I'm pressed for time today, with an editing project that must, must, must be finished before I leap from my desk to take a kid to the dentist. Meanwhile, a stack of to-be-edited poetry manuscripts looms, and still in store are the as-yet untasted horrors of Christmas shopping. Argh.

On the good side: Christmas is at my house this year, which means no traveling, no dog kenneling, and free-range menu planning. I do love to cook a holiday meal.

Also on the good side: I had almost completely forgotten the fact that three of my poems are going to appear in a new edition of The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, due for release in March 2011. Here's a link to the current version. I have no idea how many of these first-edition poets will also be represented in the second edition; but when I received my page proofs yesterday I discovered that my work will appear just before poems by Liam Rector, Alberto Rios, Pattiann Rogers, and Kay Ryan. What thrilling alphabetical company! I am amazed.

But time presses; I cannot linger over this marvel; day is breaking, and I must away to my labors--by which I mean herding chickens and firewood and such.

Dinner tonight: ham and potato gratin, unless I change my mind and make beef stew. Perhaps you can tell I have some meat to use up in my refrigerator.