Poetry Advice x5
by Ally
In the interest of fairness to all my readers (yes, I am a freelancer, but yes I will try to diversify more!) I’d like to impart some advice to emerging/wannabe poets.
In college I read for a literary journal, and although I judged in Long Fiction, I often did backup for Poetry, so please keep in mind the following is based on solely that (with a smattering of backgroud from an undergrad degree in English).
- Read the journal first. You’d never guess how many inappropriate, too edgy, too ….whatever….. submissions we received. I know it can get expensive, but I’d recommend reading more than one copy. Perhaps you could put a day aside to set up camp in the library, instead of purchasing your own copies.
- Make the first poem the best. Although we were instructed to read all the submissions, it was difficult to give the 2nd, 3rd, 4th poems a fair read if the first one left a bad taste.
- Let it sit. And then let it sit again. Get some distance from your poems. I have 3 or 4 pieces that I’ve been working on for months. They get filed away, and then I drown myself in “good” poetry before I reread them. After filling my head with decent poetry, I can then go back and read my own pieces, and more readily notice glaring differences.
- Follow the directions! I know, you see this specific piece of advice on every “How To Get Published” column, but seriously, it needs to be said.
- Don’t.Stop.Submitting. Whatever you do, keep going. It’s ambition that’s going to get you published.
Best of luck!
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