I'm finally sending out my collection this spring. I've held onto this collection way too long. And some part of me still doesn't want it in the world. I keep asking myself why. Self-doubt? Fear of criticism? Aversion to author photos?
But damn that part of me! This book will be sent out! I've trimmed the size of the collection. I've tinkered and tinkered. (A lot of the poems published in the Web del Sol chapbook have been re-shaped and pared down.) I've found an order that speaks to me. (No sections!) The collection finally feels finished. I can do no more with this collection. And most importantly, new poems are arriving that don't belong to the first collection.
Didn't I say the collection was finished last August when I started my new blog? Yes, you did! I lied. Now, I'm telling the truth.
Now, do any of you perform any good luck rituals before you send out your packets? Do any of you whisper magic words to your packets as you stamp them?
Do tell.
About Me
- Eduardo C. Corral
- Eduardo C. Corral is a CantoMundo fellow. He holds degrees from ASU and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Beloit Poetry Journal, jubilat, New England Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, and Post Road. His work has been honored with a "Discovery"/The Nation award and residencies from The MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. He has served as the Olive B. O'Connor Fellow in Creative Writing at Colgate University and as the Philip Roth Resident in Creative Writing at Bucknell University. He's the interview editor for Boxcar Poetry Review. He won the 2011 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition.
4 comments:
Chicken blood! It works for the Borriquenos.
I kiss the envelope.
But I can't do that to email send-offs, of course -- so I just ask my S.O. to wish me luck! ;-)
I've been known to kiss the envelope, too. Usually smack on the stamp. When the post office is crowded and I feel too self-conscious to be smooching on my outgoing postage, sometimes I'll just stare at the envelope intently for a moment and think good thoughts.
I have Dean kiss the envelopes. With his lips. Works every time.
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