Poetic Connectivity For Sale

My second attempt to list "Poetry Review Reading Comment Feedback Evaluation on Your Poem by Published Poet" on eBay was a lot more mutually fruitful than the first. Upping the ante from one cent to one dollar weeded out eBayers who just wanted to exchange positive feedback, a crucial element in the eBay culture of trust.

Instead, I connected with one Peter Rocha who paid 99c (66c after PayPal's cut) for what turned out to be 1,000 words of feedback on his poem — and my utter pleasure.

It was amazing to engage in the sincere creative output of a complete stranger, to find it in the gem of personal truth and to reply with honest feedback including what grabbed me and what I wasn't as excited about.

Overall the poem pleased me, and the exchange between us even more so. He said he was leaving university soon and worried he might not find such a ready source of creative sharing as he has enjoyed in school. Maybe that's why he turned to eBay. And that's fine. The connective tissue is all around us, waiting for us to engage what we need.

It's New Year's Eve and I'm feeling very tired and somewhat rambly. A lot of friends are laying low tonight. I hope to be asleep before the tape-delayed New-York ball descends on Denver televisions.  I'm over the numbers thing, personally. I don't feel interest in suspending disbelief this year. Not to bah-humbug, but when the odometer clicks from 99,999 to 100,000, the mile before and the mile after are basically the same; and when I "don't see you until next year," January second or fifth or tenth will still be much the same kind of day as this one. Whatever the last digit of the year is, I am grateful you are in my life and I am always delighted to be with you.

More like "Ah, HUG-bug."

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 1, 2015 at 7:38 PM

    And that's just the tip of the iceberg!!!! Love this blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Janice SandeenJanuary 23, 2015 at 2:44 PM

    Hey Daniel, What a cool exploration to offer your poetic insights and verve on eBay! You are inspiring! Has there been any other such exchanges? (I think of Google Helps, but don't know if they still exist...) I'm wondering if you might feel to raise your rate some (tee hee!) and even though I am chuckling in saying that, I am serious!

    I'm so glad I am finally reading your blog! I just don't know WHAT it is that I don't make a point of reading it regularly, since you obviously post pretty regularly. (nudge, nudge... into January now!)

    One additional note... my name on your cloud to the right "Labels" is spelled incorrectly! Not that many people are searching for my name on your blog, but that one who is might not find your reference to me or a poem... :-) Your Label Cloud is quite impressive!

    Okay, that's me saying hello this Friday afternoon! I will keep perusing assuming you will keep writing and posting! :-)

    ReplyDelete

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