Tuesday 7 June 2016

My Self-Publishing Journey 2.0

Hello! It's been a very extended period of time since I've actually posted something on my blog (which I guess school does to you). Sorry about that...But I came back with great news! Similar to last year's post, I've embarked on another self-publishing journey. What differentiates this journey from the last is the style of how I published.

Last year, I wrote one poem and sent it out into the community so that other people would read it and give me feedback. It was an amazing project that really helped me learn how to talk with new people, but I wanted to try something new and concentrate on my poetry writing skills. Therefore, I wrote an anthology that consists of 9 poems.

It was pretty difficult to come up with 9 poems. After the 4th poem, I had no idea what to write about anymore, and then other assignments began to squeeze their way into my life...sigh...It took forever to write the poems, and then it took eternity to find contests that I didn't have to pay to publish or submit my poem. Regardless, I'm truly pleased with the outcome of my 9 poems, and I actually had the opportunity to submit them into 5 contests (challenge #2). The poems I wrote are listed below so keep scrolling and stay tuned!



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Just a quick heads up: For privacy purposes, the pictures of emails sent didn't include the personal information that was sent along with it. Only the 3/4 where personal information wasn't shown was captured.


1.The Descent into Darkness (Haiku) 


Light of the world fades
Sinking beneath the ocean
Emerging elsewhere








2. Amidst the Smoke (Cinquain)

Trapped
Lack of fresh air
Fear of his rage blindly ablaze
Like a fire
Untamed





3. A Tainted Dove (English Sonnet) 

His gaze enchanting, she was paralyzed
Eyes promising pure bliss, eternal love
But he was no angel she fantasized
His crooked wings, their vows a tainted dove

One day he loves her, caresses her skin
His warmth embracing her, he murmurs “lovely”
The next, alone, she wonders where he's been
Doors shut, she's pushed arm’s length away, bloody

A wall to whom she talks, his red hers blue
Like two bulls butting heads, unable to think straight
The vacant sheets, her pillowcase soaked through
Hell broken loose, her cup fills short of hate

Despite the madness drilled into her bones
She stays, for each other's hearts they both own 













4. Inconsistently the Same (Free Verse)  

Pitter patter Pitter patter
One by one, she watches crystal droplets flatten against the cool, glass pane
gripping onto the glass before losing the battle
Trickling down the clear surface before piling up along the bottom ridge, mimicking the ones falling down her face

Enveloped within the clutches of Dark, a strange, familiar sense of serenity washes over her
Knees folded tightly against her chest, faintly feeling the slow throb of her heart
Its hands hover over her eyelids, shadowing over any shimmer of light flickering, taunting,
dancing in front of her

As a mother would to her child, its arms wrap around her frail body, urging her to rock
herself back and forth, the creak of the wooden floors joining the gathering
Choking on her breath, she struggles to keep everything together
Chest heaving, tongue tied, her shoulder shakes under the weight it's carried all day

Thunder booms across the sky, howling waves of agony, shaking the house’s thin frame
Its deep bellow laced with layers of sorrow, rage, of assurance that it'll be okay
It shouted the words that nobody would nor did ever say
It's going to be alright, just find a way to survive and that means you'll have won the game

Pitter patter Pitter patter
Hearing that meant she wasn't alone
People go, their colours change
But nature has a way
Of being inconsistently the same



A slight editing error has made this poem posted subtly different from the one I submitted to the Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest (addition of a letter).








5.  What Makes Me Happy (Acrostic)

Home sweet home
                            Aromatic teas wafting through the air
                                    Picnics beneath the cool, sheltered shade
                                   Promises that the storm will soon be over
                               Yellow daisies dotting lush, green fields








6. The Endless Blue Sky (Tanka) 

Barren, bone-dry realm
Where the light heats dunes below,
baking golden grains
Dull, parched plants wither away
Beneath the endless blue sky










7. Shadow of the Moon (Blank Verse) 

It’s here, its eerie presence I detect
When light is faint Stress will creep my way
The shadow of the moon, it visits each night
No warning, slowly knocking at my door

Through cracks it seeps and targets my frail state
It warps and molds itself into all forms
Forcing my weary mind to twist and dance
It prowls, skittering across my page

The wicked game it plays of cat and mouse
It is the master, I the puppet stringed
The vines of Stress, they slither ‘round my limbs
Until I’m confined, can no longer win


Just to avoid confusion and suspicion, for this specific poem, the submitted version to the Young Writers Poetry Contest 2016/17 is slightly different than the one posted here (I chose to take out one word -the- before I posted it on my blog in line 2). Unfortunately, due to the potential risk of being disqualified, the same changes could not be made to the poem submitted to the contest. My apologies.







8.  The Circus of Dreams (Found Poem, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern pages 3-369)

The circus arrives without warning.
It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.
Opens at Nightfall, Closes at Dawn
a complex illusion of illumination
it sounds rather like magic, doesn’t it?

towering tents are striped in white and black,
no gold and crimsons to be seen
you can smell caramel wafting through the evening breeze,
beneath the crisp scent of autumn leaves

the star-speckled Empress of the Night. The coal-dark Black Pirate.
The circus contains several of these performers
standing stock-still with elaborate costumes and painted skin.
girls in feathered costumes who spin at various heights,
Marionettes that control their own strings

first, there is a popping sound
barely audible, a soft noise like a kettle about to boil for tea
small lights begin to flicker, sparkling against the night sky
accompanied by a shower of glowing white sparks and a bit of smoke

it becomes clear that they are aligned in scripted letters
legible, this elaborate incandescent sign
Leaning to your left, you can see that it reads:
Le Cirque des RĂªves
The Circus of Dreams

Then iron gates shudder and unlock
swing outward, inviting the crowd inside.
Now the circus is open.
Now you may enter.




9. The Nightingale (Rondeau Poem)

When nightmares creep and taint your dreams
an illusion is what it seems
With unknown figures crawling walls
a distant creaking through the halls
blinding light from wicked moonbeams

A distant melody redeems
your soul from the dark, and it gleams
to protect you when the sun falls
When nightmares creep and taint your dreams

As they sing through the night it means
one can sleep in peace without screams
Even when the Evil One calls
the tune they chirp you will recall
The sound they make your mind it cleans
When nightmares creep and taint your dreams 




All in all,  I enjoyed myself and had a lot of fun while writing these poems, aside from the 9 hour mental blockade of any creative portion of my brain as well as a couple mental breakdowns along the way.  I think that during this year in particular, I've had plenty of opportunities to stimulate and use my inner creativity that I didn't use a lot last year (plus, I didn't know I had any creativity left in me....I'm astounded at how I wrote these poems......) After reading some poems from last year, I cringed at how they were written and structured. The lesson learned: practice really does make perfect (maybe not perfect, but something much better). I hope that you enjoyed reading my poems and maybe they gave you some inspiration to write your own!