Hot off the press!

While reading prize entries for the Blue Lynx Poetry Contest sponsored by the Eastern Washington University Press today, I couldn't help but wonder where everyone gets all these poems they send out. I also wondered why anyone would send in money for a contest. I never have money to send anywhere, just for the off-chance that I may win. It seems like a waste of 25 dollars to me, but we have a lot of entries, so obviously I am the only one who feels this way.

I also noticed that a lot of the entries included poetry that was already published. A lot. It is crazy how many of the manuscripts included poetry that was already published. Crazy. I thought, when I first heard about it, that it would mostly be new writers.

Of course, I have a lot of poetry I've written, but not enough to fill a book, and if I did have enough to fill a book, they aren't good enough for a whole book. I have maybe 2 or 3 that I think are OK and could be good enough for a book.

I'm just not satisfied with them.

There is one that was first called, "Odd" then, "The New Toy," and then, "Pennies From Heaven," which I didn't really think fit, but I used it anyway. I've rewritten this poem about thirty bazillion times, and I hate it. I don't know why I still have it and keep working on it. It was created from a weird dream, and the way it is reworked keeps it being a weird thing, but I still hate it. I can't even remember what it's called now, but something like, "The Bone Factory" would work. Oh, hold on, let me look. I have three computers that I use on a daily basis, and I can't remember where I saved it, so nevermind.

I am 98% sure that I saved it on my desktop, but I don't see it. How annoying.

I blame Jeff.