Flip

Two, or maybe three, poems accepted today, which is very good, though I'm unclear on that third poem, whether or not they want it or want to suggest some revisions before they'll take it. I'm always open to that: it's a real gift to know your work has been read so closely. Of course, I say all that before saying I decided against some suggestions the editor had for the second poem, which they wanted whether or not the changes were made. Good editors have in the past made lots of suggestions I went with; for my book, I got something like 7 pages of notes and only refused one, which had to do with a comma. The rest were gold. But in this case I felt like it was how I wanted it to be.

And I felt awful saying no! Like I was refusing a gift. Or chocolate. Which is something crazy people do.

As for the first poem, it's funny: when I finished writing it, I really despaired; I showed it to a friend, saying it was a crappy poem. Strange how your own vision is , or can be, clouded at times.

Not that publishing a poem is any certain measure of validation; I've published bad poems before, too often, in fact. But what can you do? Write the next one.

Still, I think this one is, after all, a pretty good poem.

***

I've been in a funk.