This is the response that came from me after reading the finalists for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Prize. I read some of those poems, including the winner, and scratched my head completely lost to what any of them were about or what made them finalists. It’s all like a foreign language to me, indecipherable.
‘I’ll never be a Poet or Writer of any consequence’
*
The thought hits while I’m sorting the washing
It’s all gobble-de-gook to me!
*
Like a shard falling from the hosts above, the dagger strikes;
I’ll never be a Poet, or Writer, of any consequence!
*
Stop trying for perfection, prizes, publication, recognition, and respect
Just like my birth parents, they ain’t coming!
*
I will remain unloved and unwanted
by the family I do not belong too
*
I should know my place and stay in it.
I don’t think I can do that.
*
The dryer buzzer jars me from my philosophical wanderings
I can fold a mean t-shirt!
Aug 19, 2012 @ 09:46:25
Great last line Elizabeth, in fact, the whole poem is delightful to read, though of course I feel your pain. Sometimes I’ll read a short story, or even a novel, (that was published traditionally) and wonder how in the world it ever made it to print. I suppose that’s the same sort of feeling.
We may not be a writer of any consequence to those who “officially” judge, but by grannies we Know our words have touched someone out there….we just know it. And so, we must keep on writing them.
Aug 20, 2012 @ 05:55:19
Thanks for the encouragement Deanna. LOL, but by grannies… That brought a hearty chuckle
You’ve a lovely way with words.
Aug 19, 2012 @ 12:21:52
There is a readership for us, Elizabeth. I don’t care if my poems are published either. I cannot be driven by an ambition. Love, sweet love. Now that moves me. You always encourage me, Elizabeth. Let me encourage you. I like reading your blog. I also read poems acclaimed by publishers that leave me wondering why their authors wrote them and why I tried to read them. I guess we are all different. They must have a readership, too. Blessings to you…
Aug 20, 2012 @ 05:58:38
Thanks for the encouragement Carol Ann, your faith and courage shared through your words are such an blessing to so many of us. I’m humbled by your kind words.
Aug 19, 2012 @ 15:27:20
Lol. Talent is talent, even if it’s not the one people value
Angie
Aug 20, 2012 @ 06:02:18
LOL! Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder. Or in this case the Bereader
Aug 19, 2012 @ 15:34:57
I think the painters of the old classics are rolling over in their graves every time they see someone fling one or two colors of paint on an empty canvas with a feather or something and call it art. Keep writing, Elizabeth.
Aug 20, 2012 @ 06:06:23
Funny you should mention that Lynette, I spent some time in the art gallery in Glasgow thinking, I could do that! One ‘painting’ had a large brush-stroke in blue and a big red circle of paint on a HUGE white canvas. And I thought, I could do that!
Aug 19, 2012 @ 15:41:25
Hey Elizabeth. One more comment, then I promise I’ll be quiet. I just read this. I think it applies:
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1: 26-31
Aug 20, 2012 @ 06:10:51
I haven’t read that verse in a long time Lynette. Thanks for reminding me of if. It is one of those verses that brings a warm chuckle to my heart. It so shows the beautiful, loving, incredible, wise, mind of God. “I will boast in the Lord.”