Per my duties as a Queen of All Things, an honor bestowed by Irene Toh, who blogs at Lost in Translation, I must list seven awesome things about myself and pass the crown on to seven other bloggers.

Here goes:

1. I have a hamster named Trudy.
2. When it was more than 100 degrees inside my house last week — so hot I had to run across the carpet as if it were a bed of hot coals — I put Trudy in the spare room where we have a one-room air-conditioning unit while I remained in the heat of my study working on the Read Write Poem relaunch.
3. This counts as two things, then: The first is that I take super-good care of Trudy, and the second is that I was slick with sweat over RWP. That site is saturated with my perspiration. This, of course, means you will have to wash your hands after visiting Read Write Poem. Twenty seconds of scrubbing with soap and water ought to do the trick.
4. I can turn my tongue upside down. Don’t tell me that’s not a useful skill.
5. I sleep with a stuffed monster named Ibbs. I’ve been known to hold his tiny hand-like appendage in mine.
6. I have a robot. His name is Feldman. He has his own website. He also has his own robot, which is really just a pencil sharpener made to look like a robot, but I don’t have the heart to tell Feldy that.
7. When I find worms drying out on paths or asphalt, I move them to soil. I’ve been known to water them down, too, if needed. So if you ever hear me exclaim, “I’m watering the worms,” you will know what that means.
8. I like poems.

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Now it’s time to list my seven lovely blogging queens. They are all so deserving of this honor. It was hard to narrow the list to seven people, because I am surrounded by so many queens, but I had to do it because that’s what I was told to do, and I always do as I am told.

1. Dustin Brookshire. Founder of  Limp Wrist. Creator of Quarrel, Project Verse and Poetry Swap. Columnist for Read Write Poem. Dustin is fiercely devoted to poetry, and a fierce poet himself. How could he not be the first queen on my list?
2. Deb Scott. She saved Read Write Poem when I couldn’t run it any longer in 2008. She managed the shit out of it for one and one-half years. She swooped in when we were working on the new site and contributed in invaluable ways. She has a really great dog named Sport, and she doesn’t laugh when I carry on conversations with him. She gives me stuff I like, such as feta cheese. She made a hat for Dave Bonta and sent a book to Nathan Moore. She’s a great poet and writer, and does lots of other neat things.
3. Dave Bonta. This crown will look so great on him but might scare the wildlife where he lives. (Dave, only wear the crown in the house, OK?) What can I say about Dave other than he does all things and does all things well. Just visit his site and you will see. He’s one of the smartest, most creative, quirkiest, most generous and most opinionated people I know.
4. Andre Tan, who technically is not a blogger but kind of is now that he’s the @evan of Read Write Poem. He’s all over that site, not just managing the technical aspects but engaging with the community. I used to work with Andre, and he’s the most talented co-worker I’ve ever worked with. He busts a move on web stuff, graphic design stuff, communications stuff, social networking stuff and technical stuff. I don’t even know if that sums up what he does. He does so much I can’t wrap my head around it.
5. Nathan Moore. Nathan is the most compassionate and thoughtful person I know. His poetry will blow you away. And he’s not even snotty about being such a great poet. He is generous enough to write poetry with me, which I think must be part of some creative social services project he’s part of. He’s like the mommy of Read Write Poem, taking care of it and making sure new members feel welcome and comfortable. (He says he’s more like the greeter at Wal-Mart, but I know that can’t be true because his political sensibilities would never allow him to work at Wal-Mart.)
6. Carolee Sherwood, whose poetry is killer and who is one of the most engaging artists I’ve ever known. Read her poems or her blog posts or look at her art and you will be hooked. She has been writing amazing things for Read Write Poem for two years now. There should be a 12-step program for people who become dependent on her. I met Carolee in person recently, and she’s super neat-o. I am little upset that I saw photos of her with Deb’s dog, Sport, but I can try to overlook that.
7. Dave Jarecki. Dave does an amazing job of showcasing Northwest poets on his website, and he does lots of great writing-related work in the community as well, including moderating poetry discussions. Now he’s helping to head up Read Write Poem. He has puppets. And things that are not puppets that he calls puppets. He’s the kind of guy who’s very intimidating, until he gets out his puppet or hops on his bicycle, carrying his cute little backpack, to go to the Writers’ Dojo in Portland, and then you relax because you realize he’s quirky just like you.
8. Feldman the Robot. What? Of course I have to list him, even though I was only supposed to list seven blogging queens. He has a blog. He’s a robot with a blog. A robot. With a blog. If you go say hi, it will make him really happy.