november 2023
Hello from Tokyo!
This month, family from the US came to visit, and we saw some beautiful autumn scenery together - including red momiji leaves at mountain shrines, and snow-capped Mt Fuji in the distance.
Also, I passed 100 total submissions of poetry and short prose to literary magazines. Still aiming for 100 rejections!
With my twitter gone, I've felt more resistance than ever toward opening up social media. That feels like a good thing! Rather than scrolling through an app, I'm very much enjoying reading the email newsletters of other writers and artists. It gives me time and space to slow down and contemplate what is being expressed. A conversation at a different kind of pace.
My poem "at shibuya crossing" has been published in underscore_magazine. It's lovely to be a part of this wonderful magazine about city life, especially with a piece about the big crossing that I pass through so often.
One of the first poems I ever sent out, "Binary Star System", has been published in Strange Horizons. I'm still a bit in disbelief and awe that despite not having any publication credits at the time and never having submitted to speculative magazine before, I received an acceptance from senior poetry editor AJ Odasso. I think it really was the best kind of encouragement a new writer could hope for, to keep going and working on their craft.
Since then, I've received many, many rejections, including from places where I've sent in work again after a rejection (or two) and received yet another rejection. But I'm still just thankful that readers and editors, most of whom are doing this work on a volunteer basis, are reading my words. And as I continue, I find myself learning and growing in my writing, and enjoying the revision process.
Some of what I've read this month:
Mars by Fuyumi Soryo (spontaneous revisiting of this series after finding the set at bookoff)
Narita Express by Mimi Wong
Eye to the Telescope Issue 50 - Food & Feasting
What If We Could Photosynthesize? by Jinna Lei (a re-read)
The Forms of Love by George Oppen
The Flamingo by Joel Hans
Metrology Theory #4 by Sean Cho A.
The Body in Fragments by Yuki Tanaka
By the way, please feel welcome to respond / email with thoughts if you'd like. :)
Thanks for reading, and until next letter!
lae