I'll Never Be Published By Finishing Line Press Poem by James P. Roberts

It has become an epidemic, like lemmings flocking to the edge
of the cliff or a swarm of rabid cats descending on one bowl of milk.

Every poet that I know has had their own chapbook published by
Finishing Line Press and they scrawk and hawk at every opportunity.

But here is the kicker: Finishing Line Press requires the poet
to guarantee a certain amount of pre-pub sales in order to print.

Which means the poets have to rely on their friends' pocketbooks
in order to get published.But what if the poet, namely myself,

doesn't "have" any friends; none that have been willing to buy
the books I've had printed by a real publisher?"That" has been

my experience after forty years of writing poetry and being known
to thousands.I have hundreds of copies left that I practically

give away anymore: even to the homeless beggar who only wants coin
for a pack of cigarettes.It is evident that, after a certain

period of time, poetry, "your" poetry becomes all too familiar
to your friends and taken for granted.So, I'll never be published

by Finishing Line Press, never to see my cheaply done chapbook
elbow by jowl with the hundred other poetry books by my erstwhile

friends, never to plead for their coin.For, really,
what can you bloody well say in just 24 pages?