Mum Halo is now available!

Rust Buckle books has released its first full length collection of poetry, Mum Halo by John Coletti. The book is 102 pages and regularly priced at $15, but you can order it no for $12. Click here for more info.

Four Poems at CounterPunch

Four poems from A Model Year were included in this week's Poets' Basement at CounterPunch. They can be read online here.

"Auggie Wren's Christmas Story"

Paul Auster's "Auggie Wrenn's Christmas Story" is available to read online here.

Two Things

1.) Anthony Robinson has two poems now up at Indigest, one of which was written for me. You can read them here.

2.) My interview with poet JodiAnn Stevenson is now up at 360 Main Street. You can read it here.

Addendum

Added to my list of favorite albums of 2009:

The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

The ie reader Book Release Party

As most people have probably already heard, the launch party for the ie reader had to reschedule due to the snowstorms that hit the east coast this past weekend. The new party is scheduled for Saturday, January 2nd at 8pm at The Lof/t in Baltimore. I am really excited to be included in this anthology, and I wish I could be at the reading.

Music of 2009

Inspired by the memes on Facebook, I've decided to create a list of my favorite albums from this past year. Here it is in alphabetical order:

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
The Dead Weather - Horehound
Drake - So Far Gone
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Jay-Z - Blueprint 3
Mayor Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement
Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk

In Good Company

A Model Year made Barrelhouse's list of "Best Poetry Debuts 2009," as did K. Lorraine Graham's Terminal Humming, Joseph Massey's Areas of Fog, and Justin Marks's A Million in Prizes. You can view the full list here.

Winter Reading

This morning I finished reading Paul Auster's Invisible, which was a quick, enjoyable read. Auster masterfully weaves together a story of infinite regression. The writing and characters immediately pulled me in, and I stayed up late to finish the novel. While I studied Auster in college (a semester long course devoted solely to his work), I find myself now simply taking pleasure in the worlds Auster creates.

Also read this morning: Mary Ann Samyn's Beauty Breaks In. Samyn is another author whose work I have been following for years, ever since briefly studying with her when I was 19. Her latest collection of poetry is wonderful (as in full of wonder, as well as mystery, honesty, and disquiet). I'll have much more to say about it in a forthcoming review for 360 Main Street.

Recently read: Maggie Nelson's Bluets. I cannot fully articulate how this lyric essay affected me, but I try to comment on how great the book is in a review forthcoming in BookSlut. This was definitely one of my favorite books of 2009.

Last Friday - Coming Soon

Starting in January, I will be helping to host a monthly reading series at Court Street Gallery in Saginaw. The events will feature art, music, and poetry, and will take place on the last Friday of each month. Here are the poets who are currently booked:

January:

Robert Fanning

Skip Renker

+1 TBD

February:

Tom Laverty

Hazel McClure

Aaron McCollough

March:

Matthew Falk

Nate Pritts

Matt Hart

April:

Aaron Raymond

Chad Sweeney

Mike Sikkema

May:

Adam Clay

Michael Rerick

Kristi Maxwell

June:

Lily Brown

Joshua Marie Wilkinson

Mary Ann Samyn

July:

Nathan Hauke

Kirsten Jorgeson

+1 TBD

August:

Amy King

Ana Bozicevic

+1 TBD

NewPages Review

Cynthia Reeser reviews A Model Year in the latest December NewPages. Thanks Cynthia! Also in this issue, John Madera reviews one of my favorite books of the year, justin sirois's MLKNG SCKLS. You can read all of the December reviews here.

To AWP or not to AWP?

That is the question.

Featured in Review Magazine

Thanks to Robert Martin for writing a feature article about my book. You can read the article online here: http://review-mag.com/archive/690-699/694/gina_myers.htm

Atlanta

With Melissa Mack at Manuel's Tavern

On Thursday night, Matt and I met Bruce Covey, Kristi Maxwell, and Michael Rerick for a pre-reading dinner at Doc Chey's in Emory Village. After catching up and enjoying an excellent meal, we headed to the university for the reading. It was well-attended and it was great to hear everyone read. It was the first time I heard Michael read, and Kristi read a new piece about pirates that was great to hear for its creative wordplay and Kristi's courage to break into song, "Shake / shake / shake your booty." Post-reading I got to briefly meet and trade books with Megan Volpert, and I caught up with Melissa Mack, one of my friends from Saginaw who I had not seen in about ten years.

I was particularly delighted to see Melissa, and it completes a recent reunion of sorts that I have been having with people who I used to work with on my community college's newspaper, the Collegiate. It has been especially nice about reuniting with everyone because everyone is doing very well. When I first moved back to Saginaw, I ran into Avram Golden, who was our photographer, who now owns his own gallery in Bay City, MI. I recently reconnected with cartoonist and illustrator Jay Fosgitt to write an article about his first graphic novel, which was just published. When I was at one of his book signings in Saginaw, I ran into Becky (whose last name I will misspell if I try, and who now goes by her married named, Nuechterlein, anyway). She was a writer and featured editor who now owns her photography company, specializing in wedding photography. At this same time, I was exchanging e-mails with Tonia Quoss, a graphic designer living in Washington DC, who was a former writer and editor of the paper. Then to follow all this up with hanging out with Melissa, a television producer, in Atlanta was great. Delta College is currently running a "success" campaign, showing how former Delta students have gone on to be successful. I think our little group of Collegiate staff members could qualify for this campaign. (And someone else from that staff whom I have not reconnected with who could also qualify would be our editor-in-chief, Justin Engel, whose writing I read daily in the Saginaw News.)

Anyhow, after the reading we went to Manual's Tavern, an Atlanta staple I'm told. It was a great spot, and it was fun to hang out with everyone.

The next day Matt and I headed to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, which was really moving to visit. I admit I teared up a few times. MLK Jr. is a real hero to me. His words and his life, as well as Coretta's, are incredibly inspiring. After going through the exhibit in the visiting center, we walked by Ebenezer Church , the burial reflection pool, and eternal flame, checked out the exhibit in the King Center, and then walked down Auburn Avenue to check out the fire station no. 6, the historic homes, and MLK's childhood home. If you're ever in Atlanta, this is worth checking out, especially since it is free.

Afterwards, we went to Little Five Points and checked out some stores, including Junkman's Daughter, and ate at the Vortex. This is a really cool little neighborhood.

Thanks to Bruce for inviting me down to read. This was my first ever trip to Atlanta, and I had a great time. The weather was colder than usual, but it was still nicer there than it is in Michigan. I came home to snow, though very little snow. Still waiting for that first real snow storm of the year.