My father was an avid fisherman and owned a boat business for many years. I remember him putting two baited hooks on his fishing line at once to increase his chances at catching fish. So, I am working on two poetry manuscripts.

He’s no longer with us but is always inspiring me.

I went back to my unpublished poetry manuscript Garbage Woman for another look and while working on it I thought the section title “Orphans of Dark and Rain” should be its own chapbook. (I have a poem and this blog is titled Orphans of Dark and Rain too.) So I removed the poems from GW and started pulling together poems that fit the respective titles’ “ambiance.”

Oh yes, I renamed the remnants of GW. The new title is Eating the Heart First which is actually a title I wanted to use years ago as a first chapbook or book, and is a poem of mine which can be read here:

Eating the Heart First
http://www.eclectica.org/v12n1/martin.html

I don’t think I failed at publishing GW. I’m glad I put together a manuscript and sent it to contests. I loved the process, the excitement of working on a “book” and I am grateful that it got me through a tough time when my father died. But I’m eager to hold a book or books in my hands and chapbooks are the way for me to go, I believe. I will have a better chance with two chapbook-length manuscripts.

So far I have 38 poems I am working with for Eating the Heart First 16 of which have been published and 25 poems (6 of which have been published, but many are currently under submission) for Orphans of Dark and Rain.

This feels right to me and I can’t wait to go deeper into the process.