Marie Gauthier

This Thursday, Dec. 4, at 7:30 pm, the December 2008 edition of the Collected Poets Series features 3 poets: Dzvinia Orlowsky, prizewinning poet, translator, and author of four poetry collections including her most recent, Convertible Night, Flurry of Stones; Jeff Friedman, poet, translator and author of four books of poems, most recently, Black Threads; and award winning poet, Alice B. Fogel, whose most recent book of poetry is Be That Empty. For more information about the Collected Poets Series and our featured poets, please visit the website.

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This is my first week of unemployment. Yesterday Vincent & I spent 4 hours in the Career Center in Greenfield waiting to file my initial unemployment claim — if I’d called it in I’d have had to wait until Friday, but I needed to do it asap in order to then get to work on our health insurance application.

According to those who are familiar with such things, one usually only need wait about an hour at the walk-in center. But the folks in the office yesterday reported that long waits have become customary in the last several weeks. Yep, the recession news is hardly news to most of us.

Anyway, it was a trial, but Vincent behaved quite well, especially when I factor in his current ill health: he is “berry berry sick” with a cold. He was a big hit with the overworked staff, who commented that most adults aren’t nearly as patient as he was.

The last 15 minutes, though, nearly did me in. If a child sees a hill to the side of a parking lot, and his mother is 37 weeks pregnant, how long will it take for him to decide to make a break for it?