Wednesday, March 15, 2006

I have had a couple of very affirming days of writing news.

Today, I found out that my poem, "Pear", received one of three Honorable Mentions in the Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred contest judged by Sena Jeter Naslund. This is meaningful to me in so many ways--I've deeply admired Merton and Naslund from afar for years, plus my husband's great uncle and namesake, Monkle Matt, was friends with Merton when they were both living at Gethsemane. Monkle Matt died before I met my Matt, but we have a wonderful collection of his letters, and he is someone I know I would have loved, for his commitment to peace after witnessing the atrocities of Hiroshima, as well as for his deep love of literature (and his wonderful spirit). I want to dedicate this honor to him.

UPDATE: You can read the poem (and beautiful fellow honorable mention poems) here.

I also found out yesterday that my story A Long Time was selected as a Notable Story of 2005. And I received a wonderful report from my editor about the "launch" meeting for Self Storage yesterday--very exciting!

Now I just have to do some real writing today to justify all this lovely writerly news...

5 comments:

Susan said...

Wow, Gayle! That's all wonderful news. And so deserved. Huge Congratulations and hugs to you.

Anne Haines said...

Hi there! I also received a happy phone call from the Thomas Merton Foundation today, so of course went to their website and read the winner and the other honorable mentions. (They've just posted them within the last hour or two.)

I am very glad to stumble across your blog, because I very much wanted to find some way of contacting you to tell you how absolutely gorgeous your poem "Pear" is. I think I have read it ten times now, sitting here at my desk at work, and it continues to make my toes curl. How wonderful, too, to read of your connection with Merton himself!

All best to you, and may you have much more lovely writerly news. :)

-Anne Haines

gayle said...

Thank you so much, Susan and Anne. Anne your poem is absolutely gorgeous. It's an honor to appear on the same page as you!

xo
gayle

Anonymous said...

Gayle, what a wonderful poem! Congratulations!

gayle said...

Thanks, Dominique! :)

xo
gayle