A poem/essay combination. Something different.

Give it away?
Where did I get it?
by Henry Burt Stevens
www.authorsden.com/henrybstevens
03/19/2005

it was in my mind
trapped-i set it free
a butterfly from
my cocoon like mind

it was in my eyes
lightening my
floaters, cataracts
flashing like retina damage

why should i clutter
and refile that
which is so soon
replaced with yet another

better me let
it go sail on
down the ways
and build an other

six out of a thousand
might be any good
but i'd never know
until someone told me which.
.......................................................

Rational

If you use the exact plan that everybody else uses, you will get about the same results. The only way to have a breakout is to make plans to do things differently than what everybody else is doing.

The road to success in poetry is well worn and well known.  Start with a BA, head for a MFA, all the time submitting to small presses and contests to build  up a publication record. Then to teaching, for income while all the time buiilding inventory of poems for more publication.

How about giving poems away and hoping that some of them will become popular and get forwarded all over the internet?  I find this an attractive idea and am actively pursuing it on my web site at AuthorsDen.com. 

I started on Authors Den February 1, 2005 at zero hits and today April 10, 2005 I have 14,585 total hits, or what I perfer to call page reads.  Someone is looking at my work and that pleases me.  My page hits per day are now running over 250.  I believe in letting readers copy, resend, remail, republish as long as my name and AuthorsDen.com are included. I believe this is helping my readership.  And readership is my goal.

I'm really pleased when someone forwards one of my poems to a friend or relative, and then they pass it along to someone else.

You might ask, "what if someone passes off my work as their own?"   No problem. I see two outcomes. One, they don't have any better luck gaining recongnition for my poem over their name than I did using my name.  Or two, the poem becomes widely popular, and the person makes lots of money.  Wonderful. Eventually I'll get wind of the matter and will proceed to establish my ownership and seek legal compensation.  After all, the poem came from my Den with dates of posting and provable readership by way of reviews of other Den members.  Slam dunk.  Give me my money.

I believe the internet is the place to be, not on some bookshelf in a local bookstore or chain bookstore or even on Amazon. 

Look at how material gets passed around on the internet.  The oldest urban ledgends you can imagine show up as though they are fresh and new from your friends and family who have finally starting using a computer on the web.  The Bill Gates paying for forwarding this message deal, for instance.  These same people might be interested to forward some of your poems and stories in the same fashion.  Even some of mine, Wow.

How is all this going to turn out for me?  I haven't the foggiest idea.  I'm just guessing.  The beauty of this system is that you will know if it's working for me about the same time I find out. 

And if I crash and burn you'll know in time to bring some marshmellows and we'll toast marshmellows  together and have a good laugh.    s/Henry Burt Stevens  April 10, 2005.

 p.s. Don't forget to forward this poem/essay to lots of people-now while it's fresh in your mind.........smile. tnx henry