go check out your blog and twitter for an update.
In the meantime I will respond to the rest: Naive, yes, but you are right: CUTE CUTE CUTE! I have cute anxiety. Does that mean that a lot of it is caused by my cute kids ;)? Or even (dare I say) my cats?
I have never heard of an extra navicular bone. I’m glad it hasn’t caused problems. There are so many odd little things like that that unless we have them or hear about them, we remain completely ignorant. There are two big blood vessels in the brain apparently, and I am completely lacking one of them.
First, the brain blood vessel thing is amazing! How did you ever find that out? You are right, there are so many variations of bodies—and thank goodness that we aren’t all the same. Keeps us interesting:) Kitty is doing well today. She has finally started lying with the other kitties in the family room, which leads me to believe she’s probably not in too much pain and not afraid that I’m going to stick a pill in her mouth again. Or heaven forbid! Another trip back to the vet!! (That’s Monday. Shhhhh) How are your kitties? I know you had one that wasn’t feeling too well, either.
How about that woman with two uteruses who gave birth to babies a month apart :)? The blood vessel thing is so weird. I feel as if it causes my very weird “complicated migraines.” It’s a rare congenital thing. Probably like your navicular! I hope Penny is well today!
We are all curiouser and curiouser brings:) Penny is doing so well!! Thank you:) I hope you’re doing well today. Regular migraines are bad enough. Take care.
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that! Dear Penny!
Sorry…no minutes to spare, Luanne. Please take care of yourself…stress does horrible things to the body.
Thank you, Jill. My mom is still struggling with the eye issues, and I keep thinking of you, too. Have you tried moisture chamber glasses yet?
I’ve never heard of moisture chamber glasses, Luanne. I have been sleeping with a gel mask that you can either use heated or frozen. Freezing it seems to work the best for me. Honestly, each day is a surprise when I look in the mirror and go on with my day. Today was a good day…yesterday, not so much. I’m sorry to hear your mother is still struggling. <3
Jill, look them up. You sleep in them. They form a protective seal between your face and the glasses. They might help! I’m not surprised about the freezing. yesterday the nurse told me to tell my mom to chill her one glaucoma meds because it will feel better.
Interesting…I’ll check them out…thank you! I seem to sleep better with the mask, too. 🙂
Mom just sent me this and said she thinks it’s useful: https://manage.kmail-lists.com/subscriptions/web-view?a=KHYMRB&c=KXpfL2&r=fG3SZrS&m=QkqQAF&k=5a012bd44703bfc1bb9a992855365eec
I had plantar fasciitis a couple of years ago. I wound up wearing toeless compression socks and eventually the pain went away. Since the socks are toeless, I could tolerate wearing them in the summer with my sandals. There doesn’t seem to be one “cure” for the condition. A coworker started wearing Dansk shoes and that worked for her (but not for me). Another coworker had to wear a “boot” for several weeks. Still another got relief through using customized shoe inserts. Ugh. Like anyone wants to spend years and $$ in trial and error. I hope the end of March means you will get some relief. I wish I could give you time but I have too little of it myself. You’re stuck with my virtual hugs 😉
I have to wear compression stockings all the time anyway, so I can’t try that trick. I haven’t heard of Dansk shoes. I will look those up. I have been wearing a brace at night for months now. I tried a boot during the day, but it didn’t work for me like it did when I first had the foot tumor stuff. I was tripping on it. I got the customized orthotics. YES, all trial and error, mostly error. I’m sorry to hear you had to go through this. It’s just nasty because of how it hangs on. I had hoped mine was getting better over time, but the MRI showed a lot of thickening and all in that area. Thank you for letting me know your path!!! (yeah, that’s a crummy pun haha) Back atcha with the hugs XOXO!
That’s quite the dream. I did not know that dreaming about kittens says you are overwhelmed. I tend not to sleep well enough to remember dreams but am in a chronic state of overwhelm and have petitioned for years to have a 48 hour day. Not sure that would help either. 😉 The plantars, I know about well enough. That first step toward the bathroom in the morning is so painful I almost wet my pants getting there. I’ve bought expensive shoes for it, the toeless compression socks and done the stretching exercises. ;( I try to walk everyday to stay healthy but often end up at the gym on the recombant bike to stay off the feet. Once moving, it’s not as bad as after sitting a while. You have my sympathetic understanding. Don’t let the put shots of cortisone in your feet. It doesn’t help and hurts like hell. It’s hard to think when you are in pain and feet really feel the pain. Wishing you the best with both issues.
Oh my dear, you hit a soft spot with your cortisone comment. I was just to the point of getting them! I don’t like medications and I have had reactions to Flonase, which is a steroid, but my doctor approved the shots, so . . . . So the pain from the shots doesn’t go away? My feet are super sensitive. And I have had insane pain in them both from the big tumor I had, but also because of a botched biopsy and TWO lymphoscintigraphy tests which are truly the tests from heck where they put needles with fluid between all your toes!!! I already have to wear compression stockings with toes all days every day, so more compression won’t work for me. I am icing, wearing a brace at night, orthotics during the day. Some stretching. Am I missing anything else?! Thank you!
Wow! You really have been through it with your feet. I can’t imagine anything else you can do physically. I go to Louise Hay’s book “You Can Heal Your Life” whenever anything physical goes haywire with me. There are lists of things and the probable reason for their occurrence. It’s surprising what I’ve found there over the years and for me, mostly on target. Not everyone is willing to look at this but it’s about all that I can offer for now. I sure hope you find some resolution for the pain. It’s exhausting.
I’ll look for that book! Thank you, Marlene!
Luanne, I’m so sorry about your foot problems – nothing worse than physical distractions to keep us from our real purpose which is to spew out words.
Steady on – take care of yourself – keep writing when you feel like it!
The book you reviewed sounds fabulous!
The book is great, and I think it’s a book that people who don’t read a lot of poetry would still enjoy because it’s so accessible. And beautiful. Thank you for your commiseration about these dumb feet! I know you’ve had your share . . . .
Can’t send extra minutes but can send a wish for some relief.
Well, thank you for what you can send, John! I appreciate it MUCH!
😊
I’m sorry to hear both about your foot troubles and that you’re feeling overwhelmed, funny how dreams work isn’t it? But congratulations on the publication of the review!
One of the oddest and most easily deciphered dreams I’ve ever had! Thank you about the review! I think I did a good job for her, so that makes me happy :).
This sounds to me like a plot to keep you from reaching your goal of writing and publication numbers. (When there is not enough time I find it helpful to stop and breathe and meditate – it sounds counter-intuitive doesn’t it. But it’s quite interesting what happens when I come back to myself.) Still, best wishes with the feet, with the time, with the publications and writing – and the dreams!
Hahaha, Pauline, so well put. It is a plot, I swear it! Yes, I need to do a couple of yoga stretches and breeeeeeeeeeeeethe into them!!!! XOXO
Congratulations on the review, Luanne, but I’m so sorry to hear about your foot and stress. I hope the dream kittens were cute, 🙂 and I hope you’re feeling better soon.
I had a dream the other night–after we saw the movie, “Transit,”–where a friend was trying to show me how to log in to a site, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t log in. The site was called “Double Speak.” So, apparently I have 1984 dreams. Hahaha.
What a frustrating dream! That’s almost as if you want to communicate (talk) and you can’t. ARGH!!!!! Thank you about the review and the well wishes. MUCH appreciated.
I tend to be amused by my dreams. It was kind of frustrating, but when I woke up, I thought Double Speak was funny.
It is very funny!
🙂
I feel that. I feel like I’m digging out of a hole. 🙁 I try to remind myself there are many more times when it’s smooth and this won’t last forever, but of course, in the moment, it’s rotten.
So sorry about your foot. Good mercy. I sure hope you get some relief soon.
Yes, digging out of a hole. YES! Thanks re the feet. Right toe is better. Left foot is worse.
Bah. Maybe they’re trying to balance your life…
Hah!
Our similarities:
I had my whole right foot reconstructed in 2014,A bone spur removed from the base of my big toe where I broke it thirty years before the surgery necessary to “fix” it was a reality/ that toe pinned and straightened (it looked like a left parentheses mark) / arthritis gnarls of nuckles removed on the middle toes…three, also pinned, and the little toe pulled out from under its neighbor and sewed in place (didn’t completely work, but not stepping on it now! Took three months in bed afterwards plus physical therapy so painful I quit two weeks before the end. I still have problems…ya’ think! LOL
Our differences:
I am not a writer or poet like you, but an appreciator of both.
I purchased Kin Types, but haven’t gotten to it yet. Hmmmm next month is poetry month….a worthy project to read it all month long.
A bit overwhelmed most days!
Today it was 84 here on the Texas Gulf Coast, and we had a good ole’ thunderstorm this evening…just after I watered everything. Sigh….
It always rains after you water everything! At least that is what so often occurs. Thank you so much for trying out Kin Types! I can’t wait to hear what you think.
I’m so sorry to hear about your foot troubles. It is amazing how much feet can hurt, isn’t it? They (at least mine do) seem to be so sensitive to everything. You went through a lot of what I did with the bed rest and all that they put us through! I really hope your foot troubles are mostly behind you because it does take such a hit on the other parts of the body when you can’t walk properly. XO
Thanks for your sympathetic ear. My feet sympathize with yours.
Hah, well put! And mine with yours.
Luanne, I really hope all will go right with your foot problems soon so you can rest your mind on that and get back to your writing. Best wishes.
Thank you so much, Eilene. Right toe is better now, but left foot is worse. Sigh.
Sigh, indeed.
I am so sorry about your poor feet! I have nothing to suggest that might help but you are in my prayers. Congratulations on the published review! The book sounds really good.
I am also sorry you are so overwhelmed as well as in pain – very bad timing indeed! I hardly ever remember my dreams and when I do they are usually about searching for a toilet and struggling over sand dunes or trying to get off a bus and hoping I will get to the loo in time! I also had a dream about an enormous cricket the size of a cat climbing up my leg. It had a bright red face and was grinning at me. I dreamt I screamed and woke myself up. I wasn’t screaming but making a deep moaning wailing noise! Explain that if you will!
Clare, that is the best dream! A cat-sized cricket with a bright red face grinning at you as it climbed your leg!!! I think that sounds like one of our huge galloping cockroaches!!!!
Thank you so much for your kind words, too!
My pleasure, Luanne!
Luanne, I really look forward to your updates, thank you! Even when it’s bad news – so sorry! – I feel in touch with you. I think of you and how busy things are right now, hoping soon that will let up; and thank you for the reminder about April being poetry month. I may try dabbling in my own little poems during April, we’ll see! (nothing for publication or anything) My own April is a bit hectic too, but I have been slowly plodding along trying to get some momentum going on a new novel-length project. It’s been a drama! Oh, well, one can be thankful for imagination. 🙂 BTW, I love that you have such an active community of commenters on your blog! That says so much about your warmth and generosity of spirit as a person. Kudos!
I’m so excited that you’re going to work on poetry during April! Are you going to share on your blog or not? And the novel sounds exciting! May I ask what it’s about or is it still too early to talk about it?
Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Theresa. You are such a support to me!
Oh my gosh, Luanne, great question about the novel. And thanks for the encouragement about writing poetry during April! I’m getting there, getting there, my poet-friend! 🙂 Me too, you are such a support to me. I was thinking today about the small stories you share on your blog about your day-to-day experience, and believe it or not, those little snippets keep me encouraged that I’m not alone in trying to make art while Other Things Happen. 🙂
Novel. So, I’ve been going through a huge drama-process over the last month on How to Write a Novel. I will probably write something about this in an upcoming blog post, but for the moment, it’s probably sufficient to say that after going through a writing “wringer,” including picking myself up after an unexpected text-criticism from a trusted source, and finding new ways to hybrid-outline plot for a novel (rather than just writing and seeing what happens), I now have a start on two promising new novels. One is realistic (not SF/F), and the other is a restart on an SF idea. In a nutshell, the way I came to these has finally helped me identify and redefine the kind of story to write (eliminating kinds of stories that go nowhere, which have been the bane of my existence). Keeping fingers crossed this will help me hitting dead-end projects as I have done in the past!
I’ll also just say the realistic novel is about a couple in early marriage who are falling away from each other but don’t realize it, and also each is keeping career-aspiration secrets from the other. And the non-realistic novel is about a young woman who sometimes becomes a snake – or does she? it might all be in her mind – and how she finds her way through life and building a community in spite of this snake-issue. (I know it sounds a little strange. Still brainstorming on this one!)
I’m so excited to be on the April-poetry journey with you virtually? Can you tell me about your posting process? I can’t remember from last year, but I seem to recall you did not post daily, but you would mention your progress in periodic blog posts…is that right? Tell me, tell me!
I’m so excited that you’re going to work on poetry during April! Are you going to share on your blog or not? And the novel sounds exciting! May I ask what it’s about or is it still too early to talk about it?
Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Theresa. You are such a support to me!
I am so sorry about your poor foot and that anxiety is spilling into your nighttimes. Sending good thoughts (and extra minutes) your way.
Thank you! I am still in need haha!
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