"The Return" in Semi-Finals of New Millennium Writings 2010 Poetry Competition

Last year, before my poetry manuscript for Contemplating Eve was published, I selected three poems to submit to New Millennium Writings for publication. New Millennium Writings is a prominent literary magazine with writers such as Nikki Giovanni (poet & faculty member at Virginia Tech) as contest judge. I submitted my writing to this magazine because I wanted acknowledgment for my work from the literary establishment  before self-publishing.

Initially, I decided not to publish with a big publishing house because of the lengthy selection process and the high level of competition. Every writer in the world wants to publish with one of the "big 6."  And, so did I.

But, I wanted to publish in six months (rather than three years), to have full creative control and the promise of better than meager royalties. Self-publishing offered just this chance.

I entered the New Millennium Writings contest in order to gain acknowledgment from established writers & editors and to earn greater recognition as an author. Now, a year later, I just learned that "The Return," a poem that appears in Contemplating Eve, earned a place in the semi-final round in last year's New Millennium Writings' annual poetry competition. It was selected, one of few, among 1200 submissions.

The editor of New Millennium Writings, Don Williams, noted this to me as a semi-finalist in his letter:


"The quality in our contests is high, and you should be proud 
of your accomplishment. I am."

I am pleased that I made it so far in this competition. Here's last year's poem:

The Farmer II

The Return

 

We must return
There must be an exodus
We are too rich, too might a force to
Remain here
I want to see the day
A day when the water returns to the sand
The deserts
We are all on loan here.


The Sahara was fertile
Once
Grew tall trees and grasses
It was called the Sahel
I wonder where deserts come from.

Maybe we belong back there
Maybe this is my story
This is my journey
Back from where we left
None by choice

Sold and stolen
Sold and stolen
Sold and stolen
How many times?

I am Guinea
I am woman
I am country
I am money
The puzzle pieces fit together.

And, maybe I am the water
Maybe I make it rain
Flow---
If I word it correctly
If this is so, then
I think I know where I belong.

If I am Guinea and I am water, then
I wonder where deserts come from.

Sold and stolen
Water
An ever so precious commodity
Ever so cheap
Commodity

Commodity fetishism
is a shame now
is it not?
Now, that is justice clearly stated.

And, the deserts miss the rain.