So, I wanted to give a rundown on the whole AWP experience–people really taking to Brent House’s Saw Year Prophecies up for sale once we get the stitching done on final copies of the book. And the reading at the Rack House which had a good deal of “ambient” noise but did not involve drunk people dry humping in the background. And the whole utter exhaustion but pleasure of the book fair, save the dentist chair lights from above and the entire warehouse atmosphere of that fair–like hundreds of tables.

I would tell you more except when I returned, I remembered I had a poetry festival I had to oversee in less than two weeks, anthologies that needed to be stitched still, and a whole pile of students that needed to be–you know, taught. So, the blog stays on its little vacation until all that is done, but then summer time it will be hot and sticky, and we will have photos of pie and poets and just generally good times.

So, come May1st, we’ll be back up, talking about presses, dreaming of future projects. For now, worker bees we are.

Carrie Olivia Adams, of Black Ocean Press and the blog The Constant Conversation, gave us some space to sprawl out, chat it up, and all-in-all, tell folks about our press. If interested, take a gander.

I don’t think I had a proper appreciation a year ago how insane my life and Patti’s life would be right now. We are busy bees, so suffers the blog. I wanted to post stuff on other presses, cool reading series around the country, interesting books. Yeah, that has kind of gone out the window.

Instead, here’s what we’ve been doing and learning in March, which even isn’t our busiest month, yet.

1. Paper from Nepal is delicate. Ink bleeds all over the place.
2. In-Design was made by a sadist.
3. Printing presses in our book arts department is absolutely incredible.
4. Coincidence can be the greatest funder of the arts.
5. Flood lights are relatively inexpensive.
6.  45 poets is a lot of freaking poetry.
7. 30 poets at 5′ a piece is still a lot of freaking poetry.
8. “On Time” is relative statement.
9. Grant writing gets harder the more you know. So does poetry.
10. Cool and hip small town venues always have one foot in the bankruptcy grave.
11. A fine line between the curt email and the succinct one/
12. A fine line between the detailed email and the impossibly dense one.
13. Hobby Lobby is Patti’s second home.
14. Adventure is a relative term.
15. Undergrads are open to the world in ways lecturers and professors are not.
16. Our Fall reading will take place on more than 8 miles of trail total (but in 4 hikes).
17. A great first poem makes me want to read an entire manuscript.
18. Book Arts/Renegade Arts is where the heat exists in poetry, the love.
19. We have enough pots, enough burners, enough cooks–but that doesn’t make it easy.