Erstwhile Member Creeps Back

Carolyn Moore · #1 07-10-2013, 12:35 AM

Sixteen months ago I began posting and responding at Eratosphere, then vanished when fisticuffs with cancer took over my life. I was down flat most of 2012 but am in remission now and hope to participate here again. Neuropathy remaining in several fingers means that I type many, many mistakes. It will take me longer to correct this post than to write it, so I'm self-conscious about my many typos and don't even email friends as much as I'd like to. Though the fog of "chemo-brain" is clearing, I don't catch all flubs even when I read my words over and over and over. Thus I will return here slowly, as I recover my fingers and my confidence in them.

All was not the proverbial gloom-and-doom for my poetry in 2012. Though I couldn't sit up for very long and thus didn't write new poems, I was able to send out finished work. Several poems found new homes (even honors), and two collections did as well. My ms. The Seven Deadlies was chosen as the first chapbook published by the delightfully quirky journal, Interrobang?!. My book-length ms., What Euclid's Third Axiom Neglects To Mention about Circles, won the White Pine Poetry Press Prize and will be published this fall.

The latter contains the only poem I posted here, "Adopting a Gorgon: One Parent's Experience." It did not find much favor since I am striving toward a 21st Century blank verse which certainly seems strange to traditionalists (though my b.v. follows strict yet eclectic rules). Still, that poem ended up a favorite of the book's editor. I'm guessing I incorporated suggestions made here!

So this is a belated thanks to all who helped guide that poem. And I want people here to know that a poet can disappear for other reasons than getting in a huff over intelligent critiquing. Thanks again--'hope to see you at the poetry barricades!

Seree Zohar · #2 07-10-2013, 03:53 AM

wow, despite and nonetheless, you've reaped some fab ups! WTG!
btw, I hope you've checked out voice-to-text options. Some of those currently available are very good and will save you a lot of unecessary fingerwork.

Catherine Chandler · #3 07-10-2013, 05:39 AM

Carolyn,
Welcome back, and congratulations on the good news in your message.
♥ Cathy

Tim Murphy · #4 07-10-2013, 05:54 AM

Welcome back, Carolyn. And congratulations on advancing the art and fighting off the big C.

Terese Coe · #5 07-10-2013, 06:29 AM

Carolyn,

The beauty is that you're with us and in remission and still writing and being published--huge congratulations on all of this!

2012 was also a year of cancer and recovery for me, as well as other good news to go with it.

Maryann Corbett · #6 07-10-2013, 07:34 AM

Yes, congratulations and welcome back, Carolyn.

And may I second what Seree said about voice-to-text or "dictation" software packages? Indexers and transcriptionists have used them with success for a long time.

All the best to you in your recovery and poetry.

marly youmans · #7 07-10-2013, 01:42 PM

Carolyn,

Great good health and luck to you! What a very mixed year... congratulations on your pluck and endurance and on the new books.

Can't say that I'm one who is against blank verse, as I often write it, both in short form (think I may have been influenced by some blank verse poems of Stevens) and long (last year I published a book-length poem in blank verse.)

Best,
Marly