Bravado: two poems and a cheque

Bravado Issue 20

Rejoice! The first of my poems in a literary journal since 1980 when Today made it into Landfall. At university at the time, I found all sorts of people read Landfall including my lecturers. They were delighted for me, but it felt to me like my personal little poem was terribly exposed. So after that I shied away from lit journals and kept my poems safely inside boxes and folders.

Quite honestly, there was an element of disorganisation involved too, especially when I went offshore. And I was busy - journalism called - travel called - and eventually, children called. The poems, I guess, were just not loud enough.

Now they are, thanks to the internet. Being able to email submissions - for a persistent procrastinator - is a lifesaver, there are wonderful people on Facebook and in e-newsletters who remind me of poetry deadlines, and I am kept on my toes every week with the Tuesday Poem. Thanks, too, to Bravado. Great name for a journal, and I'm sorry to hear through the grapevine that this might be the final issue.

Oh I love that cheque! $10 a poem! (Note the date on it.)

You can find The Construction of the Nest on my blog here and Harp here.