(I'm) Publishing Another Poem

I recently received a letter in the mail from Eber & Wein Publishing for me to submit one of my poems to be included in their upcoming anthology titled "Best Poets of 2021." (Part of the letter is below.)

The deadline for submission is February 28, 2022, so I need to get busy writing. I would rather write a new poem than submit one of my older poems.

My poem will also compete in a contest, with a top prize of $2,000 and with more than $6,000 in other prizes. I have had two poems published with this company; hence, I am considered to be one of their "best poets."

My poem titled "That's Not What I Meant" appears in their 2021 anthology titled "Best Poets of 2020: Quarantine Edition, Volume 3."

My poem titled "Startled Glances" appears in their 2010 anthology titled "Sunflowers and Seashells: Nature's Miles." I won a third-place award for this poem. I received a bronze plaque about the size of a 50-cent piece encased in clear plastic on a wooden stand and a $25 gift certificate to the company, if I wanted to use it to buy another copy of the anthology or a framed copy of my poem. I never used it. For perspective, there was one first-place winner, 20 second-place winners, and 100 third-place winners. Thousands of poems from around the world were considered in this contest, so I did fairly well.

I have had many of my poems published in anthologies, mostly in the 1990s. A few of them are included in books that were sold in bookstores. Many are housed in the U.S. Library of Congress. While my poem "Somnolence" won one of the second-place prizes in a poetry contest in 1997 with The National Library of Poetry, and was published in their anthology that year, I still haven't won any cash in any of these contests.

As a (lifetime) performing member of The Port Jervis Poetry Society in upstate New York, I performed two of my original, self-penned poems on stage as part of one of our poetry, music, and art shows in February 1990; the show was later broadcast on public-access cable television.

I joined the society in 1989 and soon auditioned to become a performing member. In 1990, I accepted a different (journalism) job in a different part of upstate New York. While I was unable to participate in the weekly meetings and shows due to long distances, I am still considered to be a lifetime performing member of The Port Jervis Poetry Society.

By the way, I am in the preliminary stages of self-publishing a book of seventy-five of my poems. I have written more than 300 poems since 1986, so I need to pick my best and my favorite poems.

The tentative title of my book of poetry is "Quizzical Sojourns: Observations and Practices of a Self-Proclaimed Bohemian," which is currently the title of my personal blog. That means I need to write a brand-new poem with that title for inclusion in my book.

This is the perfect opportunity for me to write this poem for inclusion in Eber & Wein's upcoming anthology. I'm going to do that.

I am also in the midst of writing an autobiographical novel set in the 1990s, specifically from 1992 to 1996, when I was a reporter/writer, editor, and researcher in New York City for an international weekly magazine on the chemical industry.