Second Poem Up For Publication!

Hey everyone!

Hope all is well with you today. I'm back with more excellent news: a second poem of mine is getting published this summer as well!! The poem is called "The World Is Not A Bowling Ball", and it will be published by the journal Arsenic Lobster. They've got some really fascinating work in their journal, so you should check it out here.

I remember the day I wrote the very first draft of this poem. We were reading Matthew Dickman in my Poetry Writing class, and I had to write a response to one of the poems from his collection "All-American Poem". I loved Dickman's poetry (and still do), but I was struggling to find even those initial stumbling words. I didn't even know what I wanted to write about, much less how to write it. On a Tuesday morning that September (the day the assignment was due), I stumbled out of bed and decided that I would respond to his poem "The World Is Too Huge to Grasp", the last poem in the collection and the one that most resounded with me. I was tired (not enough sleep) and a little bit frustrated. (How can I write this poem? I have no idea what I'm doing!!) Finally, with that idea of "I have no idea what I'm doing!" blazing in my head, I began to write to two people: I wrote to the poet himself, for the most part, while the very end seemed to be addressed to a friend. Then I thought: This poem is either really good, or extremely terrible. It's probably not "average". With that, I turned it in.

When I got the assignment back, my professor declared: "Courtney, Matthew Dickman set you free!" I replied happily as I received my assignment. A plus. When I went to talk to my professor a few weeks later about my poetry aspirations (and frustrations), she told me I'd blown the roof off with that poem. Her words ignited a tiny fire of hope in the midst of a week to which darkness had clung like cobwebs and mold. I kept working on my poetry, and felt the liberation spread from that day forth.


A huge thanks to my Poetry Writing teacher and fellow poet classmates, who also gave remarkable feedback on this poem and others. Another huge thanks to friends, family and all those who have supported me throughout this tumultuous but wonderful and rewarding process. I love you and thank you endlessly for helping me pull through.

All best,

Courtney Justus





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