The gift of truth

When I first received the likelihood of publication with my poem “Perfection” by the people at International Library of Poetry, I joked to a friend of mine, Eda, about the decadence poetry must be undergoing when a poem like “Perfection” was accepted. She replied that I shouldn’t be so dismissive of my skills as a poet (which I have never fancy myself being but now I’m on the verge of obsessively pursuing), and that “Perfection” had its charm. I would have wanted an honest opinion from her since I value more truth than anything else. Nonetheless, I ended up convincing myself that, after all, I may be a regular poet but given the decadent material out there afforded me an ample edge over the competition. Well, after being accepted by three different editorial entities in this so-called poetical quest of mine, and being offered publication by all three, I thought that these were recognition prizes on their own and therefore it should be okay if I paid for that hard earned recognition. See, the very thing is that I paid for every copy I will receive and will keep them as testaments of my naivety.
I know better now. I stumbled upon an article on such poetry contests by NBC4 online. The address to it is www.windpub.com/literary.scams and it pretty much shattered the illusion I had of all my poems being accepted everywhere I turn them to. I didn’t spend much capital, by the way; I entered more than thirty poems of mine in poetry.com (which, by the way, is one of the listed in the scam) and all of them have been granted enough recognition to be published. Owning any of my poems, in any of their lavished book renditions, would cost me $49.95. I didn’t order any of them even though my ambition was great. I was a bit cautious about the whole ordeal from the very beginning. This realization won’t stop me from pursuing my literary dream. It would only embolden me. The irony of receiving this news on Christmas Day reassures me in a sort of superstitious sense that is not a bad sign after all. What better gift than truth is there?