A rare success, in my other universe
https://www.amazon.com/Pluribus-Haiku-Anthology-3487-ebook/dp/B08X2YRQB2
is the epitome of my haiku writing. 3487 of them, all in one volume. I put it all together, with a different cover, and let it sit for a while. I was a little shy about presenting myself as a poet anyway. I didn't want to push myself around so hard.
But time went by and I got a little depressed that it basically wasn't a hot seller. Finally things happened with my friends: a group of authors who read each other's work. I wanted to read longer stuff and this was the only long one I had. I trade: I'll read your 400-page opus if someone will read mine.
This way I got a few readers, and they really liked it. At the same time I was pushing epiphany coup haiku, about the Jan. 6 insurrection, and people liked that too. Of course in some cases they liked that because, at only 26 pages, they could get in and out pretty quickly.
But the sum total of it was I got a name in haiku, at least amongst my friends. And it's not too hard to get on the haiku lists, especially when everyone is sleeping after the new year. On Saturday when I did my numbers both books were in the top 25 of Japanese Poetry & Haiku, and the anthology was #1 in England for a few days. #1! I've never been #1 in anything!
As a poet, it's hard peddling yourself out in the world, even harder to get sales. It's a dismal world out there. If something bright and optimistic comes along, you have to celebrate. So that's what I'm doing. By Valentine's Day it'll all be forgotten, but for now, I'm at the top of the world!
posted by tom @ 12:20 PM
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