Born February 6th at 8:03 p.m. — 6 lbs 10 oz of cuteness! Mario and I are adjusting to our new daily routine which consists of feeding, burping, diapering, sleeping when we can, and occasionally staring at each other in bewilderment: we have a baby!

We spent a quiet Christmas with Mario’s family and my parents, hanging out here in Austin. Our plan for next week is to pack the suitcase just in case the little one decides to opt for an early release.

Hope all who read this are having a wonderful holiday!!!!

Oh, and if you’re interested in our baby registry:

http://www.mygiftlist.com/registryfinder.asp?refsource=EARTHMAN846

A house like a nest you don’t wish to leave,
then like a prison of glass. You’ve been told in the past
there was no such indulgence. A house was a house.

A birth was a birth:  sometimes easy, sometimes not.
The taste of iron deep in your teeth, you wake up reluctant.
Through test upon test – heartbeat, blood, bones, sex –

you hold like a levee, you hold like the tracks
of an unswerving train, a stone around a softening center,
where something flutters to speak .

RE-NAMING ZEPPELIN

The bell of the bell bottoms, full-on
stride and swagger, hair loose in a flop
of plant-like curls, lip-synching
Leslie almost looked our front man.

But with one week to go we
were still a blank space
on the talent- night program.
Each name had fallen
unlike Leslie’s chest
which blossomed beneath
a white T-shirt and shook when she swung
the mike, mid-air bra-free nipples
eyed us as if to insist The Titties? The Jugs?

Sarah stoned as Bonham,
Kellie as Page, already perfecting
that lead guitar look –
cigarette stained and frayed,
cat-scratch to the eye and famous
for decking Stephanie B,
who thought herself safe in a GHS sweater,
who nudged past our lockers muttering dyke,
and when Kellie swung, it was more like
Townsend beating his Fender
and Stephanie — the six-string, up in smoke.

For me, with stage fright, to be Jones
was enough. Head down, I pretended
to pluck at my base, worried we’d make ourselves
fools in the face of those posturing boys
who followed The Dead and managed,
on acid, to keep set-lists straight. Saratoga 85,
Hampton Beach 88. Dark Star, Sugar Mag –

The week passed too soon. Back stage, for us girls,
two shadows awaited,
two dirigibles merged.
Were the walls spray-painted?
Did our shirts sprout decals?
Embossed, ironed-on, we became

Breasted Zeppelin. The MC shouted,
and Leslie, ear-tucking a joint, took the lead,
Kellie said Oh Fuck, and I caught the drumstick
Sarah dropped. On stage: I’m gonna give you
every inch of my love, waydowninside
waydowninside. A few hoots and claps
a few lewd remarks,

and somewhere
in my room piled high with records
Linda Ronstadt’s hair
swam as if underwater. Her Heart
Like A Wheel, album of the month,
June, 77, was still labeled for my brother
who forgot to send it back. To keep him happy
I’d paid five bucks, full price. Back then
I didn’t know just how good it was.

Not to be outshone, I’ve been working hard too. I’ve almost completed my first year at Badgerdog managing education programs that place writers in the schools. I’ve helped train teachers and organize readings, I’ve managed publications and developed budgets, I’ve served lemonade to student authors and even signed a few autographs. Now we’re gearing up to start our summer writing camps.

On a personal note, I’ve officially begun the summer of turning 40. Vive and I christened it with a trip to the Crossings: yoga, swimming, hiking, and a reiki class. I like to think of this year as my year to stop wandering in the wilderness stubbornly wrestling with god and to arrive at the promised land of self-acceptance ☺

Hope all who read this are well!

Our summer starts with a trip to Dallas for James and Sarah’s wedding, and with a “thumbs up” stop at the Dr. Pepper museum!

all at once the birch shimmer real as the sky
our thoughts have brought us lonely so far
the photo filled with primeval green

hides the way we itched and the billowing
mirrored in the water below
displaces the sails above us

speak I will tell myself when I return
after all this time say something