CHRIS ARVIDSON

words and art
 

Presales for my chapbook of poetry - my first poetry book publication - are going pretty well, but I sure would like to get over that hump that nets me 20% on royalties. Yes I would. After a damn decent flurry the first couple of weeks, things are just trickling along now. Ah, poetry. It ain't going to make you rich, that's for sure. 

Henry looked it up, and for poetry chapbooks from small presses, my numbers actually put me in the "bestseller" ranks. Which is kind of fun to think about. The chapbook is due out May 20, although the publishers have cautioned me on setting up any events less than a month later, printing and whatnot have been impacted by covid, and there could be delays. But I've got takers anyway, and expect to be doing readings at Park Road Books in Charlotte, Main Street Books in Davidson, and the Old Orchard Creek General Store in Lansing, NC, at a minimum.

Let me know if you have a book club or fav bookstore you'd like to see me at and I'll follow it up. FOR NOW: if you are reading this and you haven't yet preordered my book, please do. You'll be making me rich!

Lots of fun this week in the snow, with very cold temperatures, and seeing friends. Back when I lived up here in the Traverse City Michigan area, I worked at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, with rhe smartest and most dedicated crew ever. 

I met up with Birgit and Glen at the 240-acre site of the new conservancy center, a rennovation of an old golf club in town. After spending 20 years above a grocery store, an office that was too small 15 years ago when I worked there, seeing the conservancy's new home was positively thrilling. In a happy quirk of fate, the Oleson family, above whose store we worked, funded the $1.2 million acquisition of the Mitchell Creek Golf Club. In addition to offices, they'll be a volunteer center/barn, and horticulture/greenhouse facilities. Oh, and they'll be goats. 

Painting with my sister, Lorie, is also on tap this week. You can see a painting I did today, from a picture I took out at the new conservancy home yesterday, at the top left.  It's called Fairway No Mo.

My first poetry publication is almost here. The House Inside My Head will be out May 20, 2022 from Finishing Line Press. 

Now - it's in presale. So buy it. Please! It's easy. Just go here: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-house-inside-my-head-by-chris-arvidson/

I keep telling myself to slow the F down. Especially this time of year. It's all I can do, tell myself this, because no one else will listen. December is a loaded month. The semester is over and the dreaded task of turning in grades looms. I've been dealing with mysterious health things and they complicate the world for me. And the expectations and hype of the holidays seeps in, no matter how hard you try to keep it out of the mix. 

But, but, but.... there's much to look forward to in the coming year, and Omicron be damned. January will bring the pre-sale period for my upcoming poetry chapbook, "The House Inside Your Head" from Finishing Line Press. If you love me even a little, please be ready to pre-order. The publication date is May 20.

Henry and I are so hoping to do some traveling again in 2022 and I've spent a fair amount of time fantasizing over the 2022 Wilderness Travel catalogue. Working around that, at some point I'll get a new knee scheduled, and though that might seem a weird thing to be looking forward to, I am. My hiking companions and I have been putting up with crap knees for long enough. 

I'm part of a new writing group with some Goucher Gopher MFA pals and that is a welcome treat, even if it is on Zoom. We're to be motivating one another to get on with "what's next" in our writing lives. Accountability is everything, my friends, and these are the "good people" to be talking and working with in 2022. 

More writing, more art (I got into my first juried show this month at the Charlotte Art League), more travel. What's not to look forward to?

One of the first things I did when I moved back to Charlotte after being gone 13 years, was walk down the street to you, dear Main. I started attending workshops and the writers' group "Write Like You Mean It" weekly. That's when I really started focusing on writing poetry, something very new for me, and surprising. On this last weekend of a "goodbye" open house, the library played videos of authors reading from their books on a loop. They'll bring the vids back when it reopens, in 2025 or so. Sigh. I love you Main Library and I'll watch your destruction and rebirth with rapt attention. Maybe even write a poem or two about it all. 

More Of Earth and Sky fun and another opportunity to read my work in front of a friendly audience. 

Even though Charlotte Shout got Covid-cancelled, Of Earth and Sky has gone forward. At this link you can read and see videos of poets that are part of the exhibit. You can also access the map which shows where everyone's words are displayed around the Uptown Charlotte vicinity. My words are over at Romare Bearden Park, in the grass, in white letters. 

https://ofearthandskyclt.com

Henry and I went on a very early walk this morning, before it was even light. By the time we got over to the ballpark side of Uptown it was just 7 a.m. There, beside the player/staff entrance sat two charter buses, full of what I guessed were the Charlotte Knights, off on a two-week road trip. At just about exactly 7 , they moved off the curb and down the street  toward the freeway. Though the windows were shaded, I waved, and a couple guys waved in return. I told them I'd be here when they got back.

***

Charlotte Shout is cancelled for this Fall. I should have suspected it might happen when the video/photo shoot coordinator told me they were worried about getting the artist of the Earth and Sky installation over here from the UK. So the brief pain of being videoed was for naught. Oh well. It was nice to have my work chosen for something anyway, right? 

I got a phone call last week. A good one. Where the person says "we've selected your..." in this case a poem I'd written to submit to an event happening here in Charlotte. You can read all about it here:  charlotteshout.com.  The exhibition in which my poem will appear is called OF EARTH AND SKY. The title of my poem is "In Front of Yer Face."  It's a large-scale installation project featuring pieces from local poets. So, really no clue what it will look like, where my poem will appear, or anything. I did have to show up yesterday though and do a video reading the poem, and get my picture taken. So, yeah. That was weird. But I survived. One of the other poets took my picture and it's right here. Do I look like a poet? That's what I was going for anyway...  I'll keep you up when I find out more. Whatever it ends up looking like, you'll be able to view the installation, along with the videos, beginning September 10, 2021, somewhere in Charlotte, through October 3, 2021. And they'll be a website, and I even here a book? :) 

Click here to hear the podcast

Take a summer break and go on a journey with me as I talk to author Kathleen Basi about her novel "A Song for the Road." It's about families, and love, and music, and a journey. Everything really. Click the link above, or paste this: https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/love-loss-and-the-power-of-music-to-heal-in-kathleen-basis-a-song-for-the-road/. Or just go to your favorite podcast carrier and you'll find it there.