I had an alarm set for 12:01am, but I slept through it, naturally. The reason I set an alarm for that time was because that was the moment that Ghost City Press opened submissions for their summer microchap series.
As a constant reader may know, I have a little chapbook that I have been trying to get published for 3 years through a press that kept stringing me along. I sent an email out a couple of months ago to them, telling them that if I did not hear back ASAP I would start shopping my minichap around to other presses. It was a mild threat, because truly it is hard to get a minichap published. I was hoping they would respond promptly, but it has been months and I have heard nothing. The editor is active on social media, and I have tried to reach him there as well, but to no avail. And so, I decided to send my chap elsewhere.
A year or two ago I sent GCP a small collection called Weather Formations, which was really just a selection of poems regarding climate change. They were good poems, but I don’t think that the overall topic was interesting enough. In that, I do not believe they really flowed well together. Now, my minichap, Me and Jesus on a Tuesday Afternoon, is really just one nine-part poem. Ergo, the flow is really good in this one, as well as interest of topic. My only concern is that the poem is set in April of 2020, peak Covid, and frankly, a lot of people don’t love remembering that time. I am hopeful, however, that this will be a piece that others could recognize themselves in.
I started this poem a long time ago. It began with a contest, wherein I was given a line from a poem and told to write my own. I entered the contest with my poem, and I won! A little while later, that one poem kept nagging at me for more, more, more…and so I obliged. Thus, my little contest poem turned into a nine-page tale of me and Jesus Christ sharing a joint.
Oh, did you think this was about religion?
My book is not for the traditional Christian. The Jesus depicted is more man than divine, and if that bothers you, you probably should not read it. But, if you have a sense of humor, and you know Jesus was actually a pretty cool dude despite all of the atrocities carried out in his name, then you will probably dig this little chap.
So please, cross your fingers and hope with me. Hope with me that this gets picked up, because I need a home for my lonely little book, who has been sitting on a shelf for far too long. This is also the first thing I have sent out for publication this year, so that is a pretty big deal unto itself. I did not send out any thing last year, due to the circumstances of my life being more tragic than usual. I have every intention of sending more poetry to be published in 2024- after all that is the goal! More writing, less bulls**t!
And so, I wish you a happy Thursday, and I hope that in April I will be able to tell you when and where Me and Jesus will be available. Just got to stay positive. Have a great day!
Ham 'N Eggs- by Brigid Hannon 