Poets’ Roundtable
Yesterday's meeting was excellent. Many thanks to Ed for his block on publication. The reading afterward was refreshing in that we just read without discussion. Then too it will be refreshing to get back to a little discussion at the next meeting.
Welcome
All that I have to offer is Ed's outline for yesterday's remarks. It's an excellent guide for going about the publishing process. It also emphasizes the work involved. It is not an easy job. My biggest challenge has always been a reluctance to step away from the writing to do the work of getting published. Oh the challenge of being an unknown great American writer.
News and Jabber
N.B. Follow the links below. They should be live. EG
Getting Published:
(Suggest a stable of twenty or more poems before launching into this.)
1. Identify the poems you want to publish. Proofread carefully. Are they literary? General interest? Genre?
2. Decide level of acceptable difficulty-elite, difficult, possible, easy.
3. Review the resources available to find publications. (Duotrope, Submittable, Submissions Grinder, Poets & Writers, etc.)
4. Identify the magazines/anthologies you want to send to.
5. CAREFULLY read the guidelines and follow them, even if they’re stupid.
6. Submit. If simultaneous submissions are allowed, submit the same poem to three or four publications. Nine out of ten subs (give or take) will be rejected. Don’t take it personally.
7. Keep a log of submissions-date, to, poem, outcome. Publications which accept a poem are more likely to accept the next one you send them.
8. If more than five or six rejections are received for a poem, consider revising it, it may be a stinker. Or you may be pitching it to the wrong markets.
9. If no success after dedicated effort, consider finding a heartless reader who will point out the flaws in your pearl. Revise and resubmit.
10. Success. Remember to thank the editor by name, and put your success out on social media. Poetry doesn’t pay, so don’t expect money.
The Current Assignment
The Next Assignment
Write about a favorite song, why it is a favorite. What happens when you hear it?
The Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on Thursday, March 1, 2018 from 1 to 2:30 PM.
At work on my poem and a favorite song that ended a romance.
ReplyDeleteOld Orchard Beach Pier, 1953
At the end of the Old Orchard Beach’s long pier,
There stood an enclosed entertainment center.
It had a large game room, ballroom, and bandstand.
Surrounding it was a wooden post-and-rail fence
Against which visitors and lovers, at night, leaned
Toward a starry eastern horizon to see a golden moon
Rise out of the Atlantic, breaking its frothy waters.
Sower
Rotten
Song,, “Begin the Beguine”
Post: my response to the assignment"
ReplyDeleteOld Orchard Beach Pier, 1953*
At the end of the Old Orchard Beach’s long pier,
There stood an enclosed entertainment center.
It had a large game room, ballroom, and bandstand.
Surrounding it was a wooden post-and-rail fence
Against which visitors and lovers, at night, leaned
Toward a starry eastern horizon to see a golden moon
Rise out of the Atlantic, breaking its frothy waters.
On other Saturday nights, weather permitting,
They might have stood in a gale with winds
Pushing towards shore, top of waves, riding froth.
And hugged and kissed each other’s wet faces.
On that occasion, I learned that I was not the one,
Whereupon she left me to weather the storm.
And, now in my old age, as I, still, the night remember,
It seems like the nights will always be, ever somber
As I return to the night she left me to ever wonder
What it might have been like to live our lives together.
So, whenever I recover the song, “Begin the Beguine,”
I remember the night that she left me to play her own song
Of the heart, hereafter, as when we danced so close together.
*Song, “Begin the Beguine”
Lyrics
When they begin the beguine/ It brings back the sound of music so tender/ It brings back a night of tropical splendor/ It brings back a memory ever green /I'm with you once more under the stars / And down by the shore an orchestra's playing / And even the palms seem to be swaying/ When they begin the beguine / To live it again is past all endeavor / Except when that tune clutches my heart/ And there we are, swearing to love forever/ And promising never, never to part/ What moments divine, what rapture serene The clouds came along to disperse the joys we had tasted /And now when I hear people curse the chance that was wasted / I know but too well what they mean/ So don't let them begin the beguine/ Let the love that was once a fire remain an ember /Let it sleep like the dead desire I only remember / When they begin the beguine/ O yes, let them begin the beguine,/ make them play Till the stars that were there before return above you/ Till you whisper to me once more: "Darling, I love you!" /And we suddenly know what heaven we're in / When they begin the beguine
beguine: a religious order whose members did not profess vows of chastity
ReplyDeleteAlso
A dance peculiar to West Indian Islands
I have kissed under the pier at Old Orchard Beach. Remember the old wooden roller coaster that burned down? There is a Unitarian camp further south on the beach I started attending in 1956.
ReplyDeleteLittle Old Me
ReplyDeleteA physical recognition
Of the opening riff anticipates
The deep bassline chords
Invoking an immediate reaction
Of strength in defiance
Matched by an upward spiral
Of spirit and fire.
I can truly chop off mountains
With the edge of my hand.
I am a giant, a colossus
Invincible
I vibrate with righteous power
I glare, too terrible to look upon
My heart encompasses the world
All of history is as nothing
The whole universe cannot contain me.
My voice shatters all illusion.
I am the singularity that
Gives birth in an agony of joy
And crushes the serpent underfoot.
I am sweetness, and the dawn.
I remember where I'm from
Where I am
And where I'm going.
See you in the next world...
Don't be late.
I did not know the song. I have played it several times, since.
DeleteYes. I know it all. Imagine that! G
ReplyDeleteUplifting lyrics.
Nice Song.
Ed. I like your Valentine poem on line as submitted. Fine Post. Also read a piece about etiquette in conversation--it's worth a quick read. The tips offered are just great; I just wish I had known these tricks when I attended house parties given by colleagues.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEmerson, Did I misread your post regarding Ed's Post? Am I missing something here? G
ReplyDeleteEmerson, Did I misread your post regarding Ed's Post? Am I missing something here? G
ReplyDelete