Poems Up at Wildness

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Four

 

I’m thrilled to have two poems up at Wildness, a topflight journal out of the UK. One of the poems has a curious history – written in 2013, accepted quickly but not published, then rejected sixteen times over the course of seven years before landing at Wildness. Such is my life in poetry…

Many thanks to editor Michelle Tudor for taking these two poems.

21 thoughts on “Poems Up at Wildness”

  1. Not only am I a fan of your poetry, but your yamato-damashi (“Japanese fighting spirit”) is so inspiring. You are relentless in getting those words out there, driving and driving, like there is only one reasonable end to it all: all your poems published everywhere, all the time, forever. To you, an American Sensei, let me offer a deeply respectful bow and gassho to you… as well as a well crafted beer.

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    • I no longer ask myself why I do this – it’s simply what I do. If one purpose of poetry is to communicate, then the way to communicate via poetry is to send it out into the world. In my personal life, poetry has been a powerful influence. Because of poetry, I live in Indiana. Because of poetry, I communicate regularly with people on other continents. The power of one poem read aloud at an open mic led me to sitting on the board of a local nonprofit devoted to poetry, and has cascaded into other opportunities. I am lucky, but also persistent.

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      • You also very correctly view rejection letters as a volume business: they are to be cleared out in various, LARGE quantities in order to accumulate the gold. I almost get the sense you would be disappointed if the R-letters dwindled to under 100 per poem… the victory would be less sweet (???). You are a kami among ningen, good sir!

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    • Thanks very much, Carrie. I recently learned that one of my poems has been awarded a prize. It had been rejected a dozen times prior to the acceptance, and then, totally out of the blue, it won a prize! Persistence counts!

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  5. Quite a pair! Each unique, but similarly “focused”.
    “My” number is 4. I realized this back in my 20s. Reading this kinda helps me understand why.
    And my birth last name was Cates – grew up envious of my older sister (Carolyn) having CC initials. I morphed from SBC to SBJ (married) to sjazz (no one could spell or pronounce Jaeschke) to SJK (married into Kendrick clan). I could reach back, reclaim my C – jazzCK? (Nah – just jazz now. Still, the openness of “C” strikes me as jazz-attuned, inviting improvisation.)
    Glad you persisted and these two have come on stage hand in hand.

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    • Thanks, Jazz. They were written about five or six years apart, but seemed to mesh well. I find numbers, and the evolution of the alphabet, fascinating. I’m slowly (very occasionally) writing pieces on both. Much fun, and different from what I usually do.

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  9. Congratulations, Bob.

    I think of this line is your new life in moving halfway cross-country…

    “Or, C chooses a new life, unvoiced yet strong in issuance, chomping at the air,
    standing firm, as companion, as augmenter, affirming existence.”

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