Poetry:reading,marketing, creating

First, a note about the Grind- it's not closing. The shop has a new owner who's trying to get more up and running, including poetry readings. I have become the de facto organizer. You know the routine- if you want to get something going, do it yourself. I wonder if this would count as a public project? Reading reams of poetry to a near empty room except for for folks bribed in off the streets (and family members who have a certain obligation). I suppose I could make a requirement for my IVY Tech and IPFW students to attend since we all know how much students will do for a grade.
Second, Saturday afternoon ramblings. Much of the post-nap afternoon has been spent doing internet research on finding places to send off poems and stories. I realize that a good portion of the marketing is a numbers game but I hope the chances of acceptance are better than making a sale via spam (one sale per 12.5 million spams) [A side question: why is it called spam? I personally like the canned ham product and don't care for its name being besmirched. Slide the loaf out of the can, stud with cloves and pineapple chunks and back for 20 minutes. {not sure why a recipe came out}]
I had mentioned in one of the reaction papers that most of my writing has been done off on my own without benefit of too many classes or workshops which tends to feed the insecurity already present. This may be one of the difficulties of having such a scattered education consisting of seven undergraduate institutions, two graduate, and now I'm off on a third at IPFW. Why all the schooling? Why not? I enjoy learning and the academic environment. And it provides a level of acceptable purpose.
That last phrase is one I want to play with for a moment: acceptable purpose. Is creative writing, the production of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction (a category I have little familiarity with) an acceptable purpose beyond the notion of "hobby"? Yes, I know that we have attacked this notion in the class every time it comes up but it continues to nag. While we rail against the notion, don't we have to live in it? Jesse said that she would take any shit job provided evenings and weekends remained for writing, but isn't trying to fit writing in the edges of life turning it into a past-time? The idea of taking any shit job is a romantic one which becomes leads to disillusionment. Life moves in and writing moves the corner of the room. I have now written myself into a place I hadn't intended- a place of grumpiness and curmudgeondom. Scrowls grow upon the brow making intense the signals of delusion. I'm going to stop now and get on with something else. And I have yet to resolve the issue of acceptable purpose. Check back again, if you like.