This morning, I got up early, took my dog, and visited the sea. Wait, no: that what's Emily Dickinson did. What I did was get up early, let out the dog, try to catch the mouse that's roaming around my kitchen, and read my email. If there were mermaids in the basement, I didn't notice them. But my email was exciting: Jeannie Beaumont, who directs the Advanced Poetry Seminar at the Frost Place, invited me to be next summer's guest lecturer. On Milton. Hah! So apparently I will be going another round with the old man as I attempt to compose an hour-long speech about him.

It's exciting for me to be offered this gig. I attended the seminar as a student twice, probably about a decade ago. So to be offered a faculty-level gig is a great, great pleasure.

P.S. If you're wondering about this dog-and-mermaid maundering, see Dickinson's Poem 520.