Exclamation Points

Last night an editor of a news magazine wrote to inform me that one of my poems (a poem, really?) was receiving a lot of attention from readers and had been the number one page on the magazine web site this past month.  Awww, shucks!

I'm actually flabbergasted by this . . . and I rarely use the word "flabbergasted."  It's true, I do write a lot of poems (actually too many), but I also write a lot of essays, humor, fiction, and work that simply defies description or categorization.  So when an editor sends me word about a poem receiving attention, I have to ask, "Why?"

I'm not used to attention, of course.  My kids ignore me.  My wife has other interests . . . and most of these do not include me.  The cat takes one look in my direction and pukes.

So when an editor writes with a compliment, I'm flabbergasted.  (There's that word again!) I begin wondering how I hit upon a combination of words that others would want to read, or perhaps faun over.  I wonder if I can repeat the performance, and I try to go back in time and figure out where I was, and what I was doing, and what the circumstances were surrounding the creation of the words.  If I could duplicate the effort, I would.  But I can't even remember where I was yesterday, and I certainly don't recall writing most of the drivel I churn out.  When the editor wrote to say, "I love your poem," I asked, "What poem?"  Don't even remember writing it or sending it in.  Am I going Alzheimer's?!

But, alas, I realize I don't have any great skill at word-crafting . . . I just have an ability to turn out words like little sausages, lots of little sausages, and I send them out hoping that one of those little sausages will be good enough to catch the eye of an editor who will say, "Very tasty."

Lord knows I'll never garner any attention at home.  I've got to look for these small accolades in the wild and wacky world of word-crafting!

I'm flabbergasted!!!!