Damn it, Jim, I'm a cataloguer not a poet... or maybe not

Well, here we go again. I seem to recall having said in the past that I've never considered myself a poet. I tend to write things more along the line of short stories in the genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, and yet the first work of mine to be published is to be "Nightmares and Nameless Fears". Granted, that particular poem certainly shares the genre and tone of many of my stories, but truthfully I was a bit surprised to see it accepted for publication.

Nonetheless, I'm giving it another try and entering another poetry contest. This one is among the 2006 writing contest from Prairie Fire magazine and Rand McNally book sellers, specifically The Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award. I'm submitting three poems this time, the first being entitled "The Town", which is very much a poem akin to my usual dark storywriting. It's the longest of the three. The second is entitled Armageddon's Dawn, inspired by a particularly fiery looking sunrise I saw on the way to work last week, and while not "horror", it's definitely darker. The third of three poems in my submission is called "Autumn Leaves", and is not my typical dark and brooding sort of work; I'm operating on the theory that one shouldn't go too many times to the well and not everyone likes to read about darkness, horror, and lurking fears... and truth be told, sometimes it's nice to write something a little lighter as well.

So time will tell if lightning strikes twice (perhaps a poor selection of phrase, given the magazine holding the contests is called "Prairie Fire") and if more of my poetry wins the approval of the critics.

Even though I'm not a poet. Really, I'm not.