Poetry and words

[grayrose]

Joshua Gage reviews Rhysling poems in his ongoing series. This is what he has to say about my poem Odysseus on the War Train:

My immediate reaction is absolute admiration for the lyric qualities of this piece--the sound and rhythm are tight. Some things catch me, though, in the reading.... (read the rest here)

 

 

I am thrilled to receive this mostly positive review from hooks_and_books. His Rhysling review series is a very interesting experiment and worth following, even though I do not agree with many things.

Received a very nice personal rejection from Goblin Fruit for "Tree Diana Saw". Not sure what to do with it now, I can make it into a limited edition thingie with illustrations for some people, or I can submit it somewhere else. Probably will go the limited edition route, but not sure when I will have time to do it. Summer?

Mati learned and used three new words in the last two days: Bagel, Pringle and Cracker (cwackuh). The food words trend continues, but I am *so* thrilled to have him speaking again- he didn't say a single word for two weeks (when he was  sick with bronchitis), only wailed. It wasn't pleasant.

It's been a good day so far.

Comments

Re: thanks for your comment :)

[hooks-and-books.livejournal.com]

As for your personal mileage in the SFPA, I've been a lifetime member since December of 2008. Color me a delerious upstart, too! I'm particularly interested in what newer members have to say because it might illuminate something for those tried and true veterans. I like the criteria of return--if a poem constantly calls one back to itself, there's something there worth pursuing, yes? I know editors with six month return times who follow this guideline, so good call, there.

Concerning the Rhyslings nominations, I'm not sure a committee would work either, specifically for the reasons you explain. It might be neat to do a "Best of 20XX" anthology with a guest editor, who would explain why each choice was made, much like the "Best American Poetry of 20XX" series. However, the process, as it is now, leads to some specific issues, which might be revealed by looking at the anthology poem by poem. The two list process might work, but it takes longer, and assumes a broader readership. For some magazines, the readership simply isn't there, and the way the Rhyslings are set up, those magazines and their readers are given as much voice as Asimovs and the like.

As far as your disclaimer, that might be worth mentioning. I'll have to go back and add that. Thanks for the discussion, and thanks for reading.