I'm sure I'll want to dot a few more Is (and drink a few more Ts) before I put it in an envelope to send to WFNB for their Alfred G. Bailey manuscript prize on Tuesday, but that too will only be fiddling and formatting.
Done. Nearly undone myself, I printed out a copy, attached the enormous black clip I've been using to hold the various scrawled-upon drafts together, and carefully saved the document.
Unlikely to get further work done the rest of the afternoon, I went out for a long celebratory lunch with M.
We had Carlos & Murphy's veggie nachos, which considering all the cheese and refried beans on the dish and the guacamole and sour cream on the side was not anywhere near as virtuous as it sounds.
As we ate, I reminded M that I would be dedicating the book to him and Brenda Schmidt (a frequent denizen of this space, I know, but I wanted to formally acknowledge her).
He smiled then said, "First things first, love..."
At which I scowled and considered slathering his forehead with molten refried beans.
He must have caught on (M's got a nose for impending violence), so he quickly said, "Aren't you going to dedicate it to Aa?"
"Isn't it enough that she's in nearly half the poems?" I asked, noticing that the guac was already a half-shade browner. "Besides, she didn't support me while I wrote the poems. You and B did."
And so, in the spirit of dedication...
(And also to spit in M's proverbial eye...first things first! Of course I know that the manuscript has to be accepted before I can even seriously consider dedications or the acknowledgments page!)
...I hereby dedicate this apple/pear pie to M, in honour of his not eating all the apples.
Heh.
(I would have dedicated it to B, but she tells me there's to be no pie until Xmas, not even commemorative 800-kms-away pie, so...)
8 comments:
Yum! Yum!
I'm so rumbly in my tumbly
Time for something sweet to eat
A, I'm thrilled to hear the ms is ready to go! And I'm thrilled to read this post. Thank you, A. I'm lucky to know you.
Oh, M...
Well, B, it had to be said. And, hopefully, printed, at some point down the road.
It will be printed. No doubt there.
That pie looks sooooo good!
Don't tell me you're coveting the pie, after your earlier tales of virtue...
If coveting and drooling are the same thing, then I'm afraid so...
And temporarily refraining from cake in effort to win a bet is far from a tale of virtue.
Congrats, A. I like the way the poems look spread out on the carpet in the other post. They're so innocent and harmless until they get together between covers and then WHAM! suddenly they're out on their own, roaming and getting into trouble - like teenagers.
Hey G...
I agree with you, vis-a-vis the cumulative effect of single poems vs. a book.
I mean, single pages couldn't do much more than give you a paper cut or two...but an entire manuscript could be used to batter someone about the head...(or is that only me, projecting again?).
But my poems aren't teenagers. Like me, they're nearing middle age...
Post a Comment