“Both love and, also, cleaning the same chicken sh** every day.”

“Both love and, also, cleaning the same chicken sh** every day.”

In reading “The Dirt on the Universe,” by Lisa López Smith, I feel I’ve found a friend: This is probably the closest rendering I’ll see in this life of my own rather confused sense of both physics and theology. If you, too, are buried in domestic chaos and lingering questions regarding quantum entanglement, you’ll probably enjoy this essay.

Poem of the Moment

Poem of the Moment

“I thought I could memorize enough facts to stay composed in debates and not cry after one glass of wine when my brother says we can all just go to Mars.

That’s Natasha Rao in “What It Was Like” from the American Poetry Review. I relate to these lines so, so much–not in the sense that my brother talks like that, fortunately. But in the general sense of preparing for conversations in this way, fruitlessly.

Unsolicited Advice for Those Who Like to Be Precise

Unsolicited Advice for Those Who Like to Be Precise

The numinous, the transcendent, the cosmic—these are like trauma, in that they occur in a constant state of immediacy. Even to say “constant” is to introduce, then capsize, an image of time as a steady line, which, let’s face it, was a leaky vessel from the start. The numinous, the transcendent, the cosmic—they are everywhere. Now. They transcend daily understandings of space and time: They are spacetime. This is going to make choice of verb tense real tricky. So just give up on making sense in any practical terms right now, or just give up on getting any sleep. Once you start placing words in sequence to be read over linear time about mysteries that swamp the idea of time, you are already sunk. In the best possible way.

Quote of the Moment

Quote of the Moment

Poet James Wright, in a letter to poet James Dickey, discussing and quoting poet Stanley Kunitz on August 12, 1958:

“Do you happen to know Stanley Kunitz’s poems? He hasn’t had a wide reputation, but I like him tremendously. I’m going to review his newly published Selected Poems for Sewanee. I really think you would like his poems, and I think I’ll type a couple of them for you on a separate sheet of paper, so that you can see what he’s like. For a long time, virtually unnoticed and yet enduring, he’s been writing poems of real agony and love in a kind of lost and transient underground of the American jungle of academies and businesses. I think that the appearance of his Selected Poems is inspiring. It shows that defeat, though imminent for all of us, is not inevitable. He wrote to me recently, since I know him slightly–and you might like his concluding words: “it would be sweet, I’ll grant, after all these years to pop up from underground. America, it’s true, either spoils you with success of withers you with neglect. What other morality has the artist but to endure? The only ones who survive, I think, beyond the equally destructive temptations of self-praise and self-pity, are those whose ultimate discontent is with themselves. The fiercest hearts are in love with a wild perfection.” Those words mean much to me. Please write. –Yours, Jim

Spring into SAT Prep!

Spring into SAT Prep!

Big classes not for you? Try a personalized approach.

Even for word people, the SAT Verbal and Essay sections present unique challenges that demand specific strategies. And if you’re not a word person? Phew. But take courage! I can help you CRUSH IT. No crowds, no endless boring worksheets–a personalized, energizing program just for you. Make SAT prep as fun as possible, so that you can be as successful as possible. Call me!

More info on this new service coming soon . . .

It’s Getting Real! Students Accepted to Colleges Already

It’s Getting Real! Students Accepted to Colleges Already

While many students are still waiting to hear where they will be accepted, some students I have worked with on college applications do have their good news in hand already. Good news has come from Point Loma Nazarene University, the University of Pittsburgh, and McMaster University, among others. Fingers crossed as more acceptances roll in!

Poetry in Davis Reading Report: I Love This Town

Poetry in Davis Reading Report: I Love This Town

On February 16, I had the honor to give a poetry reading as part of the Poetry in Davis series, held at the lovely Natsoulas Gallery in downtown Davis. While there, I read a new piece containing the lines, ” . . . who gladly / roast dessert upon an oleander spear”–and people laughed. Not just one person: plural people. Because more than one person in the room knew that oleander is so poisonous that it’s dangerous just to roast your marshmallows on it. Maybe you, reader, also know this? But it was a delightful surprise to get a laugh in response to a joke I thought I was only amusing myself with. Further proof that a town with this many master gardeners in it is the town for me. I love it here.

NEW! Service Descriptions Updated for 2017

NEW! Service Descriptions Updated for 2017

Are you a publisher or a writer preparing a book manuscript for publication? Are you a writer curious about my hourly coaching services? Click here: dorinejennette_servicehighlights_adults_2017.

 

Are you a high school student or a parent of a high school student? Are you applying to summer academic programs? To college? Preparing your creative writing for publication? Click here: dorinejennette_services_highschoolstudents_2017.

Now Seeking Procrastinators!

Now Seeking Procrastinators!

Do you know a high school senior who is hiding under the bed, headphones in, pretending that college applications are not due? Drag her out of there, and send her to me! Now that my UC students have completed their applications, I have room for new students applying to colleges with deadlines in December, January, and February. Let’s brainstorm and write those essays!