Politics

My wife went to a sale in Columbus when she went there last month, and bought some books for me. The sale was selling somebody’s personal library, and that included some fantastic Literature books, whose author’s include Hemingway, Swift, Shaw, Chekhov, Dickens, Arthur Miller, Twain, Virgil, and more. It makes an excellent collection to my own library and I’m excited about it. It is rare to find such a great buy. The lady in charge of the sale is an old friend to Carla and she was only charging a dollar a bag. Very cool!

I’ve been working pretty hard at the business plan for the bookstore, and also selling some books on eBay. I am thinking about starting an online bookstore at eBay and using that to start my own physical effort here in town; just something to think about. Either that or I am going to keep these books for inventory for the store. It is hard to guess what the best course of action is. Basically I need some business advice, and not just on that issue, but on a number of issues. The further I get into this thing, the further I realize that I need somebody to steer me in the right direction in some areas. Groups like the ABA (American Bookseller’s Association) are willing to help you, but only if you join; and the cost of joining is astronomical.

The reason I mention this is because it is cutting into my poetry writing time and efforts. I have been writing some poetry, but it is slightly different that normal. You see, generally, I just write whatever is on my heart, and then submit it to magazines hoping to get published. But all I get is rejection after rejection. So, I picked a poetry journal, and am writing poetry that specifically is being writing like the poetry they publish; just as an experiment, to see if I replicate what is coming out of it, I may get published by it. It is a challenge of my talents, and one I hope will bear fruit. Of course I will update you on what happens, but it may take months before I hear back from them. I also thought maybe I should look up some “Christian” poetry journals and see if I can get my regular stuff published by them! Again, we will see.

Here is a poem from my new manuscript:

Politics

Wafting patriotism blindly
exceeds our narcissistic
needs to complain about
the free world’s self proclaimed
Leader. Stained t-shirts
fit snuggly when THEY
obey our opinions. But shrink
when we try to wash them.
Dream more of those
idealistic “should-be’s” which
stare blankly at our divine
bequest to change the
world back to Eden. Eden
awaits, in silence.