amo

Ecce Ancilla Domini (The Annunciation)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
28-1/2 x 16-3/8 inches

In “creative” news, just before Christmas I spent quite a bit of time assembling a poetry chapbook manuscript for a contest, and I am now working on a painting.

I’ve decided to try very hard not to post my creations here immediately. That will be hard for me, as I get very excited about what I am doing and want to share it. However, from a marketing standpoint, I am shooting myself in the foot. Publishers of poetry do not want to publish poetry that has already appeared online (generally), and there are at least a couple of places that might “publish” my paintings if I can refrain from posting them here immediately.

So one of my New Year’s resolutions will be to be a little more circumspect in 2009. We’ll just have to see how it goes. Unless you’ve seen it, you have NO IDEA how excited I get about my various projects.

Anyway, here’s something that’s not mine. I wish I had seen it before Christmas Day, but there are still several of the twelve days left, so I’m going to put it here, anyway. I just found out about Theater of the Word today, so I haven’t yet seen everything they have to offer, but this holiday-related poem is extremely entertaining!

Video: The Best Cigarette by Billy Collins, 1:42

I’ve been smoke free for 2 years. I lost my quit counter when my computer died, but, doubling last year’s numbers, 26,280 cigarettes were not smoked by me in the last 2 years. Sometimes I want one, but the other 26,279 keep me from having it. I couldn’t have done it without God and Jefferson. Thank you both.

The Nativity
Federico Fiori Barocci (1526-1612)

‘Twas the night before Christmas,
And all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
They were asleep on the couch!

Rosemary and Percy
(Jefferson Otwell, 2007)