poetry

Last week I had a really nice rejection email.  An editor from Free State Review sent some thoughtful notes about three of my poems, and I was so impressed that he took the time to do so.

Speaking of acceptances, thanks to Across the Margin for publishing three very different poems of mine, The Beast, The Variety Store, and Water Aerobics.  When I'm reading journals and come across a poet who has multiple works published at once, I rarely try to make connections.  There are a couple exceptions of course.  Sometimes the connections are obvious and beautifully done.  Other times I find myself wondering how poems that are so different can come from one person.  

I have been working on The Variety Store for several years, compiling real moments and dreams in the hopes that one day the poem would finally reveal itself.  I'm still wondering how it is that I managed to drive to the lake on one of the rare days the variety store was actually open.  It's an experience I will never forget.   

Water Aerobics took almost as much time, but really it was just years of polishing and adjusting.  I was always an outsider during water aerobics - really just like anything else I'm involved with - but I felt so honored to be a quiet observer during this weekly ritual.  I think water aerobics was one of the things that helped me embrace the role and importance of being an observer. 

I wrote The Beast quickly, shared it with my poetry friends who offered helpful critiques, and submitted it.  Unlike the other two poems, it was an easy poem to write, a recurring dream I find myself in just as much as the rooms in my house.  I have discovered if I write about a recurring dream, the act of writing changes its landscape.  I wonder if this happens to others as well.  

Three different poems that mean a lot to me all sharing one page.  I am very thankful.