poetry and publication thereof

by Anna Maria Hansen


Poetry. It's supposed to be all about thoughts... concepts... imagery... brevity... right? People (who are not poets) imagine poets as being these long-haired, dreamy individuals who sit with a quill pen held between graceful fingertips, waiting... just peacefully waiting... for that beautiful thought that will be written down to stay in every human being's heart for eternity.

Umm.... I have news. Even if poets did idly catch poems like children net butterflies... there's another aspect to poetry writing.

Publishing.

Enough to scare anyone -- even a hard-core novelist, much less us fragile poets. The work and time that can go into publishing one poem is roughly ten times what it took to write the original poem. Cover letters, magazines, journals, chapbooks, e-magazines, editors, SASE, paid by the word, paid by the line, paid by the poem, not paid at all... it's a litany of unknown designed especially to strike fear into the heart of the would-be-published-poet.

However! Quell the beating heart, the knocking knees, the shortness of breath. There is hope. To be found in the pages of the Writer's Digest Poet's Market -- a handy guide for poets looking for publication. Published every year, with excellently organized lists of publications that accept poetry, this book is a must-have for those who fear the rocky path of publication. It includes names of publications, contact information, what the publication is looking for, how they want submissions to appear, what they pay, who they've published, what kind of poetry they want.

With a pen and paper, anyone can quickly read through and jot down names of publications that mutually suit poet and publication. A few more minutes of online research of the websites provided will get you each publications submission guidelines. In the front of Poet's Market is a section that shows poets how to write a cover letter and format their poems -- slide it into an envelope with a SASE (self address stamped envelope), address... and you've sent off your first poetry submission. Bravo!

Well, what are you waiting for? Get going!