Dear X— (and J— and R—, whom I’m cc’ing),

Your quick comment on my poetry has kind of sparked me. Yes, I suppose it IS what I have chosen. And yet, I am very fearful of never writing anything really worthwhile.

I have this impression of the great writers as intellectual giants which cannot be met. And I have an impression of the current practitioners being an in-crowd full of allusions and inner-knowledge. And me, a college drop-out, who burns all candles at every end, burning quickly, smoky, short-lived. I picked up a writer’s magazine today. Nothing too high-brow, I think, and yet it is full of assumption and jargon. Names bandied, laced, and strewn.( Read more... )

It looks like two of Anastasia’s top teeth are beginning to come in. Her front bottom teeth came in without much fuss. A little bit of Orajel and some cold teething rings did the trick. These top ones seem to be hurting her more.

As I try to help by holding her, applying the Orajel, or giving her something cold to numb the pain she writhes in pain and anger, screaming, crying, with tears running down her face. I just try to hold her still, to quiet her. God must see us something like this—fighting against the very things that will bring comfort to the pain which is either a result of our own actions or a result of our very nature.

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