I turned in my papers and spent all of Wednesday and Thursday relaxing by reading poetry. Lisa Gill sent her newest book Mortar & Pestle. I loved her first book Red as a Lotus, it was just so damn wonderful - poems written to Thomas Merton. Mortar & Pestle does not disappoint - it is a clear extension of the voice and sensibility in Red as a Lotus, an amazing series of materia medica poems on healing plants and herbs that reflect the poet's relationship to them in the light of her experience with MS. Rick B sent his manuscript Passing Love which is a masterpiece waiting to be published. I read poems from my writing group with my Naropa friends, Chinworth and Marcus M, as well as from a Seattle poet and activist Eden Trenor. And then I read the work of a friend at the UW Law School, and rereading her manuscript for the 3rd time, I discovered new openings. How would I make it through my current situation without poetry? It was perhaps misconceived to think that I could leave poetry behind, by turning to anthropology. If anything, I think I am turning more deeply to poetry, while turning away from Poets and Poetry Inc.