Mama just called. She's excited because she submitted one of my poems, The Weight of Flesh, to a contest, and it's been accepted. This means it'll be published in one of their collections and I'm a finalist for a $1,000 prize. I was underwhelmed. I've tried to explain to the family before that this sort of thing is essentially vanity publishing. The book that your poem is published in is essentially paid for by submission fees. So it's sort of a scam that plays on people's vanity and the ego boost of being a "published" poet.

I'll go through with it just for Mama. It would thrill her just to have a book with one of my poems in it. I still regret discouraging Sis (my aunt) from doing something similar to this. It would have been a nice keepsake for her family. I'll do this for Mama, just because she's so excited. Who knows? It might win me $1,000. If it doesn't, I always have my PowerBall tickets.