Quotes* & Tips on the Writing Life
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...Quotes*
*All quotes are for educational purposes and intended
to encourage further research into attributed sources.
to encourage further research into attributed sources.
With or without the 5-7-5 formula and seasonal references, readers are invited
to place themselves in a poetic mode and to explore nature as their imaginations permit.
—from the Introduction to Haiku: An Anthology of Japanese Poems
by Stephen Addiss, Fumiko Yamamoto, and Akira Yamamoto
Be still/Listen to the stones of the wall.
—Thomas Merton, from "In Silence" (found in In the Dark Before Dawn)
A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.
—Salman Rushdie (seen in poetry speaks 2009 calendar)
The Poets light but Lamps—/Themselves—go out—
—Emily Dickinson, poem #883
This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,/Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
—Walt Whitman, "A Clear Midnight"
Stickiness, memorability, is one sign of a good poem. You hear it and a day later some of it is still there in the brainpan.
—Garrison Keillor, Good Poems
Despite the literary fashion, you have to be attuned to your own ear, your own gifts.
—Richard Wilbur, as quoted in Atlantic Unbound interview with Peter Davison in The Light Within the Light, Jeanne Braham
Get on with it. Don't wait for the Muse to visit.
—Bill O'Hanlon, Write is a Verb
The poem/feeds upon thought, feeling, impulse,/ to breed itself,/a spiritual urgency at the dark ladders leaping.
—Robert Duncan, from "Poetry, A Natural Thing" in The Opening of the Field
Frost was one poet who really did, in his own words, implicate the vocal image in a sentence and fasten it to the page.'
—Henry Lyman, After Frost an Anthology of Poetry From New England
*All quotes are for educational purposes and intended
to encourage further research into attributed sources.
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ALWAYS RULE #1: SASEs
When submitting by postal mail (note that THE AUROREAN only accepts submissions by postal mail), send an SASE with every submission. No postcards for reply, please. An SASE. Period. :-)
COMMON SENSE
Return addressess (on the envelope mailed and on SASE) should be legible. Name, address, and e-mail address should be on all pages of correspondence (in case one gets separated). As well, name and contact information should read exactly the same on all pages of correspondence (very common scenario: John Doe's name appears on cover letter, however, "John H. Doe" appears on poem pages, while "John Henry Doe" appears on SASE; editor wonders which way John would like his name to appear if accepted for publication—editor will have to ask John. Very common scenario #2: Jane Smith submitted from—and lists her address on cover letter as—2 Pleasant Street, Hometown, ME, 55555, however, Jane Smith's address on SASE reads "Jane Smith, P.O. Box 555, Hometown, ME 55555-0555; editor has no idea to which address Jane Smith would like her contributor's copies—or any future correspondence—sent—editor will have to ask Jane).
Unless you are under the wire for making deadlines, you do not need to send by Priority or Express Mail. Most journals (including the Aurorean) are pressed for space and would MUCH prefer all submission envelopes and SASE envelopes to be standard #10's.
Remember that submissions may be opened, viewed, and/or screened by a journal's staff. An editor with whom you may be a personal friend may not be the person opening mail. If you send personal correspondence to an editor (if appropriate to do so at all), it is advisable to send in a separate envelope marked "Personal."
Contact Information: Include Your E-Mail Address
When sending correspondence to an editor (besides that mandatory, all-important SASE!), include your e-mail address if you have one. If an editor has a pressing question and he or she is working on an issue deadline, the question can be asked and answered with the click of a button. It is extremely helpful for us at THE AUROREAN to have e-mail addresses, since we acknowledge ALL submissions. Each submission that we acknowledge by mail now costs us 28¢. That means we spend over $1 to acknowledge every four submissions that come in without e-mail addresses (and much more for international submissions). In advance then, we thank you for including your e-mail address if at all possible in all correspondence.
Sending Appropriate Material:
There is probably no reason more common for submissions to be rejected from a particular journal than the submission of inappropriate material. Save yourself precious time and postage costs by submitting material that is apt for each market. Of course, no one can subscribe to or even purchase a copy of all the journals they are interested in, but copies of many literary journals are available for browsing in your nearby college/university library, and/or your local library. As well, most journals offer back issues at a substantially reduced rate. You can find copies of many literary journals in your nearby college/university library, and/or your local library. Small Press Review (http://www.dustbooks.com) even lists publications that give away overstocked issues (usually for a nominal postage fee). Give your work its best chance by sending only appropriate material.
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Watch for new quotes & tips as they are added!
Get inspired!
