I just returned from the North, where I managed to sing (mostly) without coughing uncontrollably. The antibiotics are kicking in, and both the abscess and my inflamed sinuses are beginning to shrink. So except for the irritation of having nothing for breakfast except for the doughnut I ate in the car (ugh, I hate doughnuts), I'm feeling reasonably chipper.

I also just received an invitation to read on Monday night, along with the poet Gary Lawless, who recently won a lifetime achievement award from the Maine Humanities Council, and the poet Ekhlas Ahmed, a teacher at a local high school who has appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about her life as a Sudanese refugee and an English language learner. So that's very exciting . . . not least because this will be my inaugural appearance as a Portland resident. If you're available, I hope you can come see us.