Usually, I’m a poet. Every now and then, I write essays and creative non-fiction. It’s a genre I love and plan to explore more. This Wednesday, I had an essay (“Hot Mess“) that I wrote for my fall Seminar in Literature published in Baltimore Fishbowl, a fantastic online magazine. You should check it out: the essay and the website. It’s about being messy and how that can be both debilitating and comforting. It’s a psychological thriller, packed with visceral details about my filth.

Thesis officially starts in five days. I’m up to 32 poems currently. but, After meeting with my writing group (The Healthies), I’m working on a significant rewrite of one of them. In fact, it’s “Moon Slip,” which is posted down below. I like a lot of the imagery, language, word combinations … but it’s just … a little too incomprehensible/ abstract and I need to narrow what is actually happening in there, the sentiment at the heart of it. We’ll see.

In news of other hot messes, it’s going to snow between 20-30″ of snow from now until tomorrow. It’s cold outside. I have turkey chili (+turkey bacon) simmering in the crock pot, a lot of alcohol (beer, whiskey, two types of champagne), a box of lemon ginger tea, and I just started watching Mad Men. My three cats and I–a solid nuclear family–are in for a fabulous weekend. We’re going to simmer together in my mess.

Stay warm!