81º ~ feels like 85º ~ pop-up storms edging into West Little Rock, blue skies here in the Heights, a matter of only a few miles between us
∞
This past week Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts published two “new” poems of mine. It’s always a rush when work comes out, but this time that rush was mixed with trepidation. The two poems, “A Coward for a Daughter” and “October Chorus,” are both “tell the truth” poems about my father. Because they reveal so much about myself and my family, when the news of their publication popped up in my email, I was flat out scared. I’d written other poems about myself and my family, of course, but this was the most open I’d ever been about our flaws, especially my father’s flaws and the consequences of them upon us all. Also, I wrote the poems before my father died, in fact, I wrote them so long ago and my work life was so busy this past academic year, I’d forgotten they were coming out.
After linking to the poems, I confess I was stunned by the response on Facebook. Normally, I get a handful of congratulation comments, but this poem resonated with many. That’s what happens when you tell the not-so-great truths along with the great truths—empathy forms. I’ve known this from the outside for years and years; this week I learned it on the inside, as a writer.
As I talked about the poem with my mom (hi, Mom!), she did express one confusion. Given that I’ve been blogging about writing “tell-the-truth” poems recently, Mom thought that these poems had been written in the last two weeks and were already published, which seemed kind of quick. She was correct. For anyone interested, here’s the journey for these two poems.
They were written in July of 2015. I had apparently forsaken my bog notes about every draft, which makes me sad, but I can link to the inspiration for “Coward” at least. That was my re-reading of King Lear and struggling with my guilt over not being near my mom and my oldest sister who were getting into the very difficult months of caring for my father. The poems, written in the summer of 2015 went through some revisions and then were sent out for consideration in November 2015. I received word of their acceptance at Blackbird in June 2016, and now they have been published in June 2017.
This several-year journey used to be the norm to publication for writers working with traditional literary journals. The amount of time between submission and publication is still the case with most print journals and with the oldest, most established online journals like Blackbird. However, the time lapse can be much shorter with newer online publication. I’ve submitted poems, had one accepted, and have seen it on the screen in less than in month in some rare cases. The true X factor is the time it takes to draft the poem, revise it, polish it, and then find the time to send it out. So, when someone asks, “how long does it take to write a poem?” there is a multi-layered answer.
Given all of this, I’m thankful to everyone who read the poems and took time to comment. Knowing you are there, reading, fills me up.
