On the Rebound

I received a poem rejection yesterday--a simple "Sorry, Gerald"--and upon looking over the poems, decided against revising. My internal monologue went something like, "I've gotten so much better since sending these. I don't think I can polish these ideas (yet)."

A poem must capture an emotionally charged moment in fewer lines or sustain that charge over a greater number of lines. A story builds and connects many moments in a more conventional structure. It's easy to get back into a story by rereading. The fervor with which I thought a poem was brilliant on December 29, 2003 at 6:07 a.m. may not come back. I'd rather be present for new feelings than miss them trying to reconstruct old ones.

Here's a quote I like from renaissance man David Lawrence, interviewed in the latest issue of Barbaric Yawp:

"You have to write with your balls. You have to make a decision and go with it. Rewriting can improve that but it can also dilute it."

Since I decided to send out at least one batch of poems a month, some batches have been better than others. I still value submitting as it calibrates my internal clock: "Time to make the poems." The response time for poems is from two to six months, lots of time to work on other stuff. I hope to work up to submitting three batches of poems a month.

If you prefer, poems are like single shots, covering fire to keep your opponent at bay; stories are larger-scale, more coordinated attacks. Both are necessary in the long haul.