Friday, September 11, 2009

This Morning I E-mailed My Manuscript Out - a poem for writers

THIS MORNING I E-MAILED MY MANUSCRIPT OUT
by
Gregory K.

This morning, I e-mailed my manuscript out –
Clicked send then I let out a huge, happy shout.
Now that it’s gone, there’s so much I can do:
Like speak to my friends and my family, too!
I’ll do all the dishes. I’ll sweep all the floors.
I’ll visit that place that they call “the outdoors.”
I’ll catch up on reading. A movie sounds good.
I’ll clean off my desktop to check if it’s wood.
I’ll cut back on coffee and eat some real meals.
I’ll see if my legs like how exercise feels.
I do hope I hear ‘bout my manuscript soon,
But I won’t check my inbox... at least until noon.


Elaine has the Poetry Friday Roundup over at the Wild Rose Reader today. It's well worth checking out, as is her blog itself.

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17 comments:

Kelly Polark said...

Fun poem! I do need to clean off my desk...

Karen Edmisten said...

I love it! All except the part about cutting back on coffee.
:)

Author Amok said...

So true! I'm going to recommend our local SCBWI members visit and read your poem.

Barbara Bietz said...

Greg,

Terrific poem. Thanks for the smile.

Unknown said...

Oh, I LOVE this! Brilliantly funny!!

April Halprin Wayland said...

Did you really, Greg?

I am going to by Oct. 15th.

Mary Lee said...

Very fun!

JoyceHostetter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joyce Moyer Hostetter said...

So fun. So true.

Joan Y. Edwards said...

I loved your poem. Beth put a link on SCBWI newsletter. It was fun to read. I admit I might be tempted to check my email before noon.

Dorothy said...

Greg, loved your poem and could see it illustrated. Technical question: all lines are 11 syllables except third line which is 10, and last, which is 12. It sounds fine as is, but because I'm teaching myself poetry, I just wondered if there's a rule? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Great poem, Greg!

Sarah Stevenson said...

As usual, Greg, you're awesome! I love it. I'm definitely bookmarking and linking the heck out of this one.

Anonymous said...

Greg, I gotta ditto April's question: Did you?

'Cause I haven't (sigh). I don't recall that place called "the outdoors" or that leg-thing called "exercise". So, if you have actually been unchained from your writing desk, you'll have to compose some poems about those things for the benefit of those of us who remained shackled.

Ha! -- DD

Anonymous said...

Great poem, Greg! Soooo true! :)

Greg Pincus said...

Dorothy - there's no hard and fast rule unless you're dealing with a form where syllable count is prescribed (tetractys, Fibs, haiku, many others). Or, I broke the rules, cuz I didn't count until you mentioned it! For me, it's about where accents/stresses fall combined with where natural pauses occur in how we say the words or where punctuation creates space. In a poem like this, for me at least, it's all about using the rhythms so that people read it the way I hope they will!

See also Douglas Florian's Rules of Poetry reprinted here at GottaBook.

Yeah. What he said. :-)

Greg Pincus said...

Thanks y'all for the comments. And yes, I have recently sent something off, though I must note that this poem predates the action (other than a few very recent tweaks) since I like to think it's kinda universal and not just me! But yes, it was nice to get something done, and those of you not there yet... c'mon already. What's your problem???? :-) (Oh... and I wish you good luck and much uninterrupted time)

P.S. Confirmed: my desktop is wood!