Today I sent out another packet of poems to a small press magazine. Not sure if other poets do this, but I divide my poems into three "categories" and send them to journals and magazines that seem to match those levels. I use the general terms of low, medium, and high:

• My low poems are rather basic but nice. Often the language is less lyrical or the subject is bordering on too sentimental. These poems are not my favorites but for some reason seem worthy of publishing. If a medium poem has been sent out repeatedly and is consistently rejected, it usually becomes a low poem. These are usually short free verse.
• My medium poems are solid, pleasing works. They've received good feedback at readings, and I like the way they sound. I've focused on their structure and revised them a good number of times.
• My high poems are final, well-worked pieces that have that special something. Through feedback and my own spidey sense, I know they show the best of what I am able to do (at the time). They are lyrical and show attention to a larger theme, word choice, line breaks, and sound. These represent my best chance at being publishing in the harder reviews and journals.
  

This week I want to decide on some "medium" publications and send out appropriate poems to those. One of the toughest things for a submitting poet is finding places that match up with the poet's style. There's no sense sending out my lyrical "simple moment" poems to an experimental, beat place. And if I could afford to buy a copy of every little magazine I wanted to submit to, I'd be a happy and wealthy poet.

Sunday night I actually completed what I believe is a high poem. It's currently called "Multiverse" and talks (perhaps too briefly) of the multiverse theory, the idea (not well described here) that your history and choices are different when seen from another point in the universe. In any event, it's another outlet for my thoughts on how my life could have been different, and I really like how it ends. We'll see if anyone else likes it (those "high"-magazine editors).

On a "very cool" note, I just downloaded this great, free PDF book, "What's Up 2006 - 365 Days of Skywatching" by Tammy Plotner. You can get it here. It has a page for skywatching each day, laid out nicely with photos and history. Thanks to Phil Plait for posting that cool link.

In an upcoming post ... my thoughts on King Kong and Brokeback Mountain.