Talking about Poetry Book Reviews, and a Couple of Down Days due to MS, Rejections, etc.

Red-winged blackbird

Down Days (Rejections, MS, etc)

I’ve had a couple of “down” days the last couple of days, due to the 88 degree heat giving me terrible MS symptoms, and seven rejections (including one book rejection) in two days – a record for me, I think.

I can’t really do much about the MS symptoms in the heat , except avoid the heat. I almost went to the hospital when my symptoms got bad (screaming leg pains, this time, a newish symptom), but I survived. I am just looking forward to the weather getting back to our summertime normal, which is closer to 70 than 90. I had to cancel pretty much all my appointments, social and medical, which gave me spare time to think about my rejections.

One way to think about rejection is that it is a sign you are aiming high, or aiming outside your own personal comfort sign. It is a sign you are trying. If a gymnast fell once off a balance beam, and said “Well, that’s not for me,” she would be losing out, not achieving her potential. It’s the same for us. Now, I’ve been doing this a long time, so of course it’s discouraging to get rejections – even encouraging rejections. You think, “I should have this down by now.” But the truth is, every publisher is not the right publisher for you. Every literary journal isn’t going to be a perfect fit for the poems I’m writing right now, even if they were for the poems I wrote a decade ago. And I am aiming higher than I used to, which I think is a good thing.

In the quiet time, I had time to watch birds – we have two pairs of quail living near our yard now, and the red-winged blackbirds are singing, and the peacocks at Chateau Ste Michelle are walking around with their beautiful feathers. One of my favorite flowers, the lilacs, are just about done blooming. Here are some Woodinville pics from the day it was cool enough to walk around outside:

Saucy peacock

Talking About Book Reviewing

I know this is something I’ve talked about before, but I just thought I’d write a little reminder as we get into the summer months, good months for writing and submitting poetry book reviews. Every poet wants their book to be reviewed. I always get asked, “How do I get more book reviews?” And I almost always say, “Well, how much time have you spent writing poetry book reviews?” And if the answer in none, well, remember, there are way more people who want their poetry recognized than people who want to do the hard critical labor of reviewing books. I’ve been doing it now for a dozen years. I finally (at the encouragement of several friends) joined the National Book Critics Circle.

Now, there are different types of poetry book critics. There are poetry critics who get joy from putting poetry books down, showing how clever they are at the expense of the writers. I encourage you not to be that kind of critic. I myself try hard not to do that stuff. Because while most people aren’t reading enough of the great poetry books out there – especially not books by people of color and women – I try to write the kind of review that might get someone excited enough to actually buy the book. I’m not a cheerleader, but if I choose to review a book, it’s not because I hate it. It’s also not because I think it’s flawless, but because I think it is interesting and deserving of others’ attention.

It is surprisingly easy to place a poetry book review, because not many people are out there desperately sending out book reviews, the way they are fiction or poetry. So I encourage you to review a book of poetry, hopefully one that hasn’t already been reviewed a thousand times. (It happens – one book captures the world’s imagination all at once, perhaps focused on relevant social themes, or current events. It’s not a bad thing.) It’s the one thing that costs you no money that might make another writer really happy.