I Have Neglected This Site for Too Long

I've neglected this site for too long.  It is not that I haven't been posting,  I've been doing so on my regular - Poetry Web Site. 

It's hot today. Frankly, it is a miserable day. I hate to be so direct about it, but I want to be upfront. I may be back to posting here after a significant stint of missing in action, but this is my site and I get to choose the topic and tone. 

This blog has had a long run. I could shut it down and say well done. I could but I am not going to. 

I could say that I'm back and you will see me daily from here on out but I am not about to make that commitment. What I will say is you will find that I am posting likely weekly. I'm not going to guarantee Tuesdays, but. the Confession Tuesday was for a long time a staple. So I would check Tuesdays or Wednesdays, or you could subscribe to the feed on the sidebar,

NOT A SECRET:

Some people know this but  I will for the sake of broader knowledge make it known that I have gone back to school. Yes, at my age. I'm going back to finish something I should have done long ago but did not for numerous reasons. 

SUBMISSIONS:

Lest you think, since I have been neglectful here,  I have been lazy about writing and. submitting poetry.  Well consider  these stats:   

	POETRY
Pending Submissions:	96
Sent Past 12 Months:	232
Sent This Month:	7

 THE GRIND:

For something like 11 months, I have been participating. in The Grind. A group of people who write daily and post their drafts of material for the group to see. It is not about critiquing work but rather being accountable. It has allowed me to turn out more work.  Of course, not every day is the work publishable, but some can be with a little editing. 

MOOD: 

My mood is best described as non-congruent. It is hot (did I say it was summer?) and frankly has been a miserable day.  I did have a very good lunch,  But right now I am pretty bummed, 

The thing about being down is you can sometimes write some pretty good work when you are down. On the other hand, when you are down it is often in tandem with others. 

MARY KARR - Poet and Memoirist 

"None of us can ever know the value of our lives or how our separate and silent scribblings may add to the amenity of the world if only by how radically it changes us one by one." 

AWP - Most interesting Panel AWP 22

 The most fascinating panel session at AWP22 to me was  ERASURE POETRY: Ethics & Best Practices.

Srikanth Reddy, Kristina Darling, and Sam Taylor were presenters. 

My second favorite Panel was THE COLONEL: Thirty Years Later.  A Look at Carolyn Forche's iconic poem set in El Salvador in the lead-up to the Civil War. Claudia Castro Luna, Alexandra Regalado, Yevette Siegert, Maryann Parhizkar, and William Archila engaged in a spirited conversation about the significance of this poem, both today and back at its origin, as well as in the context of a work by an American as opposed to some writings by local or central American writers. 

Make Mistakes

 

Update on Submissions

 November 13,  2021

• New poetry submissions today -  3
• Poetry Submissions for Month  - 8
• Submissions that are outstanding with publishers - 65

Forthcoming in 34 Orchard Fall Edition

 COMING NOVEMBER 10 - FALL EDITION

I am excited to announce that my new poem "Lost and Found" has found a home. Further, I am thrilled because I believe it is one that truly appreciates it. After all, isn't that what every writer wants for his or her work?

~0~

The Journal is 34 Orchard. My poem will appear in the Fall issue release date November 10, 2021.

Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Editor as 34 Orchard writes, "What I love about "Lost & Found" is, on a surface level, its universal message- we've all had days like this. Yet, in the end, it gets turned around, and, on a deeper level, speaks to healing. It's also entertaining and has a little bit of a sense of fun amid the darkness. In Short, "Lost & Found" is exactly what lives at 34 Orchard--visceral work, that illustrates the dark reality of our world; those internal things we cannot talk about. but we all know exist. I believe this piece is going to reach someone, and if you reach at least one person with your fiction, then you've done you job as a writer.

So excited to join the 34 Orchard family

Our Brokenness

 

So many of us, dare I venture to guess,  most of us, are trying. to stand among the life around us, while in some state of brokeness.  It's always important to consider when approaching  even a stranger, that they have something going on in there life that has or is causing them some grief. That there is some major struggle that threatens their very ability to remain upright as they pass us. 

People are always facing something weather it is a personal crisis or something larger in scope. We can't always greatly change the life of everyone we meet, but we can strive to do no damage anyone. If we will remember that  a point of being polite and speaking no ill will to anyone, we may well be that single bright spot for the day for that  person who otherwise may be silently hurting.  

Kindness is my word for the month.  It is also my antidote for Brokenness. 

Pouring Yourself Into

How we need another soul. How we need another soul to cling to, another body to keep us warm. To rest and trust; to give your soul in confidence: I need this, I need someone to pour myself into. ~ Sylvia Plath