My book is NOT getting published
And what I'm doing next
Dear beloved subscriber of A Poet’s Work,
I hope this finds you snug inside, having just put down a brilliant book to browse this newsletter while listening to summer rain patter on the window.
Read on for:
A personal mini-essay from me on why I’m putting down my unpublished poetry collection, at least for now, because it is not getting published any time soon.
Links to where you can read some of the book, for free and for money.
A shameless plug for my pamphlet, which was published a while ago and I’d love you to read instead.
Some recommended reads if you enjoyed this newsletter.
Look forward to further issues of A Poet’s Work coming soonish with interviews from some exciting poets. I’ll keep alternating issues from me and issues with interviews.
It’s also been lovely to see a few new subscribers joining us on here in the past few months since the last issue. You’re all very welcome! Do share A Poet’s Work with a poetry friend if you’re enjoying it.
And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to…
Poetry love,
Rachel
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My book is NOT getting published
I have a friend who is a literary agent. She once asked me “Why are you doing this? What are you working towards in your writing?” I replied very quickly and it became true as I said it - “I just want to write something good.”
I have to. It’s the strangest feeling. It’s almost as if the good work that I will make exists already, in some universe beyond this one. Every time I write anything, that’s just an attempt to bring it into being.
And let’s not be too humble or precious about “good”. Sure, I mean powerful, moving, beloved by millions, life-changing, award-winning; an unhealthy blend of internally-motivated joy in craft and externally-motivated desire for praise. In short, I see the books on my bookshelves and I know how they’ve sustained me. I want to contribute to that for someone else. That’s it.
For the past year, I’ve submitted my poetry collection about my Northern Irish Jewish family history to any poetry publisher with an open call. It’s been shortlisted four times - thank you The Emma Press, Outspoken, Magma and Write Bloody - but never taken up. Obviously I wanted the headline of this newsletter, after a year of submissions, to be something different. But I think, after five years, it’s time for me to put it down, at least for now. I think it might not (yet?) be good enough to be my “something good”. Maybe when I am older and wiser I can come back to it.
I went on holiday to Bruges recently with the same friend (see below for some photos). She kindly asked me what I was planning to do next with the collection. When I said I’m going to leave it because I can’t get it published, she went into work mode. Consoling a distraught author is one of her professional skills. She said that the most important thing to do next is whatever will help me carry on writing. That’s what matters. And I do agree. I’ve just turned 30. Let’s hope I stay alive and compos mentis until I’m at least 70. That’s 40 years - longer than I have been alive in total to date - to produce the “something good”. I’m not giving up yet but I am putting this project to one side.
Something that feels difficult about moving forward is that I had imagined this collection as a springboard to all my next steps. Once I had it in the world, I thought I would have the confidence to then write a second collection, write more prose, go for more facilitation gigs, seek out funding for a Masters or a PhD in poetry, apply for more grants, be more regular with this newsletter… all of this was contingent, somehow, on the collection being a success. But I’ve realised that all those next steps are still before me, and I can still work towards all of them. There’s no career ladder in poetry. Maybe the next collection will be my “something good”.
If you’d like to read anything from the unpublished collection, see below for links to the poems that have made it into print as individual poems. That’s all you’re getting at least for now! Onwards and upwards.
Read (bits of) the book
Bits of my book that were published! You can read them:
For free:
On becoming Irish after Brexit (bath magg)
Cemetery (Ink, Sweat and Tears)
Strike (Magma)
For money:
Lefcovitch / Lewis (Magma 91)
Shabbat (Under the Radar 31)
Yahrzeit (‘Articulations for Keeping the Light In’, Barbican Young Poets Anthology)
Honestly (‘From the Ground to the Birdsong’, Barbican Young Poets Anthology)
Buy my first book
I do already have a poetry book out in the world. It’s called ‘Three Degrees of Separation’ and explores my experience of recovering from an eating disorder and finding love and connection on the other side. I have been told:
"In her vibrant poetry Rachel Lewis allows healing light to flow through the cracks of mental health. This collection holds emotive reflections together in a delicate intimacy."
Reader review
If you’d like to buy a copy, you can do so here. Tell me in the order form that you’re a newsletter subscriber and I’ll sign it for you.
You have reminded me of Joe Dunthorne's marvellous poem ^After I have written my important poem^ which I love to pieces so I copied it from the book and keep finding it in the places I hide it. I have also put my work aside for now. It'll still be there next time I'm ready for it.
Really loved the strike poem