A Letter I Received

Last fall, I submitted my thesis manuscript (pared down a bit) to several chapbook contests. Three, in fact. One was rejected, one was lost and never to be heard from again, and one response came in last week. I placed second and will be getting a chapbook of poetry published by Liquid Paper Press (aka Nerve Cowboy). It should be printed by the end of summer. Although this doesn't mean I've been actively writing, it does mean that my past writing has found a home and potential ears and eyes. Vollmer and Jakiela even expressed interest in teaching it in their classes. How wonderful it would be to have students discussing my poetry? Reading it, digesting it, finding themes and hammering out their likes and dislikes of it. That the goal, really. To write it, of course, but to also have it reach its intended audience. The fact that my sentimental poems have been identifiable to a complete stranger, enough to want to see it produced in a larger quantity, means it's more than self-sentimental poetry. It's relatable.

Right before I found out about the chapbook, I decided to get back in gear with my writing. I contacted two fellow writers who graduated with me last spring and scheduled a workshop with them in August. I now have two deadlines for which to write and submit poems for workshop and I am feeling much better about my progress. In the coming weeks I will be fine-tuning the poems I've written over the past few months (barely any), and writing some more for the workshop. So the chapbook letter was some added motivation that felt just about right.

The title of the chapbook. I Fall in Love with Strangers.