Blue Moon to End the Year, the Decade

Wow. Last day of the year, last day of the first decade of the 21st Century (depending how you count the years). And it's a blue moon tonight. Second full moon of the month. How auspicious. I bet there will be some wild stuff happening out there at all the parties and ball-droppings and fireworks that are planned. Dean and I have dinner reservations at Le Spiga, and afterwards we'll probably be home watching Kathy Griffin make Anderson Cooper blush and turn speechless in New York.

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On "Last Days" like this, I guess one can't help but reflect on the year, the decade. All the awful political stuff aside (the Bush years, the two+ wars, the roller-coaster economy, the natural and unnatural disasters) we at least got a decent president at the end, and I'm feeling optimistic that this country will get back on track. On a personal level I've had a really steady home life and work life, with a great partner and a great job (though the job has been a little out of whack the past year or so).

In terms of my poetry life the past decade was amazing: a chapbook and two books published. Great poetry friends and two writing groups and a blog. Several grant awards and conferences and teaching opportunities. I couldn't have asked for more.

But the past year has been a bit of a lull. I don't feel like I've been writing as much as usual, and that I have barely sent anything out. But when I look at my files, I see I have this HUGE 15 poem series about the Expedition of the Vaccine, that is just about finished, and several other new pieces that were drafted this year: so it really was not as slow a year as it feels like at all.

Looking forward to what the New Year and the New Decade will bring. Hopefully a new book soon. Maybe even some fiction? Who knows? Bring on that Blue Moon!