Couplets

It made terrific sense, of course,
to build a lift to scale my flaws!


With tea and sun that steep alike,
Summer's wistful wounds shall strike.


The epiphany, the revel! of thoughtful synapse
Precedes the fear of permanent lapse.

An open letter to any publication willing to take me

Dear perpetually-changing choice of periodical,

It has been my ambition to become a writer for a long time, or at least long enough for the aspiration to become painfully wistful; ever since I realised that books were in fact worth reading and an English teacher stared over twenty pairs of glazed eyes and told me that literature could be analysed. Coming across your publication brought about the comforting revelation that there was hope for people such as myself; aspiring writers who would love to be published in any way, yet secretly wanted the importance and freedom of an esteemed newspaper columnist.

My innate aversion to self-assurance has mostly taken its toll on my writing, or rather, the way I perceive it. I refuse to believe the idea that I am, well... a good writer, and it is just the genuine enjoyment of writing and the creative process that fuels this want to write. Despite my unwavering diffidence (does calling myself diffident make me sound like a hypocrite? - I think it does...) I really do (try to) live and breathe prose. In casual conversation I try to sound like the most intellectual and articulate person that my narrow vocabulary will allow me to be, and fail to acquiesce in the fact that I sound neither bookish nor worldly enough to be considered well-informed. My dream includes a short-lived life in Paris, quirky days as a reclusive poet in rural Britain, and the acting out of well-rehearsed, idealist images - most of which involve the spires of Oxford, a New Yorker's fire escape staircase and sallow hardback books of modern American literature. But my ultimate hope is that the ability to laugh at my sheer pretentiousness and pseudo-intellectual pursuits will never desert me.

I sincerely hope that my attached submission, as well as a prolific chain of other works to come, will be deemed good enough for your publication, and that it will be the beginning of success as a published author, which I intend to pursue.

Finitely yours,

R. Louise