Writing Nowadays - POEM

It’s different these days

Being a writer, that is

You toil away, in front of a screen

Chiselling out your words

Like a piano player

Instead of writing it out

On paper, or a bulky typewriter

Having to scrap every page that had

More than a few errors

No more mailing it by post

We’ve got the internet now

And even though we have it

We’re still invisible

In a never-ending sea of people

We’ve now got to do

All the marketing ourselves

A painstaking and humbling process

But nonetheless harrowing

You’ve got to contact editors

And blow their horns

You’ve got to sell your soul

And pitch your words

Carefully, like a seasoned chef

Administering a pinch of a crucial ingredient

You must know what to submit

And when to submit

You must network with other authors

Open accounts wherever publicity and interest

May be generated

You’ve got to blog;

Holy shit; a daily exercise

You’ve got to engage with possible

And potential readers

You’ve got to talk nice;

Lick their balls 

With a Cheshire grin

You’ve then got to accept royalties

Earned, but paid only a fraction

You’ve got to compete with cheats

In competitions, where cheating

Is hardly necessary

You’ve got to get through all this

And still

Have a mind left

To write

Something

Good...

© Dean R Boic 2016