Vampire, Zombie Poems to Appear in April Ryder

This comes a bit late — mea culpa — concerning an email Tuesday evening, March 1, from the Bloomington Writers Guild’s Tony Brewer: Hi, James. Thanks so much for your submission.

I’d like to run “Don’t Always Believe Everything You’ve Heard” and “Vampiress’ Soliloquy.”

The note went on to cite a release date of April 18, and a possible reading on the 23rd. Of what? Of poetry, in this case for local community magazine, THE RYDER.

So I don’t write as much poetry now as in the past, putting more effort into short fiction, and my marketing is practically non-existent. But this notice had come up in mid January: Publication possibility — calling all poets and sometimes-poets

THE RYDER MAGAZINE
SPECIAL POETRY ISSUE

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The Ryder Magazine and Film Series is once again partnering with the Writers Guild at Bloomington, this time for a special poetry issue of the magazine. The street date of the print issue will be April – National Poetry Month – the the poems will be available in the online edition as well. Poems will be selected by Tony Brewer.

If not writing much, but marketing less, that means I do have an expanding poetry backlog so why not? Yes? The call was for up to three poems, up to 50 lines each, and reprints were okay so I sent two new ones and — why not? — a sort of favorite as a reprint, “Godzilla Vs. King Kong.” And, not entirely unexpectedly, the fight poem proved to be the pug — the punched-out boxer put into a prize fight to build up wins for a new up-and-comer — with the new ones triumphing. These are both sort of sassy, satirical mid-length efforts, “Don’t Always Believe. . .” an examination of the New Hampshire state motto, “Live Free or Die,” from the point of view of a zombie and “The Vampiress’ Soliloquy” a Shakespearean mashup.

Say what?

Check back next month and we’ll find out together.