Harmony has rain this morning, our first rain for a while. I guess this means I won't be mowing grass at 7 a.m., which during our heat wave has been the only way I've been able to manage to keep up with my chores. And it is pleasant to sit quietly and drink coffee instead of rushing around to beat the blaring sun. Of course, because Harmony only ever has three or four days of blaring sun, I also feel vaguely elegiac. There goes summer.

September is shaping up to be an extraordinarily busy month. On the 6th, my band Doughty Hill is performing at the Harmony Fair (and I am also running the exhibit hall this year: want to judge anything?). On the 11th, I'm reading with Baron Wormser at the Harlow Gallery in Hallowell. On the 12th and 13th, I have band gigs in Dover-Foxcroft and Monson. On the 18th, I'm co-hosting (with Colby College professor and poet Adrian Blevins) the first installment of Two Cent Talks, a new reading series in Waterville, which will feature novelist Carolyn Chute. On the 26th, I'm reading at the Local Buzz in Cape Elizabeth. On the 27th, I'm reading at the Frank O'Hara Poetry Awards ceremony in Worcester, Massachusetts. On October 1, I'm reading with Teresa Carson at the Collected Poets series in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. Then I can go home, climb into bed, and turn 51.

However, as long as you don't invite me to do anything in September, I am looking forward to visiting your school, reading in your gallery, hanging out in your library, or playing music in your bar, so be in touch with ideas. All of a sudden I am hearing buzz about The Conversation--by which I mean: people I don't know are posting nice things about it on websites and Facebook pages. This surprises me as I expected almost no sales or interest beyond my Frost Place friends. It seems, however, that other people are finding the book readable and useful, which makes me very happy.