It's been some time since I've tackled a poetry question. This question was sent in a while ago, and deals with a situation I've experienced personally myself (and is probably common to many poets who've submitted their work long enough).

What can/can't we do with a poem that was either accepted by a journal and then never used, or accepted by a journal that died before they used it?

First off, let me just say that I'm not a lawyer, so don't take my word as law. That said, I can't imagine a lawsuit involving poetry, and I'm married to a paralegal.

I'll address the latter case first (the journal that died before using the poem). Unless the journal bought the rights to your poem before dying, I don't see any reason why the poem would not still be considered unpublished. While it's disappointing that the poem was so close to publication, you should be able to move the poem back into your bin of poems that need to be submitted.

If you were paid for the poem already, then you may need to contact the editors about releasing the rights to your poem. But if the journal died before they used the poem, you probably weren't paid.

The other case (the journal that accepts a poem and never uses it) is only a little more complex. If the journal accepted your poem and has not paid you for it, then contact the editor to find out what he or she plans to do with the poem. If the editor does not have an acceptable answer to your query, then request that it be removed from consideration in a future edition of the publication. And I suggest being nice about how you handle this, especially if you may wish to submit to that particular publication or editor again. In this case, as above, the poem would still be considered unpublished.

If the journal accepted your poem and has paid you for it, things can get a little trickier. Most likely, you will need to pay back the publisher, and there's even the (very slight) possibility that the publication will not release the first publication rights to the poem. I doubt the situation would come to this in 99.9% of the cases. Most editors/publishers want to work with writers, not against them.

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Click here for other Poetry FAQs.

If you don't find an answer to your question there, then feel free to send me an e-mail at robert.brewer@fwmedia.com.

Well, after taking last week off, here we are again ready to write poems, right? I hope that you've been able to hit the ground running in 2009 by writing, revising, and maybe even submitting your poems. I've been able to do some writing and revising so far, but I need to submit some poems somewhere today to be able to keep that 2009 resolution alive.

Anyway, now that we're in a new year, I think it makes sense to make this week's prompt to write a poem that deals with something new. You can decide what that new thing is. You could write about the new year, a new item (many people just received gifts during the holidays last month), a new relationship, or even the lack of anything new.

Here's my attempt for the day:

"Will"

She drove through the mountains
at night and in a fog to find me
waiting for her. It was still early
in spring. She was a little scared,
but she came. Then, we wandered
around, found ourselves in church
beside a receding lake. She drove
through the mountains, because
she believed in something new.

I know I'm a day late on the Happy New Year post (and that I completely missed the Wednesday Poetry Prompt), but I've been very preoccupied with the family this past week. You see, I've had all four of my boys since Saturday--so we've been playing games, watching movies, going to playgrounds, attending family gatherings, etc. We've been totally familying (new word) it up this week.

I believe in setting goals. So, I guess I'm going to share my New Year Poetry Resolutions. If you want to, feel free to share yours as well in the comments below.

1. Write at least one first draft of a poem each week. (Should be do-able if I can manage to not miss any Wednesday Poetry Prompts--or PAD Challenges--in 2009.)

2. Submit poems at least once each week. (This is the one I always have trouble keeping.)

3. Revise at least one poem each week. (Preferably more.)

4. Assemble a collection to submit around to publishers.

5. Attend more poetry readings/events/etc. this year than last.

6. Read at least 2-3 collections of poetry each month.

7. Live, learn, and love!!!!!

I did not forget today was Wednesday. Things have just been a bit busy. Now I need to get to sleep here soon before Santa shows up with his sleigh, but let's do our Wednesday prompt first. Baby Will is laying across my lap and looking around--probably wondering what all the clicking-clacking noises of my keyboard are. In the living room, I can hear A Christmas Story streaming in across TBS. They just covered the part where Ralphie decodes the message: Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.

That sparked my idea for this week's prompt. I want you to write an acrostic poem. An acrostic takes the first letter of each line and spells out a message (or word); or it takes the last letter of each line and spells out a message (or word); or a double acrostic takes both the first and last letters of each line. Anyway, I was thinking of Ralphie with his secret message and thought maybe we could write secret messages of our own.

Here's my attempt:

"For Real"

Some people don't believe,
and some people do.
Not that it matters to me,
though not believing seems
appropriate for those
clowns who think angels
lash out against demons

and punish everyone
under heaven who isn't
saved today. Forgiveness
is a limited time offer for
some people. But Santa
Claus still rides his sleigh
over the cornfields and

mountains, over the tropical
islands and the frigid
nations. Santa Claus is
going to do what he can
to make good children happy,
or give coal to the bad.
The last thing a person

offers should be their hard
won good behavior. They
never think anything exists.

Both mom and son are happy and healthy.

William James Brewer entered the world at 10:02 am. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 1 oz; he measured 20" longways, 14" around the head, 13" around the chest.

Actually, for those who follow the blog religiously and know of my obsession with the number 808, it actually made an appearance again this morning--for when Baby Will was weighed, the scale read 8 lbs, 0.8 oz. The nurses, of course, rounded up to 8 lbs, 1 oz.

Since Tammy and I were married on 08/08/08 at 8:08, we figured this was just one more good omen.

Anyway, I just stopped by the apartment to walk the dog. Gonna get back to the hospital for the mommy-daddy-baby sleepover.

It's our combined 4th time through this process, but it's still just as exciting (though, luckily, just a tad less nerve-wracking) as the first time. Tammy and I are currently getting ready and will be hitting the road in a few to deliver William James Brewer via C-section. Wish us luck!

Either later tonight or tomorrow, I'll send details of how everything went.

(Tammy has once again shown why she's so cool. Today, she forwarded me the link to this little piece of news.)

Apparently, Barack Obama will be only the third president to invite a poet to speak at his inauguration--the other two presidents being Bill Clinton (1993 and 1997) and John F. Kennedy (1961). Obama has chosen Elizabeth Alexander.

Alexander will be the fourth poet to speak at a presidential inauguration, following up Miller Williams (1997), Maya Angelou (1993) and Robert Frost (1961). While people can agree or disagree with Obama's politics, I think everyone can appreciate Obama giving a nod to the importance and influence of poetry on the day of his inauguration.

Here's the article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/dec/18/obama-inauguration-alexander-poetry

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Also, for those interested in learning more about Alexander, including reading some of her poems, here is a link to her website: http://www.elizabethalexander.net/home.html.

The site includes poems, interviews, audio, events, and more.

Sorry for the silence on the blog recently (and the late post time today). As many of you know, I've had a pretty full plate for a while--and now is when a lot of due dates are hitting. For instance, I'm supposed to give my official and final sign off on our big Market Books database on the 19th, which is also the same day my son William James will be born, and on the 21st, we're relaunching WritersMarket.com! It's exciting times, but these times are also pretty time consuming (oh yeah, and there's them pesky holidays going on now, too).

But really, I'm sure many people are feeling a bit of a time pinch this time of the year. For this week's prompt, I want you to write a poem that involves time. You can write about how you don't have any time, or you can write about how you have all the time in the world. You could even write a time travel piece, something about watches (or clocks), etc. Whatever your slant, just be sure to give yourself enough time to write.

Here's my attempt for the day (just in time--o, how the bad jokes roll out):

"The curse of being an editor"

There's never any downtime. For instance,
when I read restaurant menus, I find
every misspelled word and want to break
out my red pen. Or I read a certain
word, such as "tires," and I start compiling
other combinations (rites, tries, and tiers).

When I read conservation, I think of
conversation. Reese says work is over
and that I shouldn't work eight hours a day.

"You should work six hours," he says. Then, he points
to a construction crane and tells me how
it's not a bird crane. These are the games played
by a stepfather and stepson: "Is that
yellow jacket on your yellow jacket?"

We cast lots for lost cats; whether we are
united or untied, we kill our time.

Today, I received the first chapbook submission for the November PAD Chapbook Challenge. So, the contest has now officially begun, I guess. The first shot has been fired.

I imagine there will be more submissions around the holidays, and then a mad sprint between January 1 and January 5.

If you need a reminder on the rules, here they are: http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/November+PAD+Chapbook+Challenge+Next+Steps.aspx.