I haven't been writing a lot about poetry here lately. Here's why:

I haven't been reading a lot of poetry lately. Instead, I've been reading a novel -- yes, novel singular; apparently I've forgotten how to speed read prose -- and writing a lot of deadline-type essays, reviews, and columns. It's like contracting, it takes three times longer than planned.

As for reading on the commute or before falling asleep, I have good company on the subway in the morning and the evening, and at night I look at the Mets on the gameday graphpaper.

For the last four or five weeks I've also been inhaling seasons one and two of Veronica Mars. Was Buffy ever this well constructed, episode by episode, let alone the narrative arc of the season? Are there any characters on tv even remotely as worldly and humane, as virtuously flawed as Keith and his daughter?

These aren't rhetorical questions. I have no idea. My tv use in high school was so severe I had to back almost completely away in college. After school what tv sets I had I found on the street. Little black and whites I had no problem putting back on the curb when I felt myself needing them when I came home.

Anyway. I haven't been talking about poetry much here because I've been trying to follow a rule of thumb: Spend twice as much time working on poetry -- reading and writing it -- as talking about it. Also, work's changed, long story, and mainly for the better. And then there's my uncategorizable beloved audience-puzzler, The Million Poems Show.

The show starts again on October 11, 6:30 pm; Bob Holman will be my first guest. Bob has been at the intersection of poetry and the news for going on thirty years -- with the Poetry Project, performance art, slams, the Nuyorican, the PBS documentary "The United States of Poetry," and now the Bowery Poetry Club.

After a year and a half of yeoman's service, JJ Appleton is moving on. The theme song JJ wrote brings tears to my eyes even now. I wish him all the best, and expect to see his name on the British charts by St Swithin's Day.

The excellent Franklin Bruno will be in the house band chair on the 11th. Franklin will also be making the Illinois tour October 12-16, with stops in Chicago, Galesburg, and Normal. Can't wait. More about that soon. (Know folks in Illinois who might enjoy the show? Send me a note: jordan@jordandavis.com.)

Anyway, I should screech to a halt before this starts sounding like a great aunt's Christmas letter. I am hoping to have a great Christmas letter to write this year, though.