Bring on the ‘ber months! I’m ready for cold weather, crisp leaves, & cleansing snowfall. I’m also ready to “bunker down” in a sense. The window for a chapbook contest I hope to enter opens today & I outlined a game plan as I took a shower this morning.
I’m surprised I was able to form somewhat coherent thoughts as I am currently recovering from Covid again. My husband sat across from me at the dinner table Tuesday night & erupted into full body chills & I knew in my gut that we had the plague upon us again. As per usual, it hit him all at once & took me days to build up to the worst of it. I believe we’ve turned the corner. Neither of us has had a fever in over 24 hours & we’re both just sniffling & worn down at the moment. I will say this is the mildest of the times I’ve had it. (This is my third, his fourth.) I have the depressed feelings that always hit after my fever breaks (what’s the point of anything? life sucks…etc.) but I also have the desire to not be defeated. My brain doesn’t feel as foggy as past infections have made it feel. Still, it sucks. I just want to be 100% better…obviously.
I never questioned that I was “a poet”, but lately I’ve been feeling more like a poet than I ever have because I’ve been so busy with “poetry things”. My first contest season went very well for me. I took a first prize & a third prize out of nine categories entered & I think that’s amazing. I have also been invited to write an ekphrastic poem for a local artist’s piece here in Traverse City. The poem will be displayed with the artwork in a local gallery. There will also be a reading I’ll attend at the end of the month. This month I’m also going to be hearing the Michigan Poet Laureate, Nandi Comer, speak. It’s very cool to be a part of a community of writers again. I was able to attend Poets Meet Musicians last Monday after having to miss last month & I really enjoy hearing everyone’s work & being able to share my own there.
I’m frolicking between many books once again. I have “Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson” & T.C. Boyle’s “After the Plague” on my front burners after finishing “This House Is Haunted” by John Boyne & being unable to get into “How To Leave the House” by Nathan Newman. On the back burners I’m gathering inspiration for the chapbook from Eve LaPlante’s “Seized” & also looking at Janet Frame’s poetry again in “Storms Will Tell”. I always said I was more impressed by her prose than her poems, but I am gaining appreciation for them now. Sometimes a second look at something helps me to enjoy it more.
After not watching many films lately I’ve devoured some from my sick bed that were pretty good. I was fascinated by “The Devil’s Bath” and wish that my library system had its source material “S**cide by Proxy in Early Modern Germany” by Kathy Stuart. I also really loved “Enys Men” and found myself exclaiming “What in the Skinamarink is this?!” (“Skinamarink” is a fantastic ‘experimental’ film which I feel “Enys Men” is in the same vein as.) I also saw the 90s movie “The Rapture” with Mimi Rogers recently & wow, I’m still going over it in my brain.
Summer still hangs on but hopefully the cool weather will grace me with its presence very soon. Corn mazes, pumpkin spice, all these Fall things are being advertised & opening up around town which fills me with anticipation. I want nothing more than to be feeling well enough & of course out of the “danger zone” of being contagious to go out into the world again. Thankfully, I’m patient. I’ll be spending this Labor Day holiday indoors but then the real “labor” begins as I write, revise, & finalize poems to have a nice manuscript to send in by November 30. Oh, & the moment I feel strong enough to, I’m busting out my Fall decor. I feel like I’m late on them already. 🙂
Image is a still from Enys Men, dir. by Mark Jenkin (2022)
Thistle Thoughts 
sucks to be sick. I’m glad you’re mending and writing and sharing here again.
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Yeah 😔 Being extra sick on top of managing daily chronic illness symptoms makes it even more difficult but I’m getting there. ❤️
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First off, congratulations on your accomplishments with the poetry contests!
That’s awesome, Jenn! You were a writer of poetry before all of this. I really do not like saying “Poet” when the writer is well-versed in other genres as well. And you are. 😊
I hope you’ll be 100% soon, both you and your husband. I’ve yet to have COVID but I feel like my time will come for it to pounce on me soon. If I do ever encounter it, I hope it doesn’t lay me all the way out and make me suffer insanely.
Happy Labor Day weekend. I hope the rest of it will be more than kind to you!
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Thank you, Tre! If I can ever become disciplined enough, maybe I can actually finish one of my “novel attempts”. ☺️ We are on the mend over here but the constant sneezing is getting on my nerves today. Covid is no fun at all. I feel so let down by all the vaccinations. 😦 It is what it is though. I hope you can avoid it however long you can. ❤️ I know a few people who’ve never had it & I hope everyone can just stay healthy.
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Amen to that! 🙏🏾💙
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Sorry to read about you getting Covid again Jennifer! Hope you and your husband get well soon. Very happy to read that you’re getting back into poetry again. Congratulations on your achievements so far, and best wishes for the future! Hope the coming cooler months make you feel better! Cheers!
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Thank you, Dominic! I’m ready to feel like myself again for sure.
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Good to hear!
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I’m with on eagerly anticipating fall! I love the rain, and the sense of things slowing down. I’m glad you’re recovering! I’ve only had Covid once, but the soul-sucking fatigue was not my idea of a good time! 🙂
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It’s no fun at all. I feel so much better in general in the colder months so I’m ready to ease the summer (and this plague) on its way.
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I love your movie recommendations, they are very intense. 😄 I looked up all the ones you mentioned and am going to watch the Rapture one. I wish you all the best with your chapbook submission plans, and hope you recover fully from covid quickly!
Pumpkin spice does sound nice right about now. I am in the mood for fall things too, I’m feelin’ it. Take care! 💜
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Thank you, Cypress. I watched another good one called “Moon Garden” last night. That was intensely visual. 💛
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I’ve been reading a lot of Hunter S. Thompson recently. You’ve accomplished so much this summer, I’m so proud of you. And very happy to hear you’re on the mend x
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Thank you! I really hate how symptoms linger with this. 😦
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I am glad that you and your husband are recovering, Jennifer. I had been a little worried, but knew that you had been busy also. Congratulations on your successful entries and never doubt — you are always a poet.
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Thank you. I’ll be happy to have this sickness behind me because it’s miserable.
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I have only experienced it once, but it affected my expressive speech ability, which had been quite alarming.
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Every time I’ve gotten it, when I’m over the worst of it, it’s then that my brain feels like holes have been punched in it & it feels like it takes forever to feel functional again.
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The brain fog is pretty awful.
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