I recently sojourned in the middle of nowhere, some desert in California, with two good friends where there was an epic music festival. I never used to go to music festivals; but my friend dragged me along to Pitchfork this summer and then Desert Haze last month, with each proving a head-first and wholly uninhibited experience like no other, so I suppose I have wound up a convert. Anyway, here is a snippet.

Cheers,
Erik

Pain in the neck!
 

Well... in just over a week I've had an MRI scan, a CT scan and some X-rays. Nothing life-threatening, I'm happy to add... but I had a massive shock, nonetheless.

It turns out that I have a fracture in my neck - which was not a recent trauma, - so I broke my neck at some stage, without realising it! :eek:

The GOOD NEWS is that the fracture is "stable", has partly healed, and I don't need surgery or a neck brace, thank goodness. (I had a lot of neck ache, off and on, and thought it was probably arthritis.)

My consultant offered me injections for the pain, but I'm not on medication of any kind and have managed up to now without so much as a paracetomol passing my lips!

(My husband says I'm a pain in the arse sometimes, and now I'm a pain in the neck as well, officially :D)

Mighty relieved all the same, though, joking aside.

Jayne

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Erik, Cool. Keep on keepin' on.

Yikers Jayne! That barely squeaks by as good news! Pain and fear together can be anguishing. Glad to know you're relieved and the source of the pain has been revealed. I have a herniated disc in my 7th vertebra from an old body surfing accident and it causes all kinds of havoc on my left side. I'll be alright some day : )
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Apparently, after serving as administrator of this place, one's pain resistance reaches the point at which it is possible to not even notice when you break your neck.

Best wishes, Jayne!

Blimey! Bert Trautmann!

Glad you're OK, Jayne.

In celebration, I will break the habit of a lifetime...:)

Crikey, Jayne! Glad you're doing ok. Julie: haha!

Glad to hear you're okay, Jayne!

Now we know how fast you ride that motorbike of yours: breakneck speed!

Thanks, Jim, Julie, Annie, Mark and Shaun.

"Breakneck speed'' is hilarious, Shaun! :D:D

Julie, you made me laugh too. My pain threshold has always been high... hell, I've given birth to two ten-pounders... but administering Eratosphere does sometimes cause me pain of a different sort, I have to admit! (Ahem!) ;)

I'm feeling tons better today, after yesterday's brief visit to my consultant, and knowing that no ''intervention'' is necessary.

(I can possibly blame the neck fracture on missing my footing and falling from top to bottom down a flight of steps three years ago... the next day I was so battered and bruised I felt as if I'd been hit by a train... but I recovered and thought, "Well, at least I didn't break any bones..." :rolleyes:)

But I feel it's GOOD NEWS to be here, telling you all this!! :)

Jayne

I put together a book-length number of poems I don't hate into a linear sequence, and I don't hate the result.

Good for you! Just in time for the Hecht contest:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#in...jQRpQjRNPmgXvW

It's a year out, but I will be the featured Powwow reader in October next year, paired with the wonderful Rachel Hadas.

Congrats, Andrew!

Thanks Novick.

Not that you couldn't find it yourself, but here's a more accurate link for you (and all):

https://waywiser-press.com/about-us/submissions/

Your welcome, Aaron.

Congrats Andrew! That's wow news!

It's more than wow news, Mark - it's Powwow wow news! ;)
Congrats Andrew.

Jayne

Thanks Mark and Jayne! I was happy and surprised to be asked to read.

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Powwow wow is right! Great news Andrew! I'll put it in my calendar.
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Wow is right. Congradulations, Andrew!

Congratulations, Andrew!
My own good news is a Pushcart nomination from Light Poetry Magazine for my poem "Gator Aid". Although I doubt that light verse is going to win a Pushcart Prize any time soon, it's a great delight just to be nominated.

Congratulations, Gail. I got a Pushcart nomination for my poem "Ashes, Ashes," workshopped here a long time ago. I don't expect to win the prize either, but it is nice to be nominated.

Susan

I've just spent a wonderful afternoon in London with Melissa, having lunch, doing a bit of shopping (for lovely stationery, mostly, which is a passion we share!), talking, laughing, drinking coffee... it was simply delightful.

More good news: Melissa has convinced me that I should go to Poetry By The Sea next May, so that'll we'll meet again; I'm planning to do just that! I hope to meet lots of old friends there, and some new ones too.

(Who's going to PBTS? There'll be a separate thread on it next year, but it won't hurt to say so here, if you're thinking about it...)

Jayne

Jayne, an afternoon in London with you and Melissa sounds delightful. I expect to attend Poetry by the Sea, so I hope I'll see you there.

Susan

It hasn't been a great year, but this counts as good news for me: I'll be teaching my own literature course in the spring (at Ohio State). What's funny is that it's an American literature course, even though my specialization for the past several years has been English Renaissance poetry, but fortunately I have enough love for / knowledge of American lit to put together what I think is an engaging syllabus. My course theme is character-heavy, so I'll be focusing mostly on short stories, but it will be nice to slip in some Edwin Arlington Robinson, Claude McKay, Eliot, and perhaps a few others.

Did anybody notice the uk election result?

This thread is for our personal good news, David. Let's not taint it with talk of politics! :D

Jayne

What's more, it certainly isn't for catastrophically bad news.

Thanks for getting this thread I love back on-track, Jerome. I've had two drinks of that noxious stuff and am wondrously well-preserved at 52.

Poetry by the Sea
 

Jayne and Jerome, it was so lovely to see you both! It's good news indeed that you plan on Poetry by the Sea, Jayne, and Jerome, we will continue to work on you... I hope many others will be joining us in CT in May. It promises to be a great week. Marilyn Nelson is the keynote, and Sphereans galore will be leading workshops and panels (including yours truly): http://www.poetrybytheseaconference.org/schedule.htm

“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been.” —Rainer Maria Rilke

For those who have been reading of the admittedly serious flooding here in South Wales, I thought I should report that I am OK, not drowned-dead, and that my home-made contingency arrangements, ad hoc drains and emergency ditches, have proved fit for purpose. Hereabouts, we deal with disaster in our own ways...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYVGPeCgGM4

Oh gosh, I meant to ring you, Annie, to find out if you were OK... (Mind you, having eighteen members of my family round for dinner yesterday kept me mega-busy and I forgot... which I hope is a good enough excuse!)

But it's a relief to know that Storm Dennis didn't give you hell.

Jayne

My wife and I are celebrating the birth of grandchild number six – the first girl after five boys. We love her big brother and her four cousins, of course (some of them can read by now, so they’d notice if I didn’t mention that), and they all seem to agree with the grown-ups that there’s something special about finally having a girl in the family. The baby arrived on what would have been my late mother’s 91st birthday, a coincidence that we find not actually significant, but heart-warming to the max.

From one grandparent to another, congratulations, Chris. It's good to know that even after six the thrill is still there... We welcomed our 2nd into this world a few weeks ago and still feel the thrill from the 1st, so we are doubled with the feeling.
I can hear that simple, unadulterated excitement in your voice as I read your good news. I know the feeling. It's funny, too, how coincidences always seem to come with events such as this. Perhaps if we looked long enough and hard enough and in all the right places we might conclude that just being born is the world's way of saying everything is connected. Six and two and counting...
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Yay, Hilary Mantel finally finished the last book of her Cromwell trilogy! It's out next month. Not that I have time to read an 800-page book right now, but it's something to look forward to. I loved Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.

Mine's on pre-order, estimated delivery March 9th. Meanwhile...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...mantel-extract

Whooppee!!!!

Today my granddaughter gave birth to a beautiful (8lbs) baby boy... after many months of grave concern for the health of both of them, an emergency appendectomy at 7 months into the pregnancy just adding to various other serious problems that have prevailed...

But all's well that ends well... and the family is mightily relieved that the worrying is finally over.

(I must just add that I am not really old enough to be a great-grandmother! :D)

Jayne

Congratulations to one and all, Jayne! It's good that things turned out well.

Clive

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Hi Jayne — You and I could talk over coffee for hours about the emotional rollercoaster ride that is a troubled pregnancy. And we could continue into the evening toasting the outcome with champagne : ) My daughter just gave birth after a similar difficult pregnancy and — all is well. Exhilaration never felt so good.

But you? A GGM? That calls for a feast! Go feast with love on the little one... Sleep well... The best is yet to come : )
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