the fever almanac @ 20

The other night, we were driving past the South Loop Barnes & Noble and I pointed out how I once spent an entire summer working on my first book in the cafe there near the windows looking out on State St. It occurred to me later, we are now 20 years out from the release of my first full-length collection, THE FEVER ALMANAC. This seems impossible somehow, not only that that very first book was published, but that now there are many more on the shelves beside it, close to 20. This also seems impossible, though I wrote and collected all of them into manuscripts, then sent them all to publishers with a hopeful blush and somehow they wanted to put them out in the world. Or later, that I not only wrote and edited them, but also did layout, design, and everything else. Had you encountered me in 2006, I was over the moon when I opened the very first crate of books. It was October, and I was madly in love with the wrong man. I also had a nasty bout of mono (having never had it as a teen, I'd…