My Pushcart Prize poem
isn't something I brag about.
Suffice to say it's pretty good.
Robert Bly and Philip Levine,
Charles Simic and Robert Pinksy
are likely to be in the anthology
with me, but I'll tell you who
gives me the biggest thrill—
Joyce Carol Oates. Fine writer, really.
To tell the honest truth,
my Pushcart Prize poem
isn't one lick better than
a hundred other poems
I've done—it's just in the right
place at the right time—
namely, before its time.
The judges are pretty cutting-edge.
They know it when they see it.
But hey, you've got a good thing
going, as I understand it,
with Jonathan Galassi up at
Farrar Straus, verdad?
I smell some accolades over
the transom in your future too!
Whaddya say we, you know—
Hughes and Plath? No, bad example!
Hall and Kenyon. Or the Brownings.
Joan Didion and what's-his-name.
The gossip pages of Agenda
would just eat us up!
How bout we start with drinks?
At KGB? Then maybe swing by
Gray's Papaya, quick fuck
up at my place, and a movie?
My Pushcart Prize poem's
all about the goings-on
here in the Village. Hey, I even
think you're in it. Come here,
lean in a little closer....Oh, now
that's a kiss! Now that's a kiss!



[Full and Fair Career series www.poetrycircle.com/index.php/topic,16199]

The ending leaves me with a big smile.  Sure hope you get that Pushcart! Met Philip Levine this year at the University.  Much enjoyed. Verdad?

hey tom, this is pretty cool. many hints that what you don't say is important in this poem. if not so, then i'm missing your tone.

love the references to all the different authors. Oates really is awesome, sarcasm or not. dark, but awesome. she's probably the author who prompted me most to love writing. like a lioness tasting blood.

coupla questions? who is 'you'? is 'you' in line 10, the same 'you' in line 20? In fact, the writer uses alot of 'you's and 'your's throughout the entire poem, but i get the feeling it's not the same one.

also the kiss in the end--very sweet. i want it to be sincere, but i don't know. want the whole romance thing to be sincere, just because i love romance, esp. between writers, but this reader can't be sure.

so if the kiss symbolizes something, please don't let it be a private joke. that would break my heart.

also like the 'quick fuck' on one line and 'up' on the next--another hint that something else is going on here. but of course you might really mean 'up at my place'. maybe maybe not.  btw, an afterthought, might even be better if you left out 'at'.   :|

and i have to tell you, tom, if i don't figure this one out, i'm gonna bug you by pm until you tell me.

(nah, not really. maybe just one quickie?)

;)

cheryl

---

well i've now discovered that 'pushcart' is a real press. shows how much i know about small press. i thought with that title, it was your idea; like the recycled stuff, sort of.

and maurice can't be you, he lives in london. is a brother, cousin??

i started this post at 11:53. took me 50 minutes, but omg, i think i understand. and it has nothing to do with the below, except a caption...and something you might think is cute.

and verdad, i really don't hope you get the pushcart, unless you want it. but...it just doesn't sound like you.

---

---

---

Sherry, thanks for the peek. If you run into Phil again, ask him how he liked my Pushcart Prize poem, will you?
Cheryl, thanks for reading and reporting too. I see what you mean about the mix of rhetorical "you" and actual "you". Will try to fix that. The tone -- to me, really the whole poem, what N says, believes, doesn't say, is truthful about, may not be...just like any sweet-talker, right? Where schtick merges into personality into character.
All kisses 100% real. Tom

...moving from Workshop to Submit board..

My poetry instructor took my photo with Phil.  He also signed a broadside I made of his poem At Bessemer. I spent some time there when I was young.  Merry Christmas to you.  I hope to be back here soon.

Sherry

Nice drmatic monologue.  Reminds of me "Paperback Writer" without the desperation.

Rick

Thanks, Rick! Haven't thought about that song in years! Though with new Beatles Trivial Pursuit in house, I should be boning up! Tom

Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?
It took me years to write, will you take a look?
It's based on a novel by a man named Lear
And I need a job, so I want to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

It's the dirty story of a dirty man
And his clinging wife doesn't understand.
His son is working for the Daily Mail,
It's a steady job but he wants to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

It's a thousand pages, give or take a few,
I'll be writing more in a week or two.
I can make it longer if you like the style,
I can change it round and I want to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

If you really like it you can have the rights,
It could make a million for you overnight.
If you must return it, you can send it here
But I need a break and I want to be a paperback writer,
Paperback writer.

Really like this, Tom, especially if it's as joyfully cynical about literary prizes as I think it is.

Cheers

David

I like the "joyfully cynical" label in general, David, so happy to plead to it for this poem. Thanks, Tom

tom;
congrats on all counts.  the poem's a hoot!
john

John, thanks for looking in, good to hear your hoot! Tom

sometimes i honk, too!

Good job, Tom. Very talened1 All the best.

John and Richard, thank you, I just doubled back here for another reason and see that I never read your kind replies. That kind of carelessness has, I'm certain, cost me many other prizes. Tom