Sahm King at the Arkside of thought did a post today that I found not only relevent to poetry but to women’s place in society and in particular, the arts.
We’ve all been aware that J.K. Rowling recently wrote a crime novel. We also know that she wrote under a pseudonym. She did this probably in order to test her writing abilities and in order to pass from the Harry Potter era to something completely different.
She was betrayed by someone in her law firm (who has had to pay her damages by the way). By blowing her cover, her book which was a slow seller became an over-night success on the strength of her Potter reputation. Old news. The real question is not that she wanted to try to publish without her Harry Potter success pushing the sales of her new book. The question is why did she choose to publish as a man.
It was because of the genre of the book. American and English publishers are convinced that women writing Science Fiction, Fantasy, Crime and similar genres will not sell. I’d like to think that they are only afraid of missing out on their male buyers because they’ve been written by a woman, however I’ve a sneaking feeling that even female readers would have their doubts before buying a crime novel written by “Mary Mercy”.
Women have been pigeon holed. Women are good at writing romantic stories or children’s stories. How much more so since the invention of Chick Lit, for pities sake. Thanks to Emily Dickenson, women can also write poetry and hope to be published if their poetry is feminine enough. A poet from the Iraqi war zone publishing about the horrors of war, might not get published if that poet is a woman.
I work
on my blog
re-organizing
my cats
re-reading
re-writing
titles
and tags
what a gory battle
cleaning up my
lists
adding new ones…
housing children
with their new parents
ah…so many
poems
stories
photos
and thoughts!
so much more work
to get to the end
for I’ve got some categories
that house
pages and pages
of miscellanea…
there is an advantage!
reading my work
I’ve discovered
some poems I like!
*I know, categorying doesn’t exist…but I like it so there it sits!
The other day I sent an e-mail to our friend Baldy to see how he’s faring…and it seems he faring fairly well! Outside of a bit of a health problem, he’s still going quite strong in the world of Poetry and had the fine opportunity to read some of his poems at the Worcester Literary Festival!
Of course, I asked him if I could share this with you all…though the sound is a bit shoddy.
This was his reply: “I would be thrilled for you to make a post about my Worcester literary festival appearance. You made me smile today! I have had some lovely responses from loved ones over the video (though many jokes about THE shirt, which I believe is jealousy. Every man should own THE shirt that their wife will not be seen in public with.)
It was wonderful to be a part of it, and a real treat to be in such company, the other members of the Worcester writers’ circle are very talented and most supportive and encouraging of each other (much like the WordPress community)…Their latest anthology ‘You Can’t Be Serious’ was the brainchild for the Worcester Literary Festival event held by our circle this year and Tony Judge (a very funny man and excellent writer who has published two novels that I know of) has apparently done a wonderful job with it. I am excited to get my own copies so I can see and show off my appearances within the pages (this is the twenty-sixth anthology that I have appeared in to date and I received two letters from Forward Poetry yesterday asking permission to publish two more – details to follow).
I believe the two poems ‘Uncle Jemmy’s Wibble’ (which came about from a conversation with my grandmother over my uncle’s childhood imaginary friend and sparked a series of funny ‘arguments’ in poem and letter form between them, a truly magical read that I hope to share one day but must get another look at them and ask their permission. one day… one day…) and ‘Ode to ye Olde water Filter Jug’ (which came about from finding a post-it note on grandmother’s filter jug that read ‘please wipe my bottom’…) appear in the anthology but there was a miscommunication between myself and Mr Judge about the final piece and I think a piece of flash fiction of mine is in there. The misunderstanding was due to the flash fiction and the poem I had intended for the book both sharing the same title. I was delighted either way…”
And he has sent a copy of the poems that were read!
Uncle Jemmy’s Wibble
Wibbles are quite wonderful; they are most remarkable creatures,
They come in such a variety, with many interesting features,
I could not tell you what my Wibble looks like; you’ll say I’m telling lies,
Your Wibble could differ much from mine, but then, that’s no surprise,
Mine could have a smooth chin, whilst Granny’s sports a bright pink beard,
My Wibble wears a shirt and tie, which your Wibble thinks is weird,
Your Wibble’s handsome suit does not quite go with that dress,
But my Wibble’s suit of armour’s spoilt by the tutu, I confess,
Are Wibbles bald or hairy? How big are Wibbles’ teeth?
Yours has a piercing where, you say? Goodness gracious, oh, good grief!
My Wibble has a centre parting in his bottom fluff,
But don’t you tell the neighbour, she says she’s had enough!
After all our Wibbles’ farting and other Wibble-esque sounds,
And after what they did in her knickers drawer (that was clearly out of bounds!),
I’m surprised she hasn’t smacked our Wibbles, that they’re not black and blue,
Especially since they posted all her bras to Timbuktu!
"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists" Eric Hoffner
Noreen Crone-Findlay talks about the crafts she loves with her friend, Tottie Tomato. They'll be sharing tutorials, how to's and step by steps for spool knitting, crochet, doll making, small loom weaving, wood working, paper crafts and all manner of other fun crafts. This is a family friendly blog.
Carpe Diem's Tanka Splendor is part of the Carpe Diem Haiku Family. It's a weekly tanka-meme in which you can write and share tanka inspired on a given prompt every Saturday (mostlty, sometimes it will be on another day).
"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists" Eric Hoffner
Noreen Crone-Findlay talks about the crafts she loves with her friend, Tottie Tomato. They'll be sharing tutorials, how to's and step by steps for spool knitting, crochet, doll making, small loom weaving, wood working, paper crafts and all manner of other fun crafts. This is a family friendly blog.
Carpe Diem's Tanka Splendor is part of the Carpe Diem Haiku Family. It's a weekly tanka-meme in which you can write and share tanka inspired on a given prompt every Saturday (mostlty, sometimes it will be on another day).