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Monday, April 24, 2006

High Fives All-Around!

"Each word bears its weight, so you have to read my poems quite slowly." ~ Anne Stevenson

I like this quote because it reminds me of the whole matter of word economy in poetry. I often need to remind myself the importance of this to poetry. It is not so much that I have a struggle with it as it is that it just needs to remain on the forefront of my mind.

It has occurred to me that this is a concept that really goes against the grain of my normal mode of communication. With ADD the tendency is to verbalize everything that is going through your mind. Hence, I will often give a person more information than needed in the course of a conversation. As I write this, I'm thinking my wife would likely ask me, "then how come I can write poems with less wordage and not do the same in our conversations?" It is a good question and I suspect the major factor is that we speak in conversations much faster than we write. Writing slows us and of course besides taking more time to choose the best words, we have the ability to re-write.

I do have some good news. Last week I was flipping through the mail and there is one of my self-addressed envelopes.

So I'm reading along... " We are pleased to inform you that your work has been accepted for publication in the 2006 issue..."
and all of a sudden, I realize this is not a rejection letter! I could get into the joy of receiving these much better than the other variety.

4 comments:

Amy said...

Yea! Congratulations on getting a "non-rejection!" I have a few things out and am hoping for a non-rejection myself.

Michael A. Wells said...

Amy- Thanks! Also, welcome back to the blog world. I just noticed the other day that after a long absence, Living Poetry is bustling with life again. I have enjoyed youir posts in the past and was missing it.

Jessica- Thanks also! The answer to your question is yes and no. I've had numerous pieces of poetry published. Three anthologies, newspapers, University lit reviews, but this is the first time I've actually received a formal reply of acceptance.

Ivy said...

Congratulations, Michael! Yay!

Michael A. Wells said...

Thank you Ivy....

I know you have quite a number of such credits - but I know you still get excited about them. It is a good feeling.