wow... so one day, I was looking through scholarship offers and possibilities, and I saw one that seemed to suit me. it was a poetry contest for poetry dot com. so I sat there, staring at my computer screen for a moment. I thought about my life, searching for inspiration, and inspiration hit me. I wrote an 8-line poem and went to bed. I didn't think anything more of it, because I didn't think there was anything more to think about.

well, today, I got home at about 10:45 ish, and my mother knocks on my door.
"you got a bad letter in the mail today," she said.
I gave her a strange look, trying to figure out whether or not she was telling me the truth, then I asked, "what do you mean? bad letter for what? from who?"
"follow me," she replied, making her way downstairs and then towards the kitchen.
"what letter?" I kept repeating.
"this," she replied pulling out an envelope.
'poetry.com?' I thought.
I looked a little closer and noticed my poem in small print. I was baffled and wondering, 'what does this mean?'
then I read the note that came with it:
'dear sylvia,
after carefully reading and discussing your poem, our Selection Committee has certified your poem as a semi-finalist in our International Open Poetry Contest.... In celebration of the unique talent that you have displayed, we also wish to publish your poem on its own page in what promises to be one of the most highly regarded collections of poetry we have ever published...'

I'm so thrilled... I don't really care about some of the stuff, but it feels good to have someone look at my poem and tell me it's worth something, that it shows talent. and right on a day when I feel like I lack any special talent. It's good to know I can express myself poetically.
I feel like I'm finally going somewhere and doing something.

I'll post my poem in a later post... maybe the next one... and maybe I'll explain it...