Author Unknown
Newsletter of the SBU local chapter of Missouri State Poetry Society – No. 2
For other issues click 1, 3.


HELP FOR THE ASPIRING POET


Assembled below are some suggestions to help you improve in composing poems and some sources you can investigate  to get  them published.  Future  issues of this  newsletter  will  give additional  information of this sort.

RULE 1: Consort with known poets.  People who know poets are more likely to become poets than people who don't know poets are.  You have taken the first step by joining and attending meetings of Author Unknown, the SBU chapter of Missouri State Poetry Society.  Meeting with other poets and sharing your work with them is an activity that will help you improve.  Donald Hall and Robert Bly, contemporary American poets, live in states hundreds of miles apart (New Hampshire and Minnesota), but at least twice a week they correspond about their current work.  Both testify as to the value such accountability has done for them.  Keep close ties with your poet friends.
CONTACTS FOR POETS: Click and learn.

ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS = www.poets.org
ASSOCIATED WRITING PROGRAMS = www.awpwriter.org
AUTHORS GUILD = www.authorsguild.org
PEN AMERICAN CENTER = www.pen.org
PEN CENTER USA WEST = www.pen-usa-west.org
POETRY SOCIETY OF AMERICA = www.poetrysociety.org
POETS & WRITERS = www.pw.org
TEACHERS & WRITERS COLLABORATIVE = www.twc.org
WRITER'S DIGEST BOOKS = www.writersdigest.com
WRITER'S MARKET = www.writersmarket.com

RULE 2: Don't just write poetry--read it!  Before we became poets, we liked it.  In literature classes we were introduced to poets and their poems.  We picked favorites. and we continue to meet poets and poems in our free reading. As your taste develops, you will probably find yourself imitating your favorites.  But you need to read different poets also, for you can learn something from almost every poet whose work you read.  Try to follow themes or forms that are not just your usual work.  Stretch!  Make your skill work for you.  With the Internet at your fingertips, you don't even have to buy poetry books (although of course you will buy books and should).  A list of places to begin is given at left.  Visit them.

RULE 3: Seize the opportunities at hand.  Participate in poetry readings, enter contests, attend workshops, and send poems to publishers. Barnes & Noble bookstores frequently sponsor readings.  Some contests are listed on the bulletin board of our state web site here.  Pay particular attention to the Winter Contest (to the right of the bird), for fees generated by that contest return to us for convention expenses as do fees for our Summer Contest here.  Of course, you will want to enter the NFSPS contests described in Strophes here.  And the next step is publishing.

       

Publishing begins with handouts at your poetry group's meetings, it continues with newsletters such as Spare Mule and web sites such as this one that has poems by some of you published on it.  Sooner or later you will consult Poet's Market (pictured here), Cincinnati, OH, Writer's Digest Books, 2003.  Be sure to read pages 3-12 for additional help.

 

Rule 4: Get your feet wet.  Read Poet's Market carefully and target some publication that your poem fits.  Editors expect you to follow basic rules such as enclosing an SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) with your submission.  They usually tell you to single-space your poem, but some want double-spaced submissions.  Some ask for 3-6 poems; others will take one at a time.  Never put more than one poem per page.  Here are a few markets you might target.  Remember to read the complete information from Poet's Market, not just this summary. There are also a few symbols to narrow your selection.

*  Will accept work of beginning poets
+  Will take e-mail submissions|
^  Accepts previously published poems|
#  Accepts simultaneous submissions

* + ^ HIDDEN OAK receives 500 submissions per year, uses 40%; submit 3-6 poems at a time; 30-line limit per poem, both traditional and free verse accepted; accepts e-mail submissions. P. O. Box 2275, Philadelphia, PA 19103.  E-mail: hidoak@att.net.  Page 169 in Poet's Market.

* + ^ #THE IDIOT receives 250 submissions per year, uses 3-4; specialized humor, we are a magazine of dark comedy, nothing is sacred, but it must be funny. P.O. Box 69163, Los Angeles CA 90069 E-mail: idiotsubmission@yahoo.com.  Web site: www.theidiotmagazine.com  Page 175 in 2004 Poet's Market.

* ^ # PARNASSUS LITERARY JOURNAL. P.O. Box 1384, Forest Park, GA. Submit up to 3 poems, 24 lines or shorter. Accepts 350 of 1500 submissions each year. Open to all forms of poetry. Page 269 in 2003 Poet's Market.

* + POETRY OF THE PEOPLE, 3341 SE 19th Ave., Gainesville, FL 32641. E-mail: poetryforaquarter@yahoo.com.  This monthly leaflet takes all forms of poetry. Submit as many as you want. Cover letter with bio required.  Guidelines available on web site: www.angelfire.com/fl/poetryofthepeople.  Page 294 in 2004 Poet's Market.

* + ^ #  REARVIEW QUARTERLY (e-mail publication) receives 500 submissions, uses 3%; wants all poetry, especially narrative; no erotica, no overly religious; submit 7 poems at a time. E-mail  rearviewquarterly@yahoo.com.  Address: http://rearview.domynoes.net.  Page 312 in 2004 Poet's Market.

* ^ # THE STORYTELLER, 2441 Washington Road, Maynard, AR 72444. No e-mail submissions. Publishes about 40% of 300 submissions each year. Accepts previously published poems also. Submit 2 poems, typed and double-spaced. www.freewebz.com/fossilcreek  Page 359 of 2004 Poet's Market.

*+TEEN VOICES accepts poems written by girls 13-19 and publishes about 10% of the poems it receives. Regular features are family and cultural harmony. Submit any number of poems with name, age, and address on each. No previously published or simultaneous submissions. Contact Submission Director. Cover letter preferred but accepts e-mail submissions. E-mail: teenvoices@teenvoices.com.  USPS: P.O. Box 120-027, Boston, MA 02112-0027.  Web site:  www.teenvoices.com.  Page 369 in 2004 Poet's Market.

Rule 5: Follow the leading of your Muse.  When you get an idea for a poem, go wherever the idea leads you.  You may be spending a quiet day in your study, when suddenly a flash across your brain leads you to search for the meaning that is just beyond your reach.  Don't give up!  Root it out--you may have a poem there.  Take, for example, this diligent poet pictured on the left.  He was having a regular ho-hum, hum-drum day when he had this crazy feeling that something important was just out of reach.  He put aside what he was doing and went after it.  There is no rose garden promised here--sometimes it takes real effort to make a poem out of what we get via our Muse.  The poet on the left made his experience pay off for him (and us, for we can profit from his example).


      Here is the poem the Muse gave him:

      MINING GOLD
      Todd Sukany

The buried finger’s been lost for years.
Wait! There it is…grubbed between my ears.
 

And to think, we might never have had that little jewel of a poem had Todd not stuck with it!  We must let that lesson stick with us, too.  Thanks, Todd, for showing us to be patient as well as hard-working.