Category Archives: Personal Prattle

I Like Killing Flies

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The way I choose to function is to pick an arbitrary, stupid goal, become totally involved in it, and pursue it with vigor. And what happens to you in that pursuit is your life.
–Kenny Shopsin, from the documentary I Like Killing Flies

We watched this last week, and it’s one of the best documentaries I’ve seen in a while.  Kenny is the kind of character you couldn’t invent in fiction.  Of his many memorable quotes, this one resonates the most.  Whenever I stop to think about it, I can’t help but admit that poetry is my stupid, arbitrary goal, and I have no idea when or why I picked it.  Everyone needs a carrot and a stick.

Tying the Knot

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I went about a month without writing a blog post, but there was a good reason.  Megan and I got married on October 18th, at a beautiful little ceremony in Malibu.  Megan O’Reilly, Rattle‘s assistant editor, is now Megan O’Reilly Green, which makes me smile just to see.

I still feel uncomfortable talking about my personal life in this space, and I haven’t decided whether or not I should make an effort to get over it, or keep this blog more professional.  But I’ll dip in a toe to test the water, by posting a few pictures from the wedding. Let me know if you want to see more of this kind of thing — do you care about the life of a poetry editor, or should I just stick to the poetry?  I can’t help but wonder why you’d care about us.  But I suppose that’s the nature of the new century.

Anyway, we’re married now, after almost 5 years together, and happy for good.  Here are some photographs (by the amazing, John Li):

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