This week, as I working through the poems for the summer house series, which are actually really quite nice, I realized with a start that they are possibly the one piece I was missing in the feed manuscript. Initially, I had them earmarked as something for another project in development, thinking the current one was just about ready to go through a final round of edits and start submission rounds this summer. But now, I see they echo some of the themes in other sections and balance nicely in reflection of the Hansel & Gretel pieces. Almost a prequel of sorts, but more contemporary. Also, very much in line with child/mother dynamics in the book.
Sometimes, I'm slow to recognize the pathways in even my own work that lead to one another. I was initially thinking ordinary planet should be part of the manuscript since there are many mentions of mothers and daughters, and I was writing it with that potential constellation of work in mind, but earlier this year, I decided that the concerns in that project are wholly different and maybe something else entirely. It's more about the women in the context of that dystopian island, so I took those poems out. It left a bit of unbalance in the feed mss, though, only four sections when I really like odd numbered things (not scientific at all, just my usual preference.)
Today, I sat down with a draft of the entire manuscript and read through it again and I am loving the new addition. Since I have a couple of books coming out in the next year or so, I'm going to hold off submitting til summer. I'm still wary of contests, and really can't afford reading fees if I wasn't against them on principle (unless you get something like a copy of the winner or another book.) so I'm looking for open reading periods perhaps at presses I've been admiring from afar.
