In the depths of
creased-up wrappers
lost receipts
cheque book stubs
shreds of tissue
stray pen tops
last year’s diary
glasses case
I found my treasure.
Transported back
to ancient souks
expensive malls
five star service
desert treks
sky-high structures
man-made islands
hidden faces
I dream a while.
Joan Ryder is a teacher of French and Head of Year in a Secondary School on the Isle of Man. She would love to be a ‘published’ poet — in print that is.
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24 Responses to “THE DIRHAM IN MY HANDBAG • by Joan”
Comments
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June 30th, 2009 at 12:28 am
Nice story and imagery.
June 30th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Lovely. Treasures and dreams right there at the bottom of your handbag.
June 30th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Does every woman’s purse have the same stuff in it? I thought you’d had a peek in my handbag when I first started reading.
June 30th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Sweet! My cluttered bag could use a few of these treasures!
June 30th, 2009 at 6:47 am
I enjoyed this. As a traveller, I can relate.
However, I felt it might be better as just two stanzas, separated after the line:
‘I found my treasure.’
Good ‘un.
June 30th, 2009 at 10:48 am
You described lovely experience.Very often a small object can
become a time machine. Handbag is full of such things.
June 30th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Currency poem, lovely one Joan. Enjoyed very much
June 30th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I really liked this poem. Thank you very much!
June 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I think we all can relate to this–although I will admit I had to look up “dirham” and “souk”.
June 30th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Thanks very much, everbody!
June 30th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
I meant ‘everybody’!
July 1st, 2009 at 12:58 am
Vibrant poem. The snippets of images invite us to stroll along through the memories. And I got to look up dirham and souk, too! So thanks for adding to my voacab
July 1st, 2009 at 7:32 am
Well, I hate to pour rain on this parade, but this poem has been previously published (or co-published) on http://www.writewords.org.uk/archive/23057.asp, so for not following the rules of submission, I have to give it a 1 star.
July 1st, 2009 at 8:54 am
OK – point taken – quite right. I should have marked it on the original site ‘for Writewords members only’, so that only site members could see it, or would that not have been acceptable either? I seriously need clarification on this.
July 1st, 2009 at 8:57 am
Strictly speaking, if it breaks the rules of submission, it should be deleted, I would have thought.
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:19 am
The submission rules clearly state, “It ought to go without saying that any poem submitted to Every Day Poets must be your own unpublished original creation. If you publish a poem on a blog, even your own personal blog, it is considered published and therefore inappropriate for our market.” If Everyday Poets makes an exception and allows publication of this poem in your case, then it’s ok, otherwise, the appropriate thing to do is to withdraw it.
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:25 am
Yes this piece appeared in Writewords BUT and this is a big BUT, if you go to Stephen’s link, you will come up with this:
Sorry this piece is not available. If this is your work please ensure you are logged in. Click here to return to writewords.
As a member of writewords had seen this piece before. You might all be interested to know that every single piece of work I have in EDF has been a product of my membership of that Writer’s Community. Writewords is a closed site. Therefore this poem was not previously published, as far as we were concerned. The oversight that occurred, not pressing the ‘members only’ button, has now been corrected. The poem will now be ineligible for inclusion in our anthology as a result of this. I am taking advice form our Managing Director in this matter, and the poem may well be withdrawn.
As you see we have had a full apology from Joan, who is quite willing to abide by our final decision in this matter.
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:35 am
No – it was actually open for anybody to read originally, as I mistakenly failed to check the correct button when I posted it on Writewords. It is now not available except for members to view. Many apologies for the error.
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:14 am
Under the circumstances, and in light of the explanation given by Oonah, I believe that EDP should allow an exception in this case and allow Joan’s poem to remain, and that this poem should NOT be withdrawn. Anyone who has submitted poems knows how difficult it is to get a poem published. All of us struggling poets are used to the 98% rejection rates. So I say that EDP should make an exception and permit Joan’s poem to stay. I suggest to EDP to Google every accepted poem and poet to prevent this type of situation in the future.
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:29 am
Well, I’ll still await Jordan’s ruling on this, Stephen. I have caught a few poems before by googling. I guess this one slipped the net because I already knew where it came from and had every expectation that it was not therefore open to public view.
Thank you for your generosity of spirit.
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Could someone explain to me WHY EDP has this rule anyway?
Writewords is mainly a workshopping site, where writers post work in order to get crit and feedback, thus making their work better. They do not post on WW, (by enlarge), to get publicity or recognition – they certainly don’t make any money. Why therefore, can work produced as a result of this, not be accepted here once it is ready to be showcased?
Why do sites insist on this exclusivity, which seems to kill creativity?
I have poems that were published in obscure mags ages ago. Yet because of a rule such as this, they are now ‘dead poems’ I cannot send them anywhere else, let a new audience enjoy them, just because as an emerging writer, I got them published in a now defunct mag. It makes no sense to me at all.
It is a legal thing? I must admit I do not understand about publishing rights etc, so it may be.
It just seems silly that work can only be seen once and then has to effectively ‘die’ The chances of someone seeing a piece twice are minute…and if it is a great piece of work, surely it should be published more than once, to let others have the joy of seeing it?
This is not a criticism of EDP, I would just like some rationale behind this policy, if possible.
Oh, and I have communicated and shared creativity with Joan on MANY occassions – I know she would NEVER seek to
flout submission guidelines on purpose.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Thank you, Helen.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:24 am
I think EDP’s policy regarding acceptance of previously unpublished poetry only is a good one. There are many other poetry magazines which follow somewhat different guidelines provided there is no legal conflict with the original publisher. The vitality of this site is unusual and I hope it remains so. Its contemporariness, its openness to the new, makes it extroadinarily, excitingly what it is.
December 20th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
This poem is fabulous . Makes me think of my handbag and being in Dubai!
But am annoyed how some people have to be so anal re commemnts!!! Joan has been published cos she deserves to be published and is talented .. Me thinks
Those who do protest have a case of the green eyed monster!!!