Hope Springs Eternal- like some sort of malevolent geyser that wants me to fail.

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/images/pglossary/geyser.php

Last year, for National Poetry Month, my local library held a poetry competition. I submitted a poem that I thought was pretty original. You can read the poem and some of my thoughts about the competition here.

Well, there were a lot of submissions that year, and my poem didn't warrant even an honorable mention...I would have settled for a little scrawl from one of the judges saying they liked it.

So I wasn't thrilled with that, and I felt like, "If I can't even win a community poetry competition...what makes me think I have any business submitting my stuff to actual literary professional magazines?"

This year, when national poetry month rolled around, I was ambivalent about entering the contest again. In fact, I told my husband, "No way am I doing that again!" However, as time went by, hope began to creep back into my heart, and I realized, it's a new year. I'm already a better writer than I was a year ago, or six years ago, when I wrote that poem. If I can't take a little rejection and try again, then I will never be successful at this.

Ergo, yesterday I dropped off a new poem for this year's competition. It's more traditional than last year's, in fact, it's so traditional it's a sonnet!

Whatever happens, I am proud of myself for trying again.