Tupelo Time
Sounds like a title for a Lowell George, posthumous, come-back tour. Or maybe Elvis. Or hell, let's bring them all back. Anybody who's ever picked a lute or hummed a bar, and then passed into the great beyond, get on up. Arise. It's Tupelo time!
The question is, without the promise of a "curtail your orphic utterances" form letter signed by Jeffrey Levine, should I submit to Tupelo during their open (but not free) reading period this year? Is the promise of rejection a big enough incentive?
My manuscript is now better, tighter, a little more ambitious. I don't know. Getting something better rejected is always a good feeling. A rejection from Tupelo or thirty cups of coffee? It's truly a hard call. I don't mind supporting Tupelo, but I do like my coffee.
Anybody have any real advice for me?
What will we do now that foetry has laid down the reins?
The question is, without the promise of a "curtail your orphic utterances" form letter signed by Jeffrey Levine, should I submit to Tupelo during their open (but not free) reading period this year? Is the promise of rejection a big enough incentive?
My manuscript is now better, tighter, a little more ambitious. I don't know. Getting something better rejected is always a good feeling. A rejection from Tupelo or thirty cups of coffee? It's truly a hard call. I don't mind supporting Tupelo, but I do like my coffee.
Anybody have any real advice for me?
What will we do now that foetry has laid down the reins?
posted by Anonymous at 8:06 PM
11 Comments:
I think many people have a bad taste left in their mouth because of Tupelo's deception last time. I wouldn't trust them, and it's a lot of money for an open reading period. On the other hand, less people might be entering because of all those things and you might have more of a chance. Flip a coin. Or, if you have the money to burn, might as well. (If they didn't like your manuscript last time, maybe it be unrealistic to expect much?)
Thanks for the good advice, Don.
But geez, I still don't know. Mostly, after thirty years of stacking words into lines and stanzas, turning images into metaphors and visa-versa, now I write poems simply because I really like to write poems. I like fiddling around trying to find new ways to say things, trying to find out what I really think, trying to find the heart of the world, but I don't expect to find any of this every time I write.
It'd be nice to have a book out there and to know other people were reading the poems (although I'm not naive enough to think that having a book out there means people are reading it), so I'll keep trying to put my poems into an order that makes sense to me.
But I'm used to rejection. Validation is nice when it comes, but I'm really used to rejection. The lift I get from feeling like I've written something that's interesting every once in a while makes me almost impenetrable.
I'll fiddle some with my book and see what happens. If it feels right, I'll send it everywhere. Last year, I made the mistake of only sending it to some of everywhere.
And yeah, I have a bad taste in my mouth about what Tupelo did last year. I suspect Jeffrey Levine does, too.
I like thinking of him panicked under a pile of a thousand manuscripts wondering what the hell to do, and deciding on a personalized form letter as a way of addressing the problem. I don't like to think of him premediating the form letter before he made the offer to write a personal letter critiquing every ms.
Foetry would say that I'm naive.
They'd say "accidental fraud" is still fraud.
I'd say, "Eh, I don't know."
We'll see how much I believe in my revised ms in a couple of weeks.
--
Hope you're feeling better.
J
I would like to see a Jack Martin book of poems. However it comes about.
Thanks, Glenn.
Ditto your book.
Mentioning Lowell George made my day...what a talent he was...so eclectic...one of the best damn bands of any time, any place, the original Little Feat!
I say yes to a Jack Martin book, as well...however it reaches us!
Yeah. I miss Lowell George, too.
And thanks, Lary.
Want to go meet at Stella's some time this month?
oh, and, Lary, I hope you're sending out a book, too!
It's time.
Sounds good, Jack. Mondays, Wednesdays or Friday mornings work best for me. Give me a date or two...
I'll email you Lary.
jack
i admire your very healthy, adult attitude to rejection.
still...i would like to see a book of yours out there.
it does feeling amazing to play around with words, try to get things right.
i suspect you're doing the writing project summer institute right now. the nwp profession writing retreat in santa fe was AMAZING....ever thought about writing about teaching?
-nancy
Nancy-
I'd like to see a book of yours, too.
I have thought about writing about teaching. Oddly, I feel like I know more about poetry than I do about teaching.
Have you noticed that the NWP is making a big push for use of blogs, or is that something that's peculiar to the CSUWP?
Talk to you soon,
Jack
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