Coming-of-Age

I was recently contacted by the editor of LEVELER Poetry Mag about a poem I submitted - they accepted it for publication!  The poem will appear on the front page on Sunday, March 8, 2015.  You can visit the LEVELER website here:

http://www.levelerpoetry.com/

One thing that is very awesome and exciting about this particular poetry magazine is that the editor provides some commentary on why a particular piece was chosen for publication.  Here is the website's editor's note and a bit on the selection process:

"To assure our readers we are being responsible editors and to increase the transparency of our editorial process as a whole, each poem published by LEVELER is accompanied by a brief note on our selection entitled levelheaded. Here we look at what a poem conveys and how. In no way do we claim levelheaded is a final, authoritative take on any corresponding poem. Instead, we hope to provide readers with another way into the poem, thereby encouraging closer readings, and ultimately, challenges to our findings."

"Poem selections for LEVELER are made every six to eight months (more frequently when possible). Our initial reading of a batch of submissions is done individually and continually. Roughly twice a year, we meet in person to read through our most recent batch for a second time. In these meetings, we move through every poem individually, paying particular attention to the stronger poems’ goals and methods. While our process is necessarily subjective, we make a point not to let our limited predispositions dictate what we publish. Most of our final editorial decisions are made in our meetings, though stalemates do occur, postponing some decisions. If our editorial tastes differ, we hope the disparity ultimately strengthens our selections (though, undoubtedly, quality work slips through our system). The vast majority of the poetry we publish is selected from regular submissions. However, we do solicit some poems from writers whose work we admire. In all cases, after we have selected poems and notified submitting poets of our decisions, we divide responsibilities in the writing of levelheaded, which are written by individual editors and edited collectively. We determine the order in which we will post the poems, and then we present them, without qualm, to you, the reader."

I'm a big fan of this magazine and the work they do.  Consider visiting the website to read some great poetry from writers like me - and of course visit the website in March!

The poem that was selected for publication at LEVELER is called "Fawn."  The poem was written about my younger brother, Tyler.  Tyler is a wonderful young man and I have had the pleasure of watching him grow over the years since we are eight years apart.  We spent a lot of time together when he was young as I would look after him while my parents were at work and we had the best of times.  "Fawn" is about coming-of-age and watching Tyler grow.  I can't wait for you guys to read it.

In the spirit of my brother and the magic of watching a child grow into adulthood, I wanted to share a mini narrative collage (the combination of text and image) I wrote about my brother when I was in a college writing class.

I also included a couple extra collage pages that were originally part of the story but then just became a part of my overall collage journal.

So I hope my poem lives up to the many collages I've devoted to trying to capture what it was like getting to spend my time with Tyler when he was young.  He is just as charming today as he was back then.

Here's some links to my other recent publications.

Crack the Spine Magazine (bio and link to issue):
http://www.crackthespine.com/2013/07/issue-seventy-four-contributors.html

Eunoia Review (2 poems):

http://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/tag/kristin-lafollette/

 
Dead Flowers:  A Poetry Rag (2 poems):
PDF version can be accessed on their Facebook page (Vol. 2 No. 6)

2River View (2 poems):

http://www.2river.org/2RView/18_4/default.html

 
A print copy of FIVE2ONE Magazine (my poem is on page 29 of this issue):
http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/804484
Digital version of my poem in FIVE2ONE Magazine:
http://five2onemag.onimpression.com/search/label/Kristin%20LaFollette

Futures Trading Magazine:
http://futurestradinglit.weebly.com/exchanges/futures-trading-22

Small presses need faithful readers to help support the writing community as a whole.  Consider checking out some of these publications and support writers and small presses alike!

And, as always, thanks for visiting my blog!