Happy November!!! … so much has happened since early October. It’s hard to know where to start .
I suppose I should start with publications My poetry group, @Addison, Flores, Goyan, Khalil, King & Wong: Lawyers for the criminally poetic, has five poems in Encyclopedia Prismatica
We will prosecute your Word crimes.
We are ambulance chasers of the soul.
No upfront fees
Contingency until we get ahold of your trust –
And your trust account.
But the law is the word, or verse a visa with @ Addison, Flores, Goyan, Khalil, King & Wong.
I’m super delighted to have, “The Possession of Magpies,” one of my favorite tales, appearing in A Breath of Time, published by FlameTree. They create beautiful books. In some anthologies they pick the best stories of all times and so one is likely to find one self published next to Charles Dickens or HG Wells!
I also had an art show, a one night stand, but I’m hoping to establish a deeper relationship with them at the wonderful Shimmer Gallery curated by Abi Fantastic. And she is.
I’m so happy that. Gods & Monsters is out in audio form and up for an Audi award.
You can find it, and all my audio books here:
The narrator Missy does an amazing job. I have a limited number of codes for free copies of this and a few collections. Please DM me if you would like a code for the US or the UK, or if you want to support me, just buy one!
Happy to have sold this wonderful Painting to a wonderful friend. I hope it’s an entry into many hidden bars.
At the end of last month, I was fortunate enough to go to Portugal. First, Sintra with its glorious castles and gardens. Here Byron was inspired to write Childe Harold (which nobody but a masochist or a doctoral candidate – possibly one and the same – would read.)
And then to the coast, we stayed in Lagos, the Portuguese coast is so beautiful Arches and stairways weave over the golden cliffs above the water. I swam in the sea, which was delightful. Last time I was there it was too late in year.
Then I came back to a crazy two weeks of rehearsal.
Hand to God opened the first week of November. The theater wanted to extend the run through November, but unfortunately we can’t.
I also started rehearsal for Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf. I have the best cast and the best assistant director!
Today I wrote an essay and a short story about how horrible it is to boil lobsters alive. They actually feel the pain much more intently than humans do.
And now the part of the newsletter you all anxiously await, Catalonia customs:
The Nose Man
The Nose Man (L’Home dels Nassos) has as many noses as there are days left in the year. On the first of January, he has 365 noses. He loses one per day as the year advances. During most of the year, the nose man hides away and only comes out on the 31st of December which is why you rarely encounter multi nose men in the subway. On December 31, parents tell their children to be on the lookout for a man with as many noses as there are days of year – but on the 12/31 December the nose man only has one. In Barcelona, on December 31st, L’Home dels Nassos and his entourage appear in locations throughout the city.
Here no one celebrates Thanksgiving, the only time most American homes are transformed into an all you can eat buffet. It’s a holiday for gluttons and foods ( concoctions of jello and cottage cheese and fruit) that you wouldn’t let into your kitchen any other day of the year.
Christmas approaches…
I know I have mentioned Tió de Nadal, the Christmas log that shits presents when you beat it. Also popular is the Caganer, a defecating figure who appears in every nativity scene I share with you some pictures of the shops that crop up all over Barcelona for Christmas. (In the first image, you can also see Tió de Nadal.)
All these figures are squatting with their pants down and a big turd rising up from the ground below them like a brown Christmas tree. The name “El Caganer” literally means “the pooper”.
Stay safe, be happy, be kind, and enjoy the rest of November.
BEST TO YOU ALL
Elizabeth Eve (E.E.) King