Introduction

I've been writing poetry since childhood and for the most part keeping it to myself. And yes, I've had poems published, and I've occasionally read in public; and yes, people have from time to time had nice things to say about certain poems. But for the most part my life as a poet has been frustrating. All I've ever really wanted to do was share my poems with others, but for some reason it's never been as simple as one might think. The whole process of submitting work for publication is extremely distasteful. I was going to write "distasteful to me," but I'm sure it's distasteful to just about everyone.