That time I had three poems accepted
When I had gotten into the swing of writing poetry regularly, I came across a tiny publication of short poems, Hummingbird. It was the brainchild of Phyllis Walsh, who produced the first edition in 1990. I subscribed at the cost of $10 a year and got these beautiful collections a few times a year. Eventually I got up the nerve to send some of my own work to them, by snail mail, for consideration. To receive a response, one had to include a self addressed stamped envelope. In a short time I found my envelope in my mailbox and in it was a handwritten note from Phyllis herself telling me that she had accepted no fewer than three of my five submitted poems, and that they would appear in a future collection. As payment I would receive two issues for free.
Alas, Phyllis left us before my poems could be published, an event I was alerted to by typewritten letter from the one of the publication's editors. I have searched for these letters, which I know are both still somewhere in this house, to no avail. As far as I can tell from a brief bit of research just now, the final issue of Hummingbird may have been the topmost one in my picture, was published in June 2013, and was an anthology issue.
Here are the three that were accepted.
Skim
Skim this lake
with the wingtip of your tongue -
dart, swoop, dip, turn, glide -
then rest with me here for a bit
so our worlds can turn
without my having
to push mine
Embers
Your absence has doused my glee at your presence
leaving it small blinking sparks
pooled in this cavity
or that
and time to close the draft for the night
Fugue
When a song ends we can hear the wind
the earth's turning is a comfort.
When a voice is stilled
our heart holds a pulsating sound
a purr.
The image is mine all mine. I hope it's OK that this is a second go around on Steem for two of these poems. Thank you for reading.
Congratulations on your acceptance and so sorry they never ran. I know what you mean about knowing that some important paper is somewhere in your house and not being able to find it!
Perhaps, you write a few more and publish your own little chapbook? I keep thinking I should do the same and haven't.
The poems are quite lovely, by the way :)
Thank you for reading my little poems!
Who knows? Someday I just might. I'm writing again thanks to several steem communities.
I've felt like steem keeps me writing too, at least more than I might have w/o it and prompts I never would have taken up on my own :)
How about give it a try yourself? You know what they a worth!
Systematically I would turn my whole house up side down. You treasured the letter so where did you hide it? In a book?
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I know I saw one of them recently in a folder of old poems. So I have been emptying old folders to try to find it. I've been on a sorting binge, but I've sorted it to somewhere I can't remember. There's another bookshelf to get to.
I published this for two reasons. First, I like the poems. But mostly, I like the story. I now go look at everything as "can I turn this into a story?" It's as if I live in a brand new world. So much fun!