At Queens I was pleasantly surprised to find poet Ron Hayes in my fiction writing pod but it did not take long to discover he was/is very skilled in that art form as well. (His short story "Bed and Breakfast" was selected by Tim O'Brien to receive Penn State Erie's Julia Rebman Award for Fiction). Ron says he is driven toward narrative, which works well in prose forms, but is something of a curse in poetry.

Recently I mentioned to my friend Ila Mae Willingham that I was going to the Houston Rodeo and she said she "liked the bull riding best." Somehow to me that was not seemly for an 80-year-old granny - her enthusiasm – given the roughness of the event. It is only a little shy of a blood sport, the 2000 pound bull tossing around the 180 pound cowboy like he was a sack of flour.

As any woman can tell you, it is counter-productive to go shopping with some specific item in mind – a mauve camisole to slip beneath a gray suit or a gauzy elbow-sleeve sweater that matches summery dresses; perhaps a pair of red Louis Vuitton pumps for an important Friday date. Only disappointment can ensue. I wish I had learned that lesson well, applied it to other parts of my life, adjusted my expectations for Aleksandar Hemon's newest book.