Dear Friends, Family, Fellow Authors, and Cherished Readers,
It is with great pleasure that I announce to you that two of my poems, “Memento Mori” and “When the Rains Came,” were recently published in Sunlight Press.
I am, as always, incredibly honored to be able to share my work with the world.
A word in particular to my newer writer friends, that will be old news to those who have been in the publishing business for longer than I! If you believe in a poem, don’t give up on it. When you are submitting work, re-evaluate it on a regular basis. Is the enjambment serving to make your writing more powerful, or does a lukewarm line break detract from the emotional impact of a piece? Possibly, you’ll need to cut entire stanzas. These stanzas – the ones that don’t make it into the poem – are usually located at the start or the end of a poem. Either, you’ve begun too early, or you’ve already finished and you’re still rambling on.
I’ve seen this a lot, both in my own work and in the early work of several contemporary poets, who will remain unnamed because they all grew into themselves in their mid-career work.
Remember that writing is ultimately a learning experience. Often, you’ll learn from simply reading the works of others – across genres – and following an author throughout their body of work. Sometimes, you’ll need to do research:
“…he (Alexander) had the wretched doctor impaled on a stake and banned playing the pipes and all music in the camp for a considerable period of time, until he received an oracle from Ammon, telling him to worship Hephaestion as a hero and to institute sacrificial rituals in his honor.” – Plutarch
Another historian, Arrian, who likely drew from Ptolemaic sources, “says that Alexander, however desirous he was to honor Hephaestion as a god, obeyed the answer of the oracle he had asked for.” – Treves in “Hyperides and the Cult of Hephaestion,” quoting Arrian.
Other times, you’ll need to draw on your own well of experience and inspiration.
Now that this missive has grown longer than I expected, please allow me to sign off with this small tidbit of ephemera I found in my journal concerning “Memento Mori:”
“When you remember Alexander, are you blinded by the part of him that is Great? What has become of the Alexander who wept for Hephaestion? The one who had the “wretched doctor” who failed to save him “impaled on a stake” and left to die? Where is the Greatness in that act? Where do angels fail to fly?” – from the Journal of Caitlin Cacciatore
Thank you all for reading and supporting me on this journey.
And, as always –
May inspiration find you in unexpected places,
Caitlin Cacciatore
