I received an email yesterday from MiPo announcing the winner of their chapbook contest, who was Christine Hamm, but to my great surprise, my chapbook manuscript Inside Bone There’s Always Marrow made the final 10 list. Not only is this my first manuscript but MiPo was my first (and only) attempt at publishing it. I’m going to do some editing to the manuscript and once I have some extra cash to spare, send it to a few more places. If anyone has any advise regarding the construction of chapbook manuscripts, I’d love to hear them. I’m pretty much clueless when it comes to putting together a manuscript.
A publishing question: When submistting poems to journals, if you have a poem that was previously published and that poem has been revised since then, is that poem still considered “previously published”?
Edit to add:
Early draft of a new poem. The latest one I posted and this new one I am going to work into the manuscript.
An Open Poem To God From One Atheist
Dear God, there has always been this:
marrow inside of bone. Those retarded
cells that drive nonage to adultery. Elizabeth’s
cancerous swollen lips. Me foolishly
forgetting the wild dog story only to imagine
a new one: confused bees pollinating
in early spring as she watered
blooming azaleas; she, too, a Queen
whose royalty was misunderstood.
That’s how I see it –
boiling down to sex.
Mother’s boney knees beneath
motel sheets while I stared off
into bending brush strokes,
art pinned to tacky walls
and the anonymity of those painters
like my mother’s lovers
who became famous to me. There is forgetting
or the inability to do so. Dear God, if I believe
in anything it is this: bones
and that which runs through them.
I’m clueless, too. But big congrats to being among the finalists. (I was just plain rejected!)
I think if the poem is revised extensively it’s a new poem. In general, I would let the editor know and, if he/she is interested, have a look at the previous version to avoid a problem.
cheers
wow rach– i dig this poem, those lines… tough images here. the struggle we all feel from within, without… *whew*
i’m bloogling now– so don’t think i didn’t answer yr comments over at my blooglespot.
as for mss– i just threw one together one day after reading so much about po peeps and their chaps. i sent mine one time, too, and it’ll arrive in dec. whims dictate good fortune in this case, and many others i’ve read about… i say GOFERIT– and include you were a finalist… that’s big from what i decode with my noob goggles. there’re always e-chaps, too, for yr 1st time. *lily* takes subs for e-chaps and we love to read all kinds of stuff… just a thought, not a flagrant promo. think more about the small press route– try http://www.chapbookfinder.com for a list of places, many of which don’t require a reading fee. contests can get way pricey (from what i decode with my noob goggles). just some thoughts…
glad you’re bloggy now.
doh! re: the prev. pub thingy– maybe some verbiage like “previously appeared in (journal name), earlier version, or “previously appeared as” if the title changes, too. i often look in poetry books/author’s acknowledgements for help with this. *not that i’ve had ample use of it, yet…*
best,
n
Nice poem! I still can’t believe I was picked! If I were you, I’d try Finishing Line with your manuscript — I think their taste is similiar to MiPo.
Thanks for the info Sarah!
Hey Nic, glad you’re back in the blogger world. I’m glad you like the poem and I’m definitely going to keep submitting the chap.
Hi Christine,
Congrats! And thanks for the suggestion regarding Finishing Line.
List tag…
Congrats, Rachel–my chap was a finalist too.
Publishing answer: yes, unless the revisions are so extensive that it’s no longer recognizable as the same poem.
Hey Steve, I’ve been meaning to congratulate you! Thanks for the congrats as well as the info re: publishing. Best to you.
Holy shitcookies! That’s great. Sorry to be so late in congratulating you.
Thanks, Ash – that’s what I said (holy shitcookies!!!)