Saturday, February 03, 2007

submission

Every time I send a poem away for consideration in a publication, I enter into a vulnerable space- a place of submission. I submit my poetry, my words and my creations. But more than that, I submit a piece of myself to be judged by others.

Amongst the rejections, four publications have accepted my poetry! Two of them are currently on the web (I will let you know when the others are published). The publications are All Things Girl and The Hiss Quarterly. Click here and here to view the poems.

Lately, I have been noticing the anxiety created by waiting to hear back from the many publications that have my poetry. This space reminds me of moments within relationships when we share pieces of ourselves, in other words, submit, in order to reap the benefits of being seen and of knowing another person intimately. Submitting to this process has created loss in my life, but much brilliance as well.

By surrendering ourselves in this world, we choose to engage. We know that the place between submitting and being rejected or accepted can be uncomfortable. And yet, we continue to risk being vulnerable with the hopes of connecting. As we open ourselves to possibility in this world, let us remember the beauty that lies in submission.

3 comments:

meghan said...

I am very proud of you for even sending it out in the first place! That part is scarier than the rejections! Keep doing it! Let us know when they appear!

Mina said...

Submitting can be scary, in both senses of the word, and I think it's wonderful that these parts of you get to go visit publications and readers -- EVEN if they don't get published. In a way, we don't really know what they're looking for, but we do know they've looked at your poems, that your poems have been read, and that when they do appear in print... it feels so good.
Yay for submitting!

Emily said...

Congratulations on your success!