two minutes before wednesday, october 29, 2003    |    11:58 p.m.

i am surrounded by poetry, and i'm feeling strong again. not invincible, but strong.

i have two months to create a portfolio. i have decided to apply to the MFA program in creative writing at a local university. please please please let this not derail.

my mom was recently in barcelona, place of parental birth, familial repository, and my onetime home. she brought back, among other goodies, a new (old) book by hierro and two contemporary anthologies. from the public library i got the complete keats, two books on keats (one by helen vendler -- i wonder if she's made private attempts at writing poems of her own), one by (i love) anne carson. also a book on the history of the english language, and i am five or six pages away from finishing jude the obscure, which appearently ended mister hardy's novel-writing career. which isn't so bad, because his subsequent poetry was great.

our studio now has red wine-colored curtains and shag rug. also, our neighbor from new jersey brought us brownies in a bowl the other day. we're getting much cozier.

it is way too late for me. i can't even keep my eyelids open. just really felt like updating. go figure.

oh, and yes, i actually watched the entire world series game from an outdoor bar in south beach, standing up, drinking red stripe. and the parade went by just a couple of blocks away from my office yesterday. it has been a citywide euphoric few days.