Recently, a gardening-savvy friend got me excited about what will crop up in our yard as the weather warms - lilacs, cherries, and plums, oh my! I just have to get through these last cold, muddy weeks. Luckily, I've got three readings on the horizon that will sneak me right into spring, all at the loverly Richard Hugo House:

• Tuesday, February 5, 8 pm - The Castalia Reading Series - This is the monthly reading series for the UW MFA program, and I get to read as an alum for the first time. I'm reading alongside fellow alum & poet Rachel Welty and students Derek Robbins, Jay Yencich, and Kristine Greive.
• Friday, February 15, 7:30 pm - Made at Hugo House Midyear Reading - As a part of the Made at Hugo House Fellowship, the fellows (Bill Carty, Irene Keliher, Eric McMillan, Katharine Ogle, Elissa Washuta, and me) will be sharing new work produced in the first half of the program.
• Thursday, March 21, 7:00 pm - Cheap Beer & Prose - I'm reading alongside Nicole Hardy, Corinne Manning, and Kristen Young as a part of the series' annual ladies' night. Wee!

Addendum: At the Pine Box, Monday, February 11, 7:30 pm - Pacifica Launch Party - The literary magazine I help edit is launching its first issue! Lisa Nicholas-Ristcher, Maggie MK Hess, Sarah Kathyrn Moore, Leena Joshi, Joannie Stangeland, and Jake Uitti will be reading, and the book, designed by Ryan Diaz, is beeeeautiful.

Greetings from Kyoto! Just a short note to share my review of Vitomil Zupan's Minuet For Guitar, up on the Ploughshares blog. This time, I tried to do something a little different, composing the review in lists, and had a lot of fun changing things up this  -- I just might do it again!More on my trip to Japan in mid-April, when I return. In the meantime, here's a picture of the rabbit that delivers cherry trees to the moon.