Just Another Poetry Scam

I wonder if any of you have received the same phone call I received last week. A guy called asking for Diane Lockward, the writer. I said that was me. He then explained that he worked for some TV station and the producers were planning to do a feature on a writer. They were going to select a writer who wasn't yet hugely famous and they expected to catapult that writer into huge fame. I was one of three candidates for this program. He did a lot of name dropping—Judge Wapner, Judge Judy, Jim Masters, Doug Llewelyn. He asked a few questions, but very few, about my writing. He asked me to go to this TV website and to view one of their videos. It was very nice. That, he said, was the sort of video they would do for me—if I were selected. He was quite a fast talker. A dangler of carrots.

Finally, I got to ask, Okay, so where does this go from here? He said I'd first be interviewed by phone by a board of eight. He said the other two writers had already been interviewed and we needed to move fast on this. I asked when I'd be interviewed. He said within 48 hours, maybe that very day. By now I'd been on the phone for almost 30 minutes and had already begun to think this was a cartload of nonsense. I wasn't sure if the guy even realized that I'm a poet although he did say that they (who?) liked my work because it wasn't offensive. Is that supposed to be good? He was vague about how he'd obtained my name.

He kept talking and talking, repeating what he'd already said. Then finally he slipped in something about they would make a DVD for me and I'd get 12 copies and could reproduce and distribute them. Hm. Who's going to pay for that, I thought. He asked if my time was flexible. If the Ricki Lake show called, could I hop on a plane to California?

Then he said they'd be investing $40,000 in me and I'd contribute just $5000. Really?? I then asked, Okay, let me be clear—are you saying I would have to give you $5000 right now? Answer: Yes. I then said there was no way that was ever going to happen and ended the call.

Could that scam possibly work on anyone? I hope not. Don't these people know that poets don't make that kind of money? If you get that call, don't let the guy even waste your time.

The Crafty Poet: A Progress Report

This morning it went sailing off to my publisher! At last. That is, the manuscript for my forthcoming craft book, The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop. This is the accumulation of about two and a half years of work, most of it culled from this blog and my monthly Poetry Newsletter. The challenge in doing this book was the organization of a good deal of material into a sensible whole. I spent a long time just staring at piles of paper on my kitchen table, thinking and thinking. Then weeks of outlining, rearranging, breaking one section into two, joining two into one, filling in some holes. Then the big job of compiling all the separate pieces into one humungous file on the computer. Then because I don't trust myself to proofread accurately on the screen, I printed out the whole thing and proofread, fixed, reprinted, proofread, fixed, etc. Numerous times.

While stylistic differences from one newsletter to the next don't matter, in a book they do. So I spent a lot of time making things consistent. What's the difference between "into" and "in to," "onto" and "on to." Did I want "line breaks" or "linebreaks," "free write" or "freewrite"? And oh my, which numbers should appear as numerals and which as words? Should numbered lists be indented or at the left margin? Some were one way, some the other. I had to take notes about how many line spaces to leave between different kinds of headings. Then go back and be sure I'd done it the same way from one section to the next. Finally, I reached the point where it seemed about as right as it was ever going to be and I said, Time to let her go.

 

Side view. Look how plump she is! 

That pile in the middle is all the previous print-outs. Obviously, I've gone broke on paper and ink cartridges. That pile does not include the finished manuscript.

This has been a long process—and still isn't over. I've spent months putting this book together. It's a different kind of challenge than putting together a book of poems. But it has been exciting and hugely gratifying. I have around 100 amazing poets in the book. I am so grateful to each one for his or her contribution. Names and contents to be released in a later post.

Now the manuscript is with my publisher and I will wait to get it back for some more proofreading after he whips it into shape. Yes, more proofreading! The book should come out this summer. In the meantime, it's back to poetry for me. And a celebratory dinner out tonight seems in order.

New Online Journals

Online poetry journals are proliferating. Seems like I'm routinely receiving notification of yet another one. A few of these notices are about former print journals that have converted to online, but most are about brand new journals. Not all online journals are created equal. Because anybody can start one and often for free, there is a broad disparity in quality. Submitter beware. Always thoroughly check out the journal before you submit. If you wouldn't be proud to have your work appear in the journal, don't submit.

A few caveats:
1. Avoid journals that are really blogs masquerading as journals. These reveal a lack of commitment and generally have limited archive space. If a journal doesn't archive issues, steer clear.
2. Especially avoid a journal that posts all poems on the same page and requires the visitor to scroll down. Most readers won't bother.
3. Avoid journals with dreadful color combinations and weird fonts. You want your work to be nicely displayed.
4. Avoid journals with overly complicated navigation. Readers don't want to have to jump through hoops to find your poems.
5. Gravitate toward journals that make their presence known by using Share Buttons and having Facebook and Twitter accounts. It amazes me that some online journals still haven't added these features. They're free and can dramatically extend the journal's reach. When I find a poem I really like, I like to hit the Share Button at the bottom of the page. A link to the poem then posts on my Facebook page and is available to all my friends.

Here's a list of some fairly new online journals that are worth taking a look at:

Birdfeast Magazine—2x
poetry only
reads all year
Linked Table of Contents allows for easy movement from one poem to the next
No Share Buttons

Flycatcher—1x
poetry, essays, reviews
submissions will reopen April 1
Facebook Share on home and TofC, but not on the poem pages

Four Way Review—4x
reads all year
poetry and fiction
no Share buttons
good navigation buttons
great audio with each poem

Heron Tree—1 poem per week
online but plans to print a bound issue yearly
poetry only
poems are posted weekly, on Sunday evening
link to the weekly poem opens a pdf page which I find a bit unwieldy
no Share Buttons

the museum of americana—4x
reads June and December only
work focuses on things americana—"showcases and/or repurposes historical American culture"
poetry, fiction, interview, reviews, nonfiction, art & photography
Share Buttons throughout issue

Sleet Magazine—2x
regular posting period not posted but is currently reading subs
includes poetry, fiction, interviews, and what they call "irregulars," i.e., cross-genre pieces
will consider previously published work
no Share Buttons

Thrush—6x
poetry only
open all year—accepts on a rolling basis
very quick response time
one print edition per year
No Share Buttons

The Last Line

Last weekend I saw Robert Caro being interviewed on TV. Caro is the biographer of Lyndon B. Johnson. To date, he has written four biographies of Johnson and is at work on the fifth and final one. It has taken him thirty years to get this far. Thirty years devoted to one project!

Caro, now 76, expects this last book to take ten years. The interviewer tactfully asked if he worried about being able to complete this final biography. Caro replied, yes, of course, but one carries on anyhow. The interviewer then pointed out what is apparently a characteristic of Caro's writing process: he already has the final sentence written. When asked, Caro declined to share the sentence, saying that would spoil the ending for him. I completely understood that unwillingness to talk about a work while it is in progress. I've heard many a writer say they'd killed a project by over-talking it.

And yet I thought how different the process was for a fiction writer or a poet. I've heard fiction writers talk about the thrill of discovery and the pleasure of invention. I've heard of fiction writers who write towards a particular ending, but do any of them map out the entire journey or have that last sentence before the writing has begun?

Now I suspect that some of our highly prolific fiction writers, e.g., James Patterson, Stephen King, might very well pre-plan a plot. But where's the fun? There's a well-known story about a writer who lost the manuscript for her novel. When a friend said, Well, you can just write it over again, the writer replied, No, I couldn't do that. I already know what happens. (I can't recall who this writer was, but I'm counting on one of you to supply the name.)

I don't know of any poets who even want to have the final line in mind before writing. The excitement of writing a poem is precisely the not-knowing where it's going. I want the sweet surprise of the ending, that closing I never envisioned but somehow arrived at. It typically takes me days, weeks, even months to get that last line. But until I get it, the poem's not done. If I knew what it was ahead of time, I don't think I'd be interested in writing the poem.

How about you?

Get Back in the Groove with Wingbeats

In my monthly Poetry Newsletter I always include a book recommendation. Wait—what do you mean you don't get my Poetry Newsletter? Time to fix that. Go here to sign up: http://eepurl.com/bfoCw  Or go to the sidebar to the right of this blog post and use the form there. The next issue will go out on February 1 and will include a Craft Tip from Susan Laughter Meyers, a poem by Caitlin Doyle, and a prompt based on the poem. Also included will be a book recommendation, a video, and some links.

Click Cover for Amazon

Anyhow, in January's issue I included a recommendation for Wingbeats: Exercises and Practice in Poetry, edited by Scott Wiggerman and David Meischen. I want to mention that book here, too. Since I've been up to my earlobes getting my forthcoming craft book, The Crafty Poet, ready to send off to my publisher, I've been finding it hard to find the time or the creative brain power to crank out some new poems of my own. Now, however, I'm zeroing in on the final stages of my work on the book and have again been making morning time for my own writing. 

But guess what? My brain was sort of dead, stale, out of practice, tilted to the wrong side. So I picked up Wingbeats, a book I'd already read months ago. As is my usual practice, I'd marked the Table of Contents to indicate which prompts most interested me, the ones I thought I'd want to try. The first few just got me back in practice, exercising some lazy muscles. But the one I started last Thursday, that one lit a fire. So I'm back in the groove. And I still have 15 more circled prompts to try. Then I'll push myself to try the ones that didn't interest me as much. Who knows what surprises they might yield?

This is a perfect time of the year for a gift for yourself. Let that gift be a book of prompts. After the craziness of the end of the year—holidays, grades, and most likely neglect of your own poetry—it's time to get the engines revving again. I'm keen on prompts. I like the challenge, the sweet surprise of them. I like being pushed in new directions. If you feel the same way—or even if you don't—treat yourself to a copy of Wingbeats. I think you'll want to buy rather than borrow this book so you can mark it up and return to it repeatedly.

The book contains approximately sixty prompts by several dozen poets. The prompts are divided into seven sections with such headings as "Springboards to Imagination," "Exploring the Senses," and "Complicating the Poem." Each prompt includes specific instructions for preparation and procedure. Copious examples of poems by published poets and students are included.

The contributors include Ellen Bass, Barbara Hamby, Naomi Shihab Nye, Patricia Smith, and Lewis Turco. Many of the contributors are teachers as well as poets.

Priced under $20, this book is an irresistible bargain.

For Female Formalists

The new issue of Mezzo Cammin has recently gone live. The journal appears twice a year and is limited to formal poetry by women. Each issue also features an artist. This issue's artist is Jean Shin whose installations are shown in photos, along with a bio and a discussion of her work.

The journal is the brainchild of poet Kim Bridgford who created the website and serves as the journal's editor. The journal evolved out of a seminar on women's poetry held at The Westchester Poetry Conference several years ago.

Another outgrowth of the conference is The Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project, which was officially launched in March 2010 and will eventually be the largest database of women poets in the world. Dozens of women poets have entries, each written by another woman poet. Along the top of the Timeline page, date ranges are listed. Click on one to find a linked list of poets covered in that time range. This is an invaluable resource, and it's still growing.

In addition to poetry, each issue of the journal includes essays on any aspect of poetry in form, received or invented, by a woman.

The current issue includes 17 women poets, one of whom is me. I'm joined by the following:

Diann Blakely

Terese Coe

Edna Coyle-Greene

Erica Dawson (Featured Poet)

Nicole Caruso Garcia

Terry Godbey

Tracey Gratch

Athena Kildegaard

Diane Lockward          

Mary McLean

Mary Meriam          

Jennifer Reeser        

Susan Spear      

Myrna Stone        

Doris Watts        

Gail White

Marly Youmans

My poems are Apple Rondeau and In My Yard, the Bones of Trees. The first is obviously a rondeau, fun form which you should try if you haven't already. The second is written in tercets.

A bio and photo are included for each poet. The editor limits the number of poets included in each issue but includes 2-3 poems by each poet, more by the featured poet.

An Invented Form: The Gigan

I love invented forms, the challenge of them, the risks they entail. So when I recently learned of the Gigan, I pounced on it. This form was invented by poet Ruth Ellen Kocher. Kocher named the form in honor of her favorite monster from Godzilla.

Here are the rules:
1. The poem is 16 lines.
2. The lines are broken into couplet, tercet, couplet, couplet, couplet, tercet, couplet.
3. Line 1 is repeated as line 11.
4. Line 6 is repeated as line 12.
5. Ideally, the closing couplet should put a twist on the poem.

You can sample a number of Kocher's gigans online at From the Fishouse. The text of each poem is provided, along with an audio of the poet reading the poem.

You can also listen to Kocher talk about her gigan project. The talk is just a bit over 2 minutes.

Here's a sample gigan from Kocher:

the gigans: iii.

i would give up anjou pears for you, and their cousins
the bosque, which are more beautiful, wrapped ochre,

wrapped gold around their small deaths--wrapped securely
as though they know an old friend will call, say love, say
no. and this old friend, he would die for a crust of earth

peeled back to reveal some buried bliss, a dance of bees
singing out the ruined pleasure of their battle, their lavish

avenues of forsythia, their swank arias of roses, inked roses,
sung roses that want most to be the silk worm’s slink and cower.

pity them, their faithless world, their bruised
and darkening red. i would give up anjou pears for you.

i would peel away their splendorous backs to reveal the equation
we build our hunger upon, the dank musk of decay turned sweet,
the soil’s woe begotten centuries mulched into pollen, nectar.

think of the silk worm’s desire--its dreams of mulberry leaf,
its singular drive toward the green silhouette of rapture.

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Here's one by Evie Shockley, from her book, the new black. This poem was previously featured on Poetry Daily.

celestial
     
            —L.A., THE MID-1950s

her name was ella, elle, french for all woman,

everywoman, she, the third person, feminine,

hippy, buxom, regal curls piled atop her head, 

soft shiny crown for her diamond voice, the soaring 

swooping bird, the orchestra in her throat, the stars

in her eyes, the star in front of her eyes each night, 

one week, at the mocambo, her name was norma,

she wasn't normal, blonde, her name was marilyn, 

the i in angelic, first person, created, an immaculate

concept, the image of pure beauty, sound, power, 

her name was ella, elle in french, all women,

in her, i's, the star in front of her eyes, each night,

glamorous, first lady of song, iconic, backstage, 

the effort behind the effortlessness, the exercise,

the training, the makeup that made up the woman, 

her name was norma, marilyn, ella, est-elle, the star.
                              
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Now go grab a pen and get going on your own gigan.