A Month of Poems

April is National Poetry Month, and I will be celebrating by participating in Molly Fisk's Poem-A-Day on-line class.  "Promptress" Lisa Cihlar will be posting a daily prompt, and participants write in response and post our drafts to a communal bulletin board.  Feedback/comments are offered among the writers.  I participated in the February Poem-a-Day class, and found it to be a wonderful way to exercise my writing muscle (that is, to write whether or not I felt "inspired"), and to link with a network of poets across the country.  The April 1st prompt has been posted: "Not another happy ending, I'm sick and tired of happy endings..."   I'll be mulling that over in my subconcious and my dreams tonight.

Tomorrow, I'll be donning my poetry party gear!  Join me in the fun.

Rejection - The Down Side of a Poet's Life

Well, I received another rejection from yet another literary journal.  Rejection is part of  the publication process, but well, I'd prefer to just skip it and move right along to acceptance, accolades, special invitations to submit my work.  A personal note of feedback or encouragement along with the notice of rejection would be an improvement over these computer-generated form responses.  You know, the ones that start with "Unfortunately..."    Say no more.

I admit that I have never been very good at Po-Biz.  I have to force myself to sit down and organize my poems into "batches" and identify my "target" publications.  And send, send, send....one trick I don't have down yet is to have my Plan B ready for the day when I receive a rejection (like today's from Barrow Street Journal), and be poised to immediately send the batch of poems back out to my next target.  And skip the licking the wound stage of my resubmission process.  Just keep the poems circulating.  It's.like the equivalent of "flipping" a house.  I'll have to get better at "flipping" my submissions...

Somehow, there must be a way to get emotions out of the way, and buckle down to accomplish the task.  I would love to hear your strategies for getting your creative work out to the publishing world.

Ok, I'm ready for the Up Side.   

Reflections on Worm Moon in Wormtown

The first full moon of spring, the Worm Moon, is shining high and brilliant tonight. The Moon has inspired many a poet with its allure: mystery, beauty, beacon.  The silver orb is night's sun-companion, the answer to a dream, the question itself.  Twenty-five years ago I wrote a moon-inspired poem and dedicated it to my beautiful infant daughter Deva. She was six months old at the time, and I was an aspiring poet and awestruck mother.  

Night falls.
Clouds clamor in
to stake a claim 
on your canvas.

You don't mind.

You slip behind 
before, above
below them
sleekly slinking
hiding, seeking
ready or not
you are there.
                                                                                    
Haunting, 
undaunted
through night sky
you saunter,
so fully
soulfully
so fuel me
you Goddess,
you Deva.

The poem appeared in an anthology, Charlton Poets and Friends, in 1990, and was the first publication of my poetry.  This same poem's most recent publication is as a tattoo on my daughter's skin.  Deva chose an excerpt from the poem, and had it imprinted in script across her shoulder. Is this not the pinnacle of publishing one's work?  Embodied poetry!  My daughter, the most meaningful & breathtaking publishing venue.