I can't believe I'm saying this, but I *heart* Barbara Bush!

Asked what she thinks about Sarah Palin, the matriarch of the Bush family responded with characteristic diplomacy.

"I sat next to her once. Thought she was beautiful," Barbara Bush told CNN's Larry King. "And she's very happy in Alaska, and I hope she'll stay there."

The 85-year-old former first lady chuckled and smiled at her subtle sarcasm. Her comments come as Palin, former Alaska governor, revealed this week that she's considering a 2012 run for the White House, and said believes she could beat President Barack Obama.


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I had a lovely time at the Crab Creek Review release reading. Wonderful poems from Erin Malone, Kevin Miller, Michael Schmeltzer and Martha Silano. I especially enjoyed Martha's poem about "Black Thursday," and the one about her baby learning to talk, "On the Cusp." (here's a taste)

On the Cusp

of language, of her first word. Something's
set to burst from her lips—bison? Bivalve?

Could be bye-bye; we're not sure.
There's a bushtit at the feeder,

so she turns to the news of hunger,
of hunger and buzzy chirps—

buh buh buh—wavers her hand,
and this could be the start . . .

read the rest of the poem here:

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I read my ekphrastic poems from the issue, as well as a couple of others. I think they went over well. Had an interesting conversation afterwards with a woman from the audience, who enjoyed the poems, especially "Plague Doctor." She said her father was a doctor, and used to have a collection of old wood block prints from Europe, with caricatures of doctors, and she wondered if that is where I got the image ("Doktor Schnabel von Rom" ("Doctor Beak from Rome"). Now I have to go see if I can find this book of woodcuts!

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