Wruth's Writings and Art

[Ruth]

Ah, but agents don't handle poets.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I should think not! Not unless they were invited to! :-)

[Boreal Elizabeth]

i don't think the traits are mutually exclusive
i used to be a real estate salesperson and a sort of travel agent (wilderness canoe trips)
and i've always been good at promoting any company i've worked for
but i can't promote myself in any way unless i am applying for a job where all my efforts are for another's benefit
i think it's something else than just an aversion to the business end of marketing
maybe it has to do with the amount of personal investment emotionally or as a human in my creative efforts

just thinkin out loud here

[Ken, Moderator]

It has become a bit easier with markets that accept electronic submissions. It's the mail and the weighing of packages and the postage and the SASEs and the one-at-a-time rule and the slow-as-molasses turnaround that all get me down.

[Ruth]

Sending out poetry is a record-keeping nightmare. Postage isn't much, as you can rarely send more than 5 or 6 poems at once to each publication. But keeping track of which 6 poems when to which journals is a bear.

Many publications will accept poems that are simultaneously submitted elsewhere, but many don't. So far, I've not let that particular bug get into the mix. I just know my record-keeping would break down if I sent the same poems to more than one place.

Because of that, the slow-as-molasses turnaround affects me a lot. I have to consider some of my poems may be out of circulation for up to a year every time I send them out.

[Ken, Moderator]

Because of that, the slow-as-molasses turnaround affects me a lot. I have to consider some of my poems may be out of circulation for up to a year every time I send them out.

And I think that's wrong. I think it's legit that you let the place know if whatever you simultaneously submitted has been accepted, but they look at it from their point of view only -- wasted editorial time spent reading it.

But really. What are the odds that it was truly read already? Probably slim and nil. They sit for MONTHS on desks (or IN baskets) in these joints.

[Ruth]

I agree. Sometimes I'm sure that my inquiry as to the status of my work, sent after months and months, is the trigger for them to finally pick it up and without even reading it, chug out the rejection not.

But for the record-keeping nightmare, I'd do simultaneous submissions. Maybe sometime I'll figure out how to make it easy.

But then again I remind myself that poetry publications are swamped with submissions, underfunded, underpaid and understaffed.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

a year?
no way
where's our interrobang guy?
i need some
and you get paid how much?
i'd rather bleed for a living
no wonder writer's churn out crap
how do poets ever make a living?

[Ruth]

How do poets make a living? Let's see--teaching, bartending, plumbing, editing, selling window blinds, selling insurance, doctoring, nursing, living off their inheritance... Certainly not by writing poetry.

What do I get paid? I got $20 once from Poetry New Zealand. Otherwise, it's one or 2 free copies of the publication.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

oh my god!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

NZ pays poets? Yesss!! We quite like poets here. Try some Sam Hunt, or James K. Baxter.....

[Ruth]

Just spent some time googling them both, Debbie. Enjoyed them. Both new to me.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Glad you enjoyed them. Sam Hunt is a read aloud though....they are so much better when he recites his own....which he was wont to do....travelling the country with Minstrel (his dog). I once gave them both an ice-cream when I was 17 and working at a dairy in my holidays.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

debbie the milkmaid of nz
yah
i can see it :)

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

:-)
Perhaps I should explain dairy...not a place for cows! That would be a dairy factory (processing milk) or a milking shed (gathering milk!). A dairy is like your drugstore but with nowhere to sit....you can buy drinks, snack foods, ice-creams and the basic necessities (loo paper, lightbulbs etc). Basically a 'corner store'.
I know next-to-nothing about spinning but I am glad that a finely-crafted piece of technology from here is being enjoyed by you Donna. I am in awe of your multitude of talents, and the breadth and depth of your knowledge on a huge range of subjects............respect!

[Boreal Elizabeth]

yah-it really bugs me that you are so darn smart and talented and witty and wise
my garden was a terrible dud by the way
i've never had plants die in such numbers and of such weird conditions ever
well actually-the mint did well
as did the jade
and the rosemary
veggies were a bust tho
as were the flowers
sigh
i imagine you are enjoying your gardens bounty about now
perfect smart person donna

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

No-one is perfect. I know Donna isn't because I like her! How many 'perfect' people have you actually ever liked?!

[Boreal Elizabeth]

but deb
you are perfectly delightful

heehee
donna's great
we got a bunch of cool, smart people around
it's why i keep coming back
i am learning while i play

but i still want ne to post his pic

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I am learning too....I am learning that I am not as smart as I thought I was.....I hve learned that I do, in fact, quite like poetry and I have learned not to trust stereotypes (especially of Americans)!!!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

.....and if he won't post it, just email it to afew trusted friends!

[Ruth]

He should, after all, be flattered that he has all these women clamoring for his photo.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Did you know that wool was once 'plucked' and not shorn?!!

[Boreal Elizabeth]

haha
i had quite a deflation of my intelligence ego as well
especially hanging around certain forums
this one included
but now i've ventured onto other subject specific sites that are waaaaaayyyyy over my head
and i love reading the "experts" discussions
i'm sort of having a renaissance of learning just by going online
it's envigorating
and since i can't audit university classes at the moment
i am quite pleased to have these sources

never knew sheep were plucked
learn something new every day

[Ruth]

686757 Did you know that wool was once 'plucked' and not shorn?!!

Ouch!

[Ruth]

My poem, Ode to the Toothpick, has just been accepted by North American Review.

This is one of those odd little poems I thought unlikely to find a home. I'm happy.

"FOUNDED IN Boston in 1815, the North American Review is the oldest literary magazine in the US. Published at the University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls) since 1968, on six occasions during that period, it has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award (the magazine equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), and it has twice won the top award in the Fiction category—in head-to-head competition with The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, and so on. No other university-sponsored periodical has an equivalent record of achievement."

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Yeeeeehah!!! Can't wait to read it!

[Ken, Moderator]

Huzzah! Marketeer of the Month = Ruth!

[[deleted user]]

Congratulations!

[Boreal Elizabeth]

brava lady ruth

[Ruth]

Thanks, Bun, Deb, NE and Sarah. Pablo Neruda wrote a series of odes (which are poems of praise) to humble items, the most famous of which is "Ode to My Socks." A couple of years ago those of us in my old poetry group in Redlands decided we'd try our hand at it.

[Ken, Moderator]

Moi, aussi. We should all try it here. Ruth's Poetry Seminar. Only I need to think which humble item (none of my owned items is very uppity...).

[[deleted user]]

Ode to my ID Lanyard

If not for you I would have
lost myself years ago
You hold my picture and I
can remember how good I used to look
before I pulled out my hair
in frustration
You hold my room keys and my
flash drive
Without data, I am simply an organism
taking up space and oxygen
You now hold a pen so I
do not have to ask to borrow one at meetings anymore
If only the ID lanyard could teach
then I could hang out somewhere on a beach

I don't know if that fits the "Ode" mold-- but I enjoyed writing it :)

[Ruth]

What fun both these poems are. I love that people are jumping in here with odes of their own.

More, more!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

With apologies to iambic pentameter.....

Ode to My Bookmark

All praises to my bookmark,
It helps me keep my place.
When I drop my book in the dark
Through pages I don't have to chase.
I have some in card,
Some are scraps
And one I have is pewter.
My pages are unmarred
No food stain maps
Nothing has more use-ter...
Me!

[Tyler]

I read Neruda's "Ode to the Tomato" a few years ago.

[Ruth]

Oh how beautiful it is this morning. Here's the view from my house. The ocean is almost Mediterranean blue. And yes, that's Catalina.

[Ken, Moderator]

If I had a camera digitale, I would photography my snowy view and see your Cats (and Linas). Alas, I cannot, so I can only say, "Wow! Winter in Cali!"

[Ruth]

omg, i'm freezing just looking at it.

80 degrees here.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

What is that in celsius? We are on a seesaw here....2 days ago it was 38C....today it is barely breaking 19C!
Wow Ruth.....that is beautiful!

[Ruth]

It was just so gorgeous this morning I had to share it. We'd had about a week of morning fog and largely overcast days, then to walk out of the bedroom this morning and see this.

Later, because it was Saturday, the surface was scattered with sailboats.

It always surprises me how big Catalina is when we see it. The funny thing is, it can be a bright sunny day with no evident haze and no Catalina.

What I love most about this view is that it's different every day. No, make that it's different every hour. No, wait, every half hour.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

It's all relative Donna.....sometimes I wish I could have a snowy vista....just for a short time of course! Minus 10 sounds dire....I hope you are wearing your longjohns!

[Ken, Moderator]

Yes, I find snow beautiful. Hell, I'm finding snow frequently this winter -- but that's good (as in, like the good old days). Nothing worse than a cold, muddy winter where you alternately look at dead mush and frozen dead mush.

[[deleted user]]

I think my parents need to retire in Sam Clemente! That way I can visit the view ... AHEM, I mean them!

[Ruth]

Snow is beautiful. I've just never had much chance to be around it. From our previous house we could look across the valley to snow-covered mountains. Lovely. Until someone built a McMansion next door.

You can always come visit me, Sarah.

[Ruth]

Rattle has posted another of my visual poetry pieces from their Summer 2008 issue. This went up in January, somehow I missed it until now.

http://www.rattle.com/blog/2009/01/i-...

(And did I put this one up before? http://www.rattle.com/blog/2008/12/th... )

[David]

Second link yields a 404-not found error:

Four. Oh. Four.
(Not found).
Looked around.
Looked some more.
'Twas all gone. Youth, clouds, lost love, my soaring doggerel.

Find me a trowel. I will plant a seed.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

ooh david
that was...kinda moving

[Ruth]

Love it, David. And thanks for the heads up.

A parenthesis got stuck to the tail end of that other link. Fixed now. But here it is again.

http://www.rattle.com/blog/2008/12/th...

[Ruth]

The last of my three Visual Poetry pieces that appeared in Rattle the Summer 2008 is The Making of History. This is a print publication, but since December they’ve been gradually putting the content of that issue online. Here’s the link.

http://www.rattle.com/blog/2009/03/th...

What looks brownish in the photo is really metallic gold. The central image is from Masacci's Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise, fresco in the Brancacci Chapel, Florence 1424-25

[Ruth]

Thanks, Gabi. I just peeked over at it. What fun to have an answer like that.

As for my inspiration, if you mean inspiration for my visual poems, I have to find the words on the existing book page.

If you mean inspiration for my "regular" poems, no, I don't use old books for those. I write from my life, experiences, thoughts, visual images, etc. And I don't wait for inspiration. I just write, and discover as I go what it is I'm trying to say.