Poetic Peccadilloes -- I am not amused

Generally speaking I refrain from using my blog to fulminate about things that raise my ire because there is nothing duller than watching somebody froth at the mouth like a lunatic. But, it is a blog, so fulmination is de rigeur.

This evening's fulminary topic is integrity, or more precisely, the lack of it among poets. I have been a freelance editor and writer for better than fifteen years. I have edited fiction and non-fiction for small presses and alternative presses. I have been a technical writer and grantwriter. In short, I am accustomed to working to professional standards. Granted, not every organization has the budget for fancy software and slick productions, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about intellectuel honesty.

Honesty costs zero dollars and zero time. It's the easiest policy that requires the least amount of work. All you have to do is to act like an adult. Tanka poets, I'm sad to say, are deficit in this quality. While most poets are honest, time after time I discover that many are not. Here are my rules. More than one person has violated each of them.

1) Read the guidelines. Believe the guidelines. Follow the guidelines. Do not insult me by informing me that your poetry is so extraodinary that I should abandon my carefully planned and financed project in order to cater to your immature ego.

2) My guidelines mean what they say. I am tolerant of errors and friendly to newbies. That doesn't mean I'm a pushover and that you can trammel my guidelines at will.

3) When I say, 'no simultaneous submissions,' I mean 'no simultaneous submissions.' That is not an invitation to sneak things past me. You think I won't catch you? You're wrong. I have caught four poets doing this on Fire Pearls alone. I have not mentioned to them that I have caught them, but they won't be invited to my next project.

4) When I say reprints are welcome as long as previous publication is acknowledged, I mean 'previous publication.' Not just the first, or the most recent, or the one most flattering to you. I mean, I want to know about the places where the public has been able to read your poem. Your blog, a journal, a book, a website, anywhere.

5) This includes works that are pending but not yet in print. Guess what? I am also a reviewer, plus I am on cordial terms with other editors. We talk to each other. We show each other galleyproofs and ask for opinions. We write blurbs for each other. We ask one another for professional opinions. In short, your book may not be in print yet -- but that doesn't mean I don't know about it.

5 b) I am in the process of tracking down every single book, chapbook, broadside, calendar, journal, CD, poster, and anything else containing English-language tanka. No, I don't have everything yet, so you might put one over on me temporarily, but pretty soon I will and I will notice. I'm an easy-going person, but I take a dim view of people deliberately trying to deceive, or who are so lazy that they don't care about their own integrity. We won't be working together again.

6) Don't tell me 'it doesn't matter' and that I'm uptight. I'm the editor and I'm a damn good one. If you want a sloppy, deceptive book, go publish it yourself.

~K~

History of Tanka in English

No, this won't be a post about the history of tanka in English, in spite of the title. That article will be posted to Modern English Tanka, probably the Winter issue (next issue). However, since posting the previous numbers regarding publications, I have learned about many more tanka books, chapbooks, calendars, broadsides, CDs, and other publications over the years. Here are the revised numbers:

pre-1915 0
1915-19 3
1920-24 1
1920-29 1
1930-34 0
1935-39 0
1940-44 2
1945-49 1
1950-54 2
1955-59 4
1960-64 1
1965-69 1
1970-74 6
1975-79 7
1980-84 3
1985-89 0
1990-94 17
1995-99 50
2000-04 73
2005-09 45
Total 217

Notice how in 1990 tanka publication took off. Yet there is a perception that there's not very much interest or market for tanka as compared to haiku. Somebody has got to be buying these books. What's also interesting is how the tanka genre has evolved over time, but for perspicacious observations on the subject, along with a naming of titles and authors you'll have to wait for my article to come out in Modern English Tanka.

~K~

Ships and Poetry

10 more days to the deadline for Fire Pearls. I hope I don't get a bunch of last minute submissions, but if they do, I hope they're fabuolous. Cutting has been difficult. So much good stuff has been sent that I'm well over the original plan for 300 poems. Nonetheless, all poets have been advised regarding their first cuts, and the draft is in good shape.

Due to the amount of time it takes a new book to work its way into the distribution channels, I want to have the manuscript in the printer's hands as quickly after the deadline as possible. I put in about thirty hours this weekend on the book, and the draft has been sent a dear friend who is a Very Famous Tanka Poet to read and write the cover blurb.

It's also important to get as much done now as possible as I have a job interview with an historic wooden ship whose name I won't mention. I'm dissatisfied with my current job, so I sent out feelers last week to see if any of the regional marine museums and historic sailing ships have jobs available. And lo, one does! So on Tuesday I go for an interview. I am crossing my fingers and hoping it works out. If it does, I'll be commuting much further, working longer hours, earning more, and having to learn a new job -- right at the Fire Pearls deadline.

Which is my why I busted my butt this weekend to see that Fire Pearls is shipshape. I don't miss deadlines and I don't do sloppy work. I plan ahead and get things done in advance and allow for contigencies. While this is the first poetry book I've done, I have previous experience as a small press and alternative press editor. I've published more than a dozen books and chapbooks. All is good.