My first published poem resulted from my inability to take prompts seriously. When asked in a scholarship application to respond to the prompt, "Ten, nine, eight, seven...," with an essay, I decided to instead write a prose poem. I promptly did not receive the scholarship. Feeling a little bitter and misunderstood because I was 18 and knew everything, I immediately sent the poem off to an online magazine. My first acceptance email definitely made up for the scholarship rejection!
The poem was meant both as a string of consciousness-style thought steam, and also, on a personal level, as a metaphorical expression of the fear I was feeling in a period of my life that involved substantial transition. I was deeply gratified that different readers identified it as working for them on those different levels.
"Ten, Nine, Eight..." was released on December 3, 2007, in issue 270 of Bewildering Stories. You can read it here!
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