Compartment 14B
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Waxing poetic. 2007-09-19 - 9:46 a.m. Many people do not know this (though some of the readers here do), but I�m technically a �published poet�. I put in the quotation marks because it was one poem that was accepted and published in one literary magazine. And I wasn�t even paid for it. This magazine was set up as a means of generating money for charity so all the profit it makes, over and above paying its overhead, gets donated back to the community. I�m not sure if it accepts submissions by men but I know its target is the women�s community and the recipients of its largess are typically organizations such as women�s shelters. That all having been said, however, they do receive quite a lot of submissions from all over the place, so I was pretty pleased to be included. Am I bringing this up to brag? Well, maybe a little bit. Mostly though, it�s because I�m contemplating entering a couple of poems in a contest and am trying to hash through my feelings about entering and perhaps get up the nerve to actually enter. I don�t post poetry here, as a rule � it�s one of the things I compartmentalize, hence the new name of the journal. I don�t really think of myself as a poet or my writing as poetry, actually. When I submitted my piece to the magazine I didn�t think of it as a poem, just a piece of writing in which I tried to capture a particular moment. It was only after hearing other people describe my piece as a poem that I realized it probably was. And I have to say, it�s probably my strongest piece so I�m sorry that previous publication makes it ineligible for entry into this particular contest. So, I�ve written a few others, and I can�t post them here even if I wanted to �cause I�m afraid that would constitute being published, even if it�s self-publishing and only a very small audience would see them. What I�m wrestling with is: do I enter any of them? Do I write more and pick the best couple? Are any of them good enough? Would anything I write be good enough? I tend to write simple, short poems and the judge's poetry is full of images like chili-pepper flames and snakes striking. Do I just let it lie until it�s too late because if I don�t put myself out there I don�t have to worry about the reception my stuff gets? I know that if you don�t play you can�t win, but nor can you lose.
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