over published

Prolific or pathetically eager for the least attention.

change it

Print is only a temporary arresting of the text—change it if you need to.

no owner

The poem was published as “Anonymous” because no one would own up to it.

let me tell you

Gamblers will let slip news of their recent winnings while being stoic and tight-lipped as regards to their long losing streaks, and it’s the same with writers and their acceptances against the larger accumulation of rejection slips.

not the least of it

Most of what you’ve written has never been published; that’s as it should be.

book as handheld device

Your poetry being printed only makes it more portable, not more important.

box of drafts

Do you have a book of poems?, he asked. No, I said, but I have good sized boxful of them.

first sight

Seeing a poem in publication pales before that moment of reading it as a largely completed draft.

papering over

Certain poets try to paper over their deficiencies by publishing too much.

as leaves

That if Poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all.

—John Keats, letter to John Taylor (February 27, 1818)

That if publication comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all.

snatched up

She had struggled with the poem over several years, only to have it taken in a week by the first journal she sent it to.

so shall you be judged

This poem will be on your permanent record.

official sanction

A poet who spoke of publication as though a kind of imprimatur.

pristine copy

I saw an inscribed copy of your book at the Goodwill. It was in excellent (likely unread) condition, I must say.

unfortunate pub date

His book was released in the fall of 2001, while the world was otherwise occupied.

profligate pages

To publish prolifically is an act of disrespect toward the art of poetry.

like windblown leaves

Will all your poems be uncollected?

bio note

He is a wildly-unanthologized poet whose work has not appeared in Poetry, APR and The Paris Review. Critics have been unable to find fault with his work because they’ve been unable to find any. His prizes include a blue ribbon earned in the third grade for the poem “Lollipop” and the $100 scratch-off lottery card he got at the gas station.

good enough and dogged

Publication is but a modicum of talent combined with persistence.

published in air

A poet whose poems were only published in air—that is, read aloud.