All I Really Wanted

For a Pagemaster's challenge. We were given the first four words and the last three. The assignment was to fill in the space between.

 

 

Even after my death, the polite refusal letters continued to fill my mail box.

For many weeks they came.

No apologies, no specific reasons or feedback.

My submittals just didn’t fit this criteria or that genre of this or that publishing house. 

I can’t believe I kept sending my treasures off to cold strangers,

even until the end.

 

I guess I’d always dreamed that eventually someone would at last feel the passion

and understand the hope, the agony, the inspiration.

I just knew that I would somehow connect with the right editor

who would recognize and appreciate those little parts of my soul

so neatly organized and carefully rhymed.

I had hoped, I suppose, that perhaps one of my pieces would move them just as they had moved me.

 

And yet I never wrote anything for that reason.

I wrote them because I had to write them.

I remember telling God once that I would never write again

because no one cared about my work.

No one cared about how I saw or understood life.

But within a few weeks I could no longer contain it and I began to write again.

 

From that day forward I wrote only for my God

because He had whispered to me that He did care about my work

and He expected me to use the gift that He had given me.

A gift that truly was rare and precious.

A gift that He could use to touch others as He needed to,

with or without the aid of a publisher.

 

So I wrote about everything that inspired me.

I found a little place on the internet where I could share my work with others.

That in itself was one of the most rewarding things I ever did.

To be read and understood by others who shared this most precious gift.

Others who knew what it was like to be consumed by an idea or a thought

until it could no longer be contained and spilled onto paper.

 

And often I gave my pieces to friends when I really felt to.

It was amazing to see the tears fill their eyes as they read my words.

Oh sure, I continued to send the best off to publishers.

And they continued to reject them for this reason or that… but that was fine.

I knew God read them and my friends could feel my soul and spirit in each line.

That’s all I really wanted after all, and nobody objected.

 

Reviews

[emmajoy]

There is something in some people that makes them want to share thoughts in the form of poetry or prose, but, there comes a time when a wee pat on the shoulder from a publisher tells the writer that they've achieved a little magic.

It's not necessarily arrogance or ultra confidence, often the opposite that jogs us into feeling so deeply about a post that we need to share it, see if someone else thinks the same way, or, maybe, have a person understand a happiness or a sadness and know by the reaction that you're not alone or the other person isn't alone.

'To be read and understood by others who shared this most precious gift.
Others who knew what it was like to be consumed by an idea or a thought until it could no longer be contained and spilled onto paper.'

The one thing you can be sure of is that no matter what others think there is that Special Someone who knows you do your best to open your heart and scribble away as well you can.

This is such a fine post, makes me feel comfortably content.

[Emily B]

and that's what I really wanted after all, no objections.

What a wonderful write! I'm so lucky that I found a little place on the web to share my words, too.

[MARIA STRELLA SAMUEL]

BEAUTIFUL CREATION !

[Poeticpiers]

I can relate to this so very easily. Getting published is almost impossible unless you employ a literary agent.Real rhymed and metered poetry is not appreciated by todays critics. Free form is all the rage.Most of which is only mangled prose. I gave up on publishers a long time ago I produce an occasional anthology myself in limited editions mainly for family and friends I sell just enough to defray my expenses. The feed back I get from poetry sites helps me to improve my work What more can I ask

[TL Boehm]

wow. I remember seeing that challenge and shrinking from it, my pen virtually dry....but you did so well. And I have to say this one hit me deeply....for so many reasons.

[Riverdance]

You know, this poem echoes my own feelings at times, and I must honestly say that I really enjoyed it. And the way you took the opening and ending words and developed them into this piece straight from the soul.

Deeply heartfelt.

You expressed your emotions well. =)

Thanks for reviewing my piece as well. I always enjoy meeting new people here at the Cafe even if we've both been here a while. It's a big place.
=)

God bless!

[Kristina Moulaison]

This is wonderfully naked and heartfelt. Thank you so much for having the guts to sharing it. Jill said it all. Hugs!

[C.L. Wilson]

an amazingly different submission to this contest. the different varieties in this contest could make someone's jaw drop.

hope the best writer wins