Archived DMs

Congrats, ye mighty ‘marching band! It’s the final week and this week’s page count target is pretty straightforward — we’re racing toward the back cover. When you’ve finished and posted your closing comment, be sure to drop me a note at “poetry at cecilvortex dot com” with your shipping address to stake your claim on … Read more

…in which I forgo all attempts at pith to focus instead on (1) timely posting! and (2) correct categorizing! I’m still reading, enjoying, trailing behind. Hope to meet you at the finish line, perhaps while you’re all packing up your cars and/or napping under trees….. Next Wednesday: Let’s catch up for at the end of … Read more

Welcome to Week 12 and my first best opportunity to make good on last week’s pledge to be late- nae-more. Let me also declare general amnesty to anyone who didn’t have a chance to comment last week. There was hardly enough time to get the keyboard, and yet somehow, astonishingly, 17 of you did. I … Read more

I had a great day today reading 60 pages, and I’m still 30 pages behind the last target! But I pledge this to ye, my deathmarching pals: You’ve all been wildly patient with me, even a certain Old Man. From here on out, particularly as we close in on the conclusion, I’ll put the good … Read more

4/30 Update: I’m extra special behind this week but will post tomorrow. For those saying, “what the what?”, between you and me, the next target is: Book XI, Chapter 6….. And just like that, it’s Week 10! I’m still reading, having a great time with the book, but I can’t say I’ve caught up. In … Read more

Welcome to Week 9, in which I’m late again, the gap-doth-inflate again, I’m a need-to-be-reading-more ‘march mate, again. Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered, I’ve fallen behind! I’m in a great part of the book tho — still marveling at the fact that she’s an onion. Lovely story, that. Just think of me as the voice from … Read more

Welcome to Week 8, my very own week-of-DM-shame, as the days have slipped past and now I’m suddenly a week behind. I blame the Cannonball Run references from a few weeks back, which inspired me to go on a 750-mile trek throwing my DM schedule into mad array! But don’t wait for me. March on! … Read more

Welcome to Week 7! From a sort of outrageous 70 or 80 marchers, we’re now down closer to a still impressive as hell ~30. Another fun and thoughtful batch of comments this past week. I was particularly gratefully to Cookie for catching this (as So-Called-Bill pointed out) impossibly timely line: “We are assured that the … Read more

Welcome to Week 6, and let me just say: yikes. I’m talking to you, pages 246-264 in the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation. There are brains made to absorb an endless prose description of a religious poem about faith and free will (and aftermath chit-chat) like the one we experienced this past week. Some of those … Read more

Happy Week 5! I’m about 8 pages behind, but trucking along. Did I fall asleep today in a public place with the book on my lap? And did they almost take an embarrassing picture of me, but then I woke up just in time? Counsel has advised me to neither confirm nor deny. This one … Read more