ramblin'

The other day I was asked via email to submit a few poems for an upcoming ezine called Black Magma. In the world of publishing this would be called "being solicited for a submission." That sounds a bit pretentious to me, and I'm embarrassed to have used the phrase before. Heh.

Black Magma's inaugural edition is scheduled for September, though there is no web page to which I can refer you to just yet. There will be, and I will provide linkage.

In my hunt for things to submit, a search that makes me cringe anyway - because it entails sifting through a backlog of old unpublished work - I discovered something, nothing new really, so maybe I should say I was reminded of something about myself.

I have a terrible habit of latching on to a phrase or image, and writing it, and rewriting it, into many poems. It's bad enough that my theme over the years has become one of oppressive sadness. Seems I only write about death and loss, in the garden, where there's a full moon, and hair. I couldn't believe how often I used hair in my poetry. Hair. And gravel too... The resulting effect is that my poetry comes off as unimaginative and recycled. I have plagiarized myself (haha) and thereby siphoned away a vast amount of credibility.

I really have to work on some fresh imagery. I have to find a way to let go of an image once I've written it. And though I doubt it will happen so soon in the wake of my son's death, I need to change the mood and content of my over-all voice. Themes are great for chapbooks, but not so great when they are applied, like a wet wool blanket, to a lifetime of poetry.

Reading my work en mass is nearly enough to drive a person into a deep depression. Once I found five poems that would work, I emailed myself and suggested an anti-depressant. I probably won't take myself up on the advice though. Poets are like that, stubborn, and rather attached to their state of mind, regardless of how disfunctional it may be.

Anyway, I got up this morning with a long list of things to do. One of those things was to find places to make some submissions - to throw myself back into this (whatever "this" is.) I didn't submit a damn thing, but I did remember that several months ago, I was included in Scribe Spirit (issue 2 "Living Arrangements") and the April release of Blue House and I don't remember if I ever posted about either one. Both have been archived and there are now current issues out for both ezines.

Figure this post is long enough? Yeah me too, even though I have more to say. I talk too much, I hear that a lot...