Ten-Finger Exercises

Buoys and Goals

Yep, you're right, dragonfly, I did sort of sneak into a recent blog a goal I'd met. I did submit two poems last week. And, what's strange is, I got an answer right away. I don't know what to make of it.

First, they weren't my favorite poems, but they fit the preferences of the magazine I was sending them to. They referenced writing in some way.

They were to be emailed to the poetry editor, who said she liked them both. She preferred the shorter one because it was shorter and had an unusual idea in it. She wrote, "My only hesitation with this peace [sic] is the same one that I often have with rhymed poetry and that is the heart of the poem seems subservient to the form. The form of the poem in fact is the point of this poem. Thus, it almost becomes a kind of mnemonic device, more than what I'd call a poem.. Perhaps if you play around with the idea a bit more so that piece not only demonstrates the metrical forms, but also works a bit better together as 'story.'"

So tonight I'm trying to get my short poem about the Meter Family, which was difficult to rhyme because of the different meters used in different lines, into a different shape. The only way I know to hold it together as a poem at all is with some rhyme. I've tried blank verse unsuccessfully (not that my verse feels very successful either.) I'll email my working copy to anyone interested in commenting.

Anyway, isn't that unusual to get a response quickly and asking you to polish it up? What should I expect here? Anything? Or do I have a charitable editor who wants to be helpful and nice regardless of her intentions? I know, you don't know the answer either. But those of you who have submitted things, maybe you can save me from being overjoyed by a few tempering words. (As it says in one of the prayers from the service of Compline, "shield the joyous.")