Cold in Michigan

Hi All,
Thanks for the welcome message, Carolyn, and thanks everyone else for the intro notes. It's nice to hear everyone's voices. Thanks also for sharing the poem, Craig. I like the way the found language finds its place in the poem. And I love this: "I still don’t know how to treat anyone in/my life. When I close my eyes I see high school exes/with Electriplex® and FRA TYPE I TIER I/tattooed on their lower backs..." Don't know why yet, but I do.

I'm in East Lansing, Michigan, but I'm from California and before that I was in Arizona. This is only my second year in Michigan. It just dumped snow last night, and so I'm pretty much ready for weeks of sun and to be somewhere where there's an ocean nearby, somewhere I don't have to scrape ice off the car.

I write fiction, but during ACA I'll be working on finishing an essay, and possibly starting another. I mentioned to Carolyn I'm thinking of the essays as companions to the fiction, but I'm still figuring out what this means. My father died a year and a half ago, so questions of grief, loss, and memory have been on my mind. The essay isn't about him, but I think his death sits just below the surface.

I'm driving to Florida. Hopefully, I can make it to Virginia without any major storms, and then sun. Looking forward to meeting folks.

Rae