No reference to you-know-what

Here's a poem of mine that was just purchased by Sigurd Magazine:


Dare

Because I doubt my being
I drape you in words
like papier mache'
that when you withdraw
I have a hollow to inhabit.
Everyone is Jesus to me,
everyone who leaves
a space to occupy.
Notice how many hollows
letters contain
and the spaces between words--
I dare you to find me.


They had a submission policy of twelve lines or less for poetry, which made submitting a challenge. Glad I found something they liked.

I just found out from Cider Press that my poetry ms. did not even make the finalists, and Tony Hoagland chose a book by Stacey Lynn Brown as the winner. If you google her you'll find very few online references, nothing like mine.... but I never do well in contests, though magazine editors seem to like me. And of course, she is married to a poet and has an MFA, so is probably better connected with the poetry world.

(My poetry has always striven for depth, for meaning, and much of today's poetry seems chatty and trivial to me. But I have no MFA, so I speak out of turn.)

I bought a huge vegetarian cookbook today (World Vegetarian Classics) at Kathleen's urging, since the one I was using was limited. Even so, she wanted pork for dinner! (Should go well with my vegetarian chile.)

Now, Norm, I'll conclude this brief note with no reference to...youknowwhat.

Cheers,

CE