po-biz? a poetry “Career”? thoughts of a lowly poet on her lowliness

As my adjunct classes have wrapped up, and homeschooling went on break, and my free time suddenly became a little more free, I’ve found myself contemplating the state of my poetry “career” (can I call it a career?) and where I hope it will grow.

I guess with 12 years of baby-after-baby (there are five, plus one passed away, plus 2nd-trimester miscarriages), I’ve not thought about it except sporadically–I’ve just thought, now is the time to send out some poems, now is the time to send out a collection, one foot in front of the other.

But the larger trajectory? I don’t know. I’m not in academia really anymore; most of my friends don’t even know I write, or only vaguely know.

I will be honest, most of the time it feels like I write all these poems and just send them out into the void, never to hear of them again. Poem after poem, even collection after collection.

Do people even read what I write? Is it published but not actually read?

I listen to a podcast for women writers geared more toward nonfiction writers, and there’s much talk about platform and finding your audience.

Poetry, not being a money-making enterprise, is, shall we say, different? But lately I’ve begun to wonder HOW different. Are there readers out there that could love my poetry that I’m not reaching? And, if so, how do I reach them?

I’m not the time for social media–I’ve got five kids and I homeschool for Lord’s sake–but maybe there are other ways to connect with readers.

I don’t know what that will look like–do I need to go to a conference or a writer retreat, join some sort of writers group locally or online, do I need to find my people or publish with the right journal? Is there a community I would fit with that I haven’t found yet? Am I sitting at the wrong table in the cafeteria?

My sister says I should ditch poetry writing and write murder novels instead–people love murder novels–and perhaps she is right. But for whatever non-monetary reason, I love to write poetry–I just hope that in 2024 that I can find a few people who love to read it.