Tupelo Press

Well, I sent of a manuscript to Tupelo Press as an entry in their Dorset Prize.

There's a $25 entry fee which is pretty standard for most of these contests, however Tupelo offers $10,000 first prize (yipes) and also promises to publish some of the runners up as well. I also chose Tupelo because they are a sponsor of Poetry Daily and I like to support sponorship of all kinds.

To pay and post from Canada it totalled $40 - this is not a sum to take lightly! I also entered the Cider Press Book Award in September, entries close Nov 30. The two books have a lot of overlap, almost the same manuscript except for about 15 poems. Not sure what the ethics of this are, but the chances of it really mattering are slim! No matter the result, the exercise gets me a finished manuscript.

I keep thinking I'll now put this manuscript to bed and start a new one. It doesn't seem to work like that, though. I seem bent on replacing old poems with new.

I was happy to download Lisa Prince's poetry chapbook Sign Language (and other hand signals) produced by Lily. And on Arlene Ang's blog she notes she will be having a new chapbook published by Rubicon Press - 26 Secret Love Poems sometime in late spring 2007.

Poem K
by Lisa Prince

There are no words in the dictionary.

You line the bottles, one by one. Count them
in Swahili. Every third pill is pink - a message.
Your mother washed clothing with borax
and bluing, staining her fingers until they bled.
Now that you are older you remember
the tiles on the kitchen floor - each a different
flower. Annuals. Perennials. Your sister’s
birthday. The quilt your grandmother sewed
by hand - inch by inch blocked out
and sun-bleached by the shore. An onion
laid out in layers. Eggs broken in haste.

Your tears will always be salty.