It's kind of nerve-wracking. It reminds me of that Blink-182 song "First Date". I did it. I submitted a poem to Witness. It's the first time I've written a cover letter for a poem, and the first submission fee I've paid. (It's $2).
As I clumsily explained in my last post the theme of the issue will be Chaos. I also admitted that I was having a difficult time working on that poem. I went to the library and read the latest issue of Writer's Digest. One of the last articles talked about combining two poems to breath life into a few stanzas that didn't really fit anywhere.
What I ended up with after taking that advice was a poem where each stanza represented one of two alternating views. The narrator, possibly a cop at a crime scene, and a witness telling her side of the story. The juxtaposition of the cool, collected officer should have thrown the chaos of the crime into relief, but through the use of enjambment it's apparent that the officer is having a tough time distancing himself from the incident.
The witness is more calm about the whole thing, but she is in denial. Human nature, the tension inside ourselves, that's the real chaos in the world. A person has to deal with everything externally, but behind the facade there are several other conflicts vying for recognition and resolve. This is the real chaos of the story.
Wish me luck.
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