Good things sometimes happen without warning. This past weekend, Debra Bokur, one of the poetry editors of Many Mountains Moving emailed me to say she was in town and would like to have tea with me. She also asked if I could bring some of my work. Any poet trying to publish knows it's not supposed to work that way. It's usually all about postage and stamps and cover letters and the whole process can get pretty faceless.
We had the most wonderful afternoon at Zen Zoo yesterday talking about everything from poetry to health spas to Los Angeles. And yes, she wants two of my pieces. I asked why she contacted me, and she said I made a good impression on her at the AWP Conference! Later, she looked at my Web site (which was on the card I gave her), and found stuff she liked. Wow...
Ms. Bokur is the type of poetry editor one hopes is actually reading work. She reads carefully, but with enthusiasm and passion. She has experience both in and out of the poetry community, and looks to poetry not as a commodity or tool, but as a vital art form just as capable as ever of enlightening and healing the reader.
I was thrilled. And yet, I was also proud. Proud because the AWP Conference scared me, but I went, anyway, met some great people and was prepared with cards. Making my Web site current was and is difficult, but I am on it. And poetry continues to be a challenge and often so lonely, but I am writing consistently and also reading great work, working through my insecurity the whole way.
Writing is a journey. Sometimes hard, sometimes cold, always demanding...but just like any journey, occasionally the wind is at your back and you meet people who remind you that you have direction, and you there is nothing you would rather be doing than what you are doing right here, right now, today! :)
