Issue 12: Double the Poems
Double the Poems
Hi everyone, and welcome back! I hope your week has been as minimally stressful as possible in your world. Mine is already fraught with rejections, new resources, and a happy sale. It's been an eventful week and it's only Wednesday morning.
That being said, I have two new poem drafts to share with you. I hope you enjoy these two poems and some updates under the "My World" section below.
Did You Not See My Thorns
By Coco Poley
You plucked a clutch of blackberries from my vines,
And were angry when I defended myself with the thousands of biting thorns you knew were all over me.
You came out with scratches and blood,
And I with your blood’s taste on my pointed defenses: those sharp and curvaceous points I grow and regrow so naturally.
You ate reveled in sweet and sour taste, the juicy flesh of my berries stuck in your teeth.
The sun burnt hot above us, and so did both our passions.
You reached into me again,
Exclaimed in annoyance because I scratch back every time you reach into me for that juicy, freshly grown taste of bitter sweetness that you crave.
Do you not know that this taste which you crave can only be grown among the sharpest thorns the world has seen?
Do you not know that to devour my bitter and delightful fruits is to also get scratched?
No one can hide within my heart unless they make it through the winding trails of my green and purple hued branches,
Which stretch out to attach to any and every nearby standing object.
You reached within me for a sweet taste and came away with me, clutching at you with my thorny branches.
Because when you reached inside me, I thought you saw the knives beforehand.
I thought you knew you would get scratched.
What if We Were as the Crows
By Coco Poley
Are we not raw and hungry
As a murder of crows?
They who flock together,
Who caw as one:
A raucous united cacophony against their predators.
Something I love right now
Ever since I was a young teenager first learning about communism and socialism, I have always been fascinated by and moved by the idea of a society without classes. I never knew until today that one of my favorite childhood picture books, Millions of Cats, was written by a progressive feminist socialist named Wanda Gág. One of my favorite things that I learned today about Wanda was that she was also a printmaker.
Millions of Cats was originally a series of lithographic illustrations that Wanda created and printed, and her brother set the type for the lettering. I was immediately drawn to the story not only from a historic perspective of a young woman who spent time in Greenwich Village as a feminist and a socialist in 1917, but also because she was a printmaker and a creator. You can read more about her perspective on socialism and how it may have influenced Millions of Cats here. And now I need to find out a lot more about Wanda Gág because wow! What a gal!
My world
There have been some oofs this week already. I did not get my second writing contract, and my first one ended after the "training" period because How-to Geek wants writers who are more familiar with cutting edge technology and take less time to research. I appreciated that my editor said it was not about my writing, it was more about the topics and that he thought I'd be better suited to cover other topics. It is a blow, but I am telling myself these three things:
I will get paid for those three articles, some time in March, and it isn't much but it still helps with the bills
Now I have some newer bylines on a popular website
I didn't love the blog "voice" I had to compromise on and write in, so at least I won't have to do work where I'm doing writing I'm not 100% proud of
The Bright Side
On the bright side, when I went to the Portland Poets Society last night and read my poetry and talked to some new friends, I did sell one little love poetry zine to a new fan and handed out some stickers with the crow poem on them and my IG handle. I also met a very cool journalist who told me not to write for pennies a word and gave me some wonderful resources and advice on how to find good writing contracts or a writing job. And I have also been bursting with some creative writing ideas for new stories, so I want to sit down and spend a whole day just creating this week. At least one day. Maybe more.
All in all, I am worried about paying the bills and every dollar spent on groceries brings me anxiety. But I know that this is a slow game and I just need to keep plodding along, submitting what I have anywhere I can, working on my stories and poems, talking about my writing, and still with all of that, applying for writing contracts. I appreciate that you are here, reading this, because it helps inspire me to keep doing these things. Accountability is important to me and it means a lot that you are here. I know I am always saying that but it does and I want to remind you because I appreciate you.
How to Help
If you're still at the end of this email, please if you can share my printing preview page for my upcoming campaign to have studio time at Pickwick Independent Press and print my stories and books. Every email that I capture on my page before I launch, gets me closer to being able to launch the campaign. If you'd rather not do that, every little purchase from my online shop helps me pay the bills.
Thank you for reading, thank you for being here, and above all, much love to you.
Sincerely,
Coco