So I finished the first draft of my first chapter. Hooray-a for me!, as Strong Bad would say. No idea if it's brilliant or stupid or how well it holds together—objectivity is out to lunch. It's just done, that's all. I've been totally exhausted and out of it since I finished yesterday afternoon, a little weepy even. A minor nervous breakdown. But I rested all day withh lots of TLC from Emily and I'm planning to rest all day tomorrow, too. Maybe go to the movies. Maybe read something entirely unrelated to work. Maybe read nothing at all. I need to get my groove back before the big reading on Wednesday. Should be fun.

If this were my computer instead of Emily's I'd post another old poem of mine. There's something kind of scary and liberating about putting the old stuff up: acknowledging the continuity of my imagination over time. Someday I might even cease to be embarrassed about that old chapbook of mine that I published ("printed" is more accurate) with the University of Montana back in 1998. Planets of a Cold Spring. Yikes.