This has been a busy poetry week for me! My interview with J. Patrick Lewis was posted at the Poetry at Play blog, I’ve been in touch with two different editors about two different projects, I’m trying to finish up a couple of poems I started awhile back, and now – more news to report from the good folks at YARN!
Back in October, I told you about the online literary journal, Young Adult Review Network (YARN). They had published my poem, “Apple Stealing,” as one of three poems they were using to promote their “Fall Treats” poetry contest. Well, this time around, they’ve published FOUR of my poems! (I actually have my own page – I feel so special!)
These aren’t children’s poems, but I was never sure they really fit the ‘adult poetry’ niche, either…so I’m glad they found a home with young adults. I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed creating them.
And as if having four poems published simultaneously in an online journal such as YARN wasn’t enough, I was just notified by one of their editors that they are nominating “Apple Stealing” for a Pushcart Prize , which you can learn more about HERE. This honour reflects upon the journal that publishes the prize-winning poem as much as it does the person who wrote it – so I wish YARN the best!
Like I said, what a week – whew! But that’s still not all; for more great Poetry Friday offerings, please visit Amy at The Poem Farm.
Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme 
That’s wonderful news, Matt! Congratulations!
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Thanks, Catherine!
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Hearty congratulations, Matt – your “Apple Stealing” poem is great. Enjoy every bite of all this good news lately!
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Thanks, Robyn – I am!
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Wow! Congrats on all the good news. Love the surprise endings of “Apple Stealing” and “Upon Setting Down the Pen.” Of the four most recently published, my favorite is “Oceanside.” 🙂
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Glad you liked them, Jama; I think I like ‘Oceanside’ best, as well, although I really like the ambiguity of ‘Abandonment.’ So hard to pick favourites – it’s like choosing which of your kids you like best!
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Congratulations! So much good news to enjoy. I thought the YARN poems were spot on. You didn’t know you were still in touch with your adolescent self?
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‘still in touch with my adolescent self’ – are you kidding, Liz? I never grew up! If I had, I wouldn’t have spent my career in radio. 😉
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Congratulations, Matt! 4 cheers for you. I don’t know if I could pick a favorite myself but Oceanside really touched me.
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Oh, thank you so much, Susan! I appreciate it.
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Congratulations! You should feel special to get your own page! I like the wry little twists at the end of several of these.
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Thanks, Ruth!
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Wow! Congratulations on a GREAT week!
I loved them all, Matt, but there was something about Beauty… that really reached me. I think it was the way you were able to help me fell a sense of distant drama. I loved the surprise of the last line, too! Thanks!
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Hi, Steve! Thanks for stopping by – I’m glad you liked the poems. I came up with ‘Beauty’ when I was admiring the stars one night…and then realized there was so much chaos and destruction in what I was witnessing. The violence of stars explodnig, engulfing each other, galaxies feeding off each other’s gravitational pulls…and yet from here, it’s so calm and peaceful!
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Matt, That’s EXACTLY how I felt reading it. Helps me realize just how much of life is lived “at a distance” from something!
A short, related story. Recently I had a conversation with an ecologist friend of mine. While some see pastoral beauty in the rolling hills, the corn and hay fields of our area of Iowa (US), she sees a post-apocalyptic, MAD MAX wasteland for the plants she loves. “An occupational hazard,” she says. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to have some distance so as to enjoy the twinkle! 🙂
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Speaking of rolling hills…they wouldn’t be rolling, were it not for the convection currents deep in the earth violently shifting tectonic plates, creating fissures, lakes, mountains, and rivers. There’s beauty in cataclysm all around us!
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Yes, there certainly is beauty all around us. And cataclysm. Perhaps it takes a poet to see this sometimes? 🙂
I’ve enjoyed the conversation. Thank you!
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Me too, Steve – keep up the good work!
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Matt, I’m looking forward to reading more of your poetry in future weeks.
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I appreciate it, Steve; hopefully it’ll be worth your while!
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That sweet, sad, oceanside. I think we can all relate to it, looking always for home. Many congratulations, Matt! Such wonderful news for you and YARN! a.
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Thanks, Amy. I was watching the water lapping at the shore one day, and wondered why we always think of the sea coming and going out; What if it’s the shore that’s moving back and forth, and we don’t even notice?
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Congratulations! Matt! Well deserved publications.
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Thank you, Violet!
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