Go Angels

And so hello again.

Since last July, I have been absent from my blog. Many personal matters have kept me occupied during that time, and they have all been wonderful occurrences. Those who know me personally know the details. Suffice to say that I have had little time to write, and I am glad to have a few minutes to pen another blog post now.

I am also glad to feature next Sunday, April 23, at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. This year, the organizers have put together a terrific poetry lineup, and just scanning their names brings back memories: David St. John, who wrote the foreword for one of Moon Tide Press' books; Christopher Buckley, whose work inspired much of my last collection; Laurel Ann Bogen, whose workshop I took at Beyond Baroque and whose techniques I have passed on to my own students; Elena Karina Byrne, who provided one of the epigraphs in my first book; Mariano Zaro, a wonderful interviewer as well as a poet; and many others. I feel honored to be part of such a remarkable group, and I hope to catch as many of their readings as I can.

As for my own feature: At 2:20 p.m. on the Poetry Stage, I will read from my last two collections, The First Thing Mastered (Tebot Bach, 2013) and Angels in Seven (Moon Tide Press, 2016). These two collections go hand-in-hand, as the former tracks the years of life from infancy to the early 30s, while the latter focuses on the age of 35. The title poem is also about my boyhood fandom of the Angels baseball team (I still bristle at calling them the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim"), which makes for perfect timing as the Halos embark on their latest season.

Admission to the festival is free, although there is a charge for parking. Please stop by and say hello!

Speaking of Moon Tide Press, it is now in the capable hands of new publisher Eric Morago, who has honored the press' long history by posting a poem from a Moon Tide book each day of April on Facebook. Eric, whose What We Ache For came out from Moon Tide in 2010, is busy making plans for the press' next phase, and I look forward to taking part in it as a consulting editor. For those looking to follow Moon Tide's latest news, you may check out its revamped website here.