Original poetry: Why You (Dis)sin'? (as published in Alchemy 2018 in Portland, Ore.)...

This poem actually broke the drought for me, publication-wise, the thing that got me beyond a big pile of rejections and officially back into print for the first time in nearly a decade.

It still shocks me that the first thing that gets me in print was a poem. I'm hardly a poet. I don't think so, anyway. I honestly don't get it most days, to tell the truth. I like poetry, but if I listen to a bunch of poets sit around discussing what they like about a poem or collection, it bears no resemblance whatsoever as to why I liked it.

I wrote this after being up way too long during one of my book writing sessions earlier this year, and finding myself totally incapable of spelling what should have been a simple word, I thought--discombobulated--I apparently missed it so bad, spell check couldn't even lend a hand, which got me right irate. I hopped on Google and searched "words that start with dis."

How many could there possibly be, right?

Answer: Based on the version I found that night, 58 pages worth, written in 10 pt. Times New Roman, single-spaced, arranged in three columns per page...

No way, I thought. Nobody will believe this. I'm printing this shit.

So, later, I'm looking through these pages I printed. I'm so tired at 3:30 a.m., that my mind starts trying to link these words together a form a sentence. Just the dis- and deal with the rest of the word. (I might suggest that in reading this as well, just keep in might it's there. Wow, I thought, after doing two or three short ones. I oughta write this down...

And I did. Later, I figured it couldn't do any worse than any of the other stuff I'd been submitting, so I used it in my next poetry submission. And I'll be damned...

"The Alchemy 2018 editors would like to congratulate you on the acceptance of your poem “Why You (Dis)sin?” for our publication. We are excited to work on this thought-provoking piece. Thank you for allowing us to publish it."

Definitely didn't see that coming. Anyway, with no further adieu, my poem:

WHY YOU

(DIS)SIN’?

by Bobby Horecka
© April 30, 2018






(dis)people
(dis)favor
(dis)honest

(dis)articulations,
(dis)quiet
(dis)equilibrium, &
(dis)comforting
(dis)harmony to 
(dis)engaged

(dis)allusions,
(dis)ambiguous
(dis)affections,

(dis)guised
(dis)approvals,
(dis)entitlement

(dis)abuses, &
(dis)appearance of
(dis)enfranchisement,

        [because]
(dis)parity &
(dis)possession,
(dis)proportionately

(dis)placed &
(dis)positioned,
(dis)orient
(disaster)
        [when]


(dis)respectable
(dis)counts of
(dis)assembled

(dis)organization
(dis)members,
(dis)esteemed

(dis)associates, &
(dis)qualified
(dis)affiliates—

(dis)eased into an
(dis)agreeable
(dis)bar with

(dis)courteous
(dis)service & a
(dis)commendable

(dis)aggregation of
(dis)prize
(dis)mounts

(dis)arranged above the
(dis)mantle beside
(dis)orderly

(dis)arrays of
(dis)colored
(dis)intoxicants that

(dis)affect the
(dis)function &
(dis)junction of

(dis)reputable
(dis)inclination,
(dis)satisfied

(dis)composure,
(dis)graceful
(dis)accord,

(dis)temperamental
(dis)armament, &
(dis)illusions of

(dis)loyalty—
        [are]
(dis)banded in

(dis)sections,
(dis)respectfully
(dis)obliged to

(dis)solve,
(dis)cuss, or
(dis)affirm

(dis)passionate
(dis)missives
(dis)regarding

(dis)tort
(dis)entanglement
(dis)charges of

(dis)emboweled
(dis)inheritance,
(dis)tract

(dis)incentives,
(dis)closed
(dis)compensations

(dis)placed within
(dis)credit,
(dis)interest, &

(dis)qualifications
(dis)sent in bad
(dis)cursive.

 

(As published in Alchemy 2018, in the Portland Community College literary magazine out of Portland, Oregon.)