Dear Reader, Hello! May your summer days be just the sort of days of your dreams.

I am luxuriating daily in long river walks, deep writing sits, and comfy-chair reading spells—three necessities to sustain my writing practice. Sharing candid conversations, getting good rest, and eating nutritious food contribute, too!

As the months of 2023 roll on, reviews and poems get written and revised, then go out, offering themselves to editors. Some get returned, and when a writer is lucky, some get accepted for publication. Then, there’s the lovely anticipation of soon seeing the writing in print.

June marked the publication of “Asterisk to What Branches in the Perfect Including” in The Ocean State Review. This poem was written in March and April 2020, the early days and weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, it has been tinkered with, tweaked, torqued and such since then, and up until the day in September 2022 I sent it to The Ocean State Review for consideration. Perhaps one of the things the poem is attempting is a real-time record to understand the great strangeness of everyone at home and nothing public open.

“These odd, slow, own hours”

-from “Asterisk in the Perfect Including,” by Jami Macarty

“Asterisk in the Perfect Including” is a long poem, spanning five pages. Long poems can be tricky to place in literary magazines. So, I am extra thrilled Charles Kell, Editor gave the poem space in The Ocean State Review Volume 12, No. 1. Plus, scroll the back cover (above) for the writers whose company I am lucky to be keeping—Devon Balwit, Rick Barot, Lindsay Turner, Sean Thomas Dougherty, Joseph Lease, Jesse Lee Kercheval, et al!

To whet your reading appetite, above is the poem’s first page. To read the rest of my poem and the writing of the other marvelous writers, order your very own copy of The Ocean State Review. In doing so, you would be supporting me, the other writers—one or two who may change your life—as well as the life of a vibrant literary magazine—all that for $12! Seriously, we would be ever grateful for your readership and support. If you purchase a copy, let me know and I will send you a treat.

What’s next for this poem? Stay tuned here! The Ocean State Review plans to feature the poem along with an interview with me on their website sometime in the future. So, hurrah this poem! I am grateful to Charles Kell, Editor for his attention to my writing.

Other what’s nexts for the poem. At the moment, I am of the mind that it, along with two other long poems, will reside in a fourth chapbook I have planned. But, who knows? The poem may have other ideas about where it will live. You know how poems can be!

When I know more, I will be sure to share the information here. In the meantime, I will be writing new poems and reviews to share with you. And, later in the month I will be attending Napa Valley Writers’ Conference to bask in the company of writers, take classes with Ilya Kaminsky, and admire the straight rows of grapes.

Until soon, take best care. Read! Write! Persist!

: :

The Pluses!

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention!

+ Thank you bows to my community of women/women-identified writers for their generous, loving support, inspiration, and encouragement.

+ Thank you bows to Charles Kell, Editor et al at The Ocean State Review for their support of and confidence in my poem.

+ I bow to the existence of The Ocean State Review, where I find community.

+ I bow to the editors who support my reviews and the publications where they were published: Denise Hill at NewPages; Manahil Bandukwala at Canthius; James M. Fisher at The Miramachi Reader.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to my publisher Stephanie G’Schwind, and Mountain West Poetry Series editors Donald Revell and Kazim Ali, et al interns at the Center for Literary Publishing (CLP) for making The Minuses (2020) with me.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Beth Svinarich et al at University Press of Colorado for their beautiful support to me and The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to monsoon storm chaser and marvelous professional photographer, Liz Kemp whose monsoon photograph storms the cover of The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows to Nomados Literary Publishers, Meredith and Peter Quartermain for making my chapbook Instinctive Acts with me.

+ Thank you bows to Vallum Chapbook Series and editors Leigh Kotsilidis and Eleni Zisimatos for making my chapbook Mind of Spring with me.

+ Thank you bows to Finishing Line Press and editors Leah Maines and Christen Kinkaid for making my chapbook Landscape of The Wait with me.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Vincent K. Wong for his friendship, creative collaboration, and for taking my author photos.

+ This bears repeating: Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention! If you have any questions or comments, write me! I would love to hear from you!