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Unread 10-29-2016, 12:00 PM
Julie Steiner Julie Steiner is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
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I'm very surprised "X" did so well in the voting, as it elicited only a "Meh" from a lot of readers I respect. I'm even more surprised that "Hundreds of Corks" finished only second-to-last, because I thought it was much better than my own poem. (I salute you, Claudia!)

Just goes to show how subjective taste can be, and how important it is to take both winning and losing with a grain of salt. What matters is whether a poem resonates with us, personally, which is what we're all looking for when we participate in events like this.

I did hesitate to enter a poem I'd previously workshopped here, as it obviously wouldn't be anonymous for everyone, but 1.) there have been previously-workshopped-at-Eratosphere finalists in every Sonnet Bake-off, ever, and 2.) few people here actually offer critiques on workshopped poems on a regular basis, so only a tiny percentage of Bake-off participants would have encountered it before, and 3.) I didn't mind rewarding those few with a little inside knowledge for contributing their time and talent to the workshop boards, and 4.) I workshopped it ages ago, so I figured that even if people remembered having seen a previous version before, they would have forgotten who the author was (as I did with "Desilu"--sorry, Simon!), and 5.) the non-linear approach of "X" is so different from my usual M.O. that I thought my identity would be pretty unguessable by most people who've seen my work.

Reason 5.) was the real clincher, as my other possible entries were on themes that are pretty well-trodden territory for me: diseased and dying children, rape, what's wrong with the Church I love, and other characteristically uncheerful "Julie" topics. This poem's depressing, too, but in a refreshingly new way (for me). Glad some of you liked it.

My thanks to all who entered and commented on the various finalists--I so appreciate others' insightful observations of things I haven't noticed!--and of course to Aaron and Alex.
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