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My state stays the same in outer space
My poems "The Other Lives" and "The Keystone Out of Your Arch" have been accepted by Climbing Lightly Through Forests, the forthcoming poetry anthology in tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin edited by R.B. Lemberg and Lisa M. Bradley (Aqueduct Press).
The first of these poems is a reprint; it was written for R.B. in 2016 after a conversation about The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and published later that year in The Cascadia Subduction Zone 6.4. The second is new; it was written the year Le Guin died; it takes its title from a line in "Brothers and Sisters," my favorite story of the Orsinian Tales (1976) and possibly my favorite story of Le Guin's full stop. "Knocked the keystone out of your arch, didn't it?" one character says to another on the second page, describing the suddenness of an event that permanently alters the landscape of their lives; he has absolutely no idea how much. "Wham! One rock falls, they all go." I will say more when it's published and can be read against my comments on it, but the poem is personal to the point that it's easier to discuss the fictional character in it than to discuss myself, so it seemed especially important to have it out in the world: that was the weight Le Guin's work had for me.
I am honored to have work of mine published in her memory. Expect further shouting as more information about the anthology is announced. It's a project I am so glad people are making exist.
The first of these poems is a reprint; it was written for R.B. in 2016 after a conversation about The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and published later that year in The Cascadia Subduction Zone 6.4. The second is new; it was written the year Le Guin died; it takes its title from a line in "Brothers and Sisters," my favorite story of the Orsinian Tales (1976) and possibly my favorite story of Le Guin's full stop. "Knocked the keystone out of your arch, didn't it?" one character says to another on the second page, describing the suddenness of an event that permanently alters the landscape of their lives; he has absolutely no idea how much. "Wham! One rock falls, they all go." I will say more when it's published and can be read against my comments on it, but the poem is personal to the point that it's easier to discuss the fictional character in it than to discuss myself, so it seemed especially important to have it out in the world: that was the weight Le Guin's work had for me.
I am honored to have work of mine published in her memory. Expect further shouting as more information about the anthology is announced. It's a project I am so glad people are making exist.
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Thank you. I would be happy about the anthology no matter what, but I am glad to have the opportunity to be part of it; it feels oddly useful.
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Thank you!
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On LeGuin's death I think I should just say that I was out of cell service when the news came over the truck radio and I texted my mother and daughter in mourning and when I got back to cell service found they had independently and separately contacted me already. And that is the kind of person she was, especially for Northwestern women who read genre fiction, she was the most important living person in our literature. And so gracious. Also so unapologetic.
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P.
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Thank you!
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Thank you! Congratulations! I look forward!
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Thank you!
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Thank you!
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Thank you!
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I will absolutely make a racket when it becomes available.
And that is the kind of person she was, especially for Northwestern women who read genre fiction, she was the most important living person in our literature. And so gracious. Also so unapologetic.
I can remember when I read her for the first time, but after that she was never out of my head, and I do not expect her to be; I do not expect her ever to be out of the world I live in. I know it was for mourning, but I love the idea of three generations of women making sure they all knew. It feels like the sort of custom that would happen in her worlds.
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Thank you!