Friday 17 June 2022

Please Read The Letter -- A poet's plea -- WEP June 2022


In order to dust off my writing cobwebs, I decided to participate (for the very first time) in WEP's June Challenge.

It’s the year of Music Challenges at WEP, and for the month of June, the prompt is based on Please Read the Letter by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – a break up song and a moving plea for understanding at the termination of a relationship. 

I had recently participated in a short form poetry workshop run by Namratha and Manas of Soulcraft Poetry Workshop and was introduced to a new (to me) poetic form called the 'Cleave.'

It's a form created by Dr Phuoc-Tan Diep. You can read more about it here: Cleave Poetry.  The form is as intriguing as its creator's story. Happy exploring.

Before you scroll down to read my poem, here's 

"How to read a Cleave poem?" (from the Cleave Poetry website)

Simply:

1. Read the left hand poem as a first discrete poem.
2. Read the right hand poem as a second discrete poem.
3. Read the whole as a third integrated poem.


Here's my WEP entry: Word Count : 154, FCA


"Please Read the Letter-- A Poet's Plea"


Call for Submissions: Knock. Knock. Knock.

 

We are now Closed! I touch wood for luck—just in case, fingers crossed!

 

Odd! how rejections, “We cannot carry your poem.”

 

folded in soft words—“not for us” pour and pour and

 

slip through bolted doors: my poetry will drown me – I write it aloud.

 

Please read the letter (it’s an attachment)

 

that I wrote. I’ve mailed it.

 

I’ve nailed it. I hope this time, at last, it’ll make it

 

to your door. They call them windows

 

on my laptop. But they’re always ‘currently closed’.

 

"We’re closed for submissions.” Knock! Knock! Knock!

 

Please read the letter. It’s a poet’s plea:

 

It holds just one question, of many broken parts. How do I piece together the perplexing  pieces of the publishing game?


When will you open up? When will my poetry be seen?

 

Should my poems wait? Is there hope?

 

Or should they give up? Please reply ASAP.

 ***********************

Thank you for visiting and for reading. I hope my poem's theme is clear to decipher.

You can read other WEP entries and even send in your entry (if time permits): here

Wishing you a happy and safe weekend. You know how much I enjoy reading your comments. So, don't be shy:)

 


39 comments:

  1. What an intriguing format - that was totally new to me. Thank you.

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    1. PS: Welcome to WEP, a community I have always found incredibly supportive.

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  2. Welcome to WEP! This is my first introduction to Cleave poetry and I loved it! Three distinct poems blended into a whole - fascinating and creative! The publishing journey is a complex one with many ups and downs - never give up!!

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    1. Thank you Jemi. I was feeling a tad vulnerable and when I read the WEP June prompt, it all came out:)

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  3. Never heard of Cleave poetry so reading your work is a new experience. Clever to write in this way. Like a triple play in baseball. Must take a lot of thought. Your poem works well for the prompt. Thanks for a new and interesting read.

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    1. Thank you Lenny. It did take more 'thinking' time to write this cleave.

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  4. Welcome to WEP! I wasn't familiar with Cleave poetry either, so that was great to get to know. Creative and cleverly crafted. The poet's plea comes across clearly, publishing can be a long journey and waiting to hear back is the hardest part. Keep writing and keep nailing those letters to the windows! Thank you for sharing this lovely entry with us.

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    1. Thank you Nilanjana. This WEP prompt came my way at the right time (I think). And it's thanks to fellow bloggers like Sonia Dogra and Damyanti Biswas whose entries prompted me to participate as well. I'm so glad I did.

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  5. Interesting poetry form and one I wasn't familiar with. Thanks for the education. It's incredibly clever and well thought out!

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  6. Welcome to WEP! I had also never heard of Cleave poetry, but I always love being introduced to new things! I could relate to this poem so much, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I hope you'll participate in future challenges as well!

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    1. Cheers L.G. Keltner. It was my first attempt at writing a 'Cleave' --so glad you enjoyed reading it.

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  7. Well, I felt that! I try to maintain a cavalier attitude about rejections because I eventually self-publish everything. However, there was one day when I opened my Submittable account only to see some 40 rejections staring me in the face and I dove headlong into a week-long downward spiral.
    This is a really neat form. I'm almost 60 years old and have been writing poetry since I was in the first grade. I've never seen this form before.

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    1. I wish I could take the credit for introducing you to the 'Cleave'. But it's thanks to SoulCraft Poetry workshop that I chanced upon this unusual (and tricky to write--for me) form. Thank you for sharing your 'rejections' story. I'm filled with awe (for your tenacity) and comfort.

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  8. A fascinating poem (or three). Unfortunately, publishing is a long and arduous process, and not only for poets. Fiction writers face the same pitfalls. Unless they self-publish, of course.
    Welcome to WEP.

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  9. The warmest of welcome to WEP! You've caught us all napping - seems I'm not the only one not to have heard of Cleave poetry. It worked wonderfully for the prompt. Yes, we're hearing you - not easy to have our work accepted in this market! Don't give up. You have talent!

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    1. Thank you Denise. A soft chuckle escaped me as I read your encouraging and honest comment. Looking forward to reading your entry soon.

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  10. Hi Arti. So good to see you here. Namratha surely brings out interesting poetry forms and you've put this one to good use. Cleverly crafted. As for rejections, well, the lesser said, the better😀

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    1. Cheers Sonia. This was one form I wasn't able to crack during the workshop. Thanks to your post--almost as soon as I read the song title, I knew I'd found my 'Cleave' subject--our dear old friend--rejection;)

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  11. Hari OM
    (getting over the fact that your blog only appeared in my reader more than half a day after your publish time....ggrrr) I am impressed and intrigued; first, your words might be recognised by all of us who have attempted at all to have our writing recognised. Well done.

    Second, back in the 1980s I was writing what I called my duet poems - verses on one side and verses on the other side of the page in a different form but each of common theme. I never thought to bring them to anyone's attention! Slightly different but coming from the same inspiration it seems. I may have to revisit... YAM xx

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    1. Thank you Yamini. Please, please revisit those poems and share them. And with your amazing talent for creating new words, I won't be surprised if a new poetic form births forth. Waiting excitedly to read your poetry.

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  12. What a lovely poetry form. Cleave. Three-in-one. It's so creative! I've never heard of Cleave before. Your poetry worked very well!
    Poetry is my first love but it has been ousted by flash fiction. *sigh* It's a long story for another day.
    Lovely to meet you, Arti!

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    1. Thank you Michelle. Lovely to meet you too. Looking forward to the long story :)

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  13. Beautiful poetry! What a clever prompt usage :)

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  14. Hi Arti - welcome ... it's wonderful you've joined us ... and have written your Cleave poem - certainly introduced me to a new form of poetry - I shall be keeping an eye open for more. Excellent and I hope you'll join us next time - cheers Hilary

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  15. Nice to have you onboard here at WEP. I liked your poem. I'd be hard pressed to write in that format. The message is clear. Well done.
    Nancy

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  16. Arti! Welcome to the WEP. Love this style, have never heard of it before, but so well done! I just received a rejection this week involving my work. It's why I was late with my own post. It cut deep, as they always do.
    Excellent!

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    1. Thank you Yolanda. I'm typing this comment a few hours after receiving a 'not for us' mail. I'm not sure when but I started referring to my unsuccessful submissions as 'not for them' -- the phrase feels softer and more hopeful and perhaps doesn't cut as deep as 'rejection'. Hope to read your writing/posts soon.

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  17. Welcome to this month's WEP! I loved being introduced to Cleave poetry. It was so interesting, and this one was excellent.

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    1. Thank you so much. I'm glad I was able to write to the prompt and submit on time:)

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  18. Welcome! Glad you've joined in. I love poems in this style. I wrote one once, but that was many years ago. It isn't easy. You've done an exceptional job here.
    I wrote a humorous piece for the June WEP prompt (it isn't adult, though some may mistake it as such at first, depending on your hobbies).
    And I'm contemplating my favorite book worlds for the IWSG July prompt (I'm co-hosting). Any thoughts?
    Over at Operation Awesome, we're gearing up for our Pass or Pages query contest with July's family saga genre. Know any writers who might want to enter?

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    1. Thank you JL:)

      About book worlds: I read "Where the Crawdads sing" by Delia Owens recently and I absolutely loved the world she writes about--although real and factual-- her writing makes it magical. I'm sure the marshlands she writes about are as stunning as she describes them. The movie based on this book will be released on July 13th. I hope the film does justice to this wonderful book.

      I'll keep my eyes and ears open for 'pass or pages' query.

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  19. It took serious skill to write this! Great job.

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  20. I am weak in poetry. Still trying to figure out. But you must have really worked hard.

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