C.L. Bledsoe's Response

From: "Cortney Bledsoe"
To: gbuttkus@yahoo.com

1.
Dear Mr. Buttkus,

I just discovered your blog.
Thank you for posting so many of my poems.
I'm honored.

Best,
CL

2.
CL:

Thank you for being so gracious with your poetry.
For a youngster ( I am in my 60's), you have
published like a whirling dervish, and must
be a devoted workhorse when it comes to
your writing. Have you really written
thousands of poems? I set up my blog
to showcase my own poetry, but early on
it became a showcase for all the poets
I admire and want to share with others.
I am grateful for your generosity and
openness. Poetry is for the masses;
at least it should be.

Warmly:
Glenn Buttkus

3.
Hey Glenn,

Thanks for doing the blog. I admire your verve. It's a great concept.

Yes, in my teens and early twenties I wrote voraciously, or rather I counted voraciously. I stopped counting somewhere in there, but I wrote a couple thousand poems before losing track. I know this because I organized them into "collections" of 50. Actually, I would write and write and write, then pull out the best 5 or 6 or whatever (out of 50, say) and then throw the rest away and start over on the "collection". So probably more than a couple thousand. But most of those weren't very good. I was kind of writing to be writing, back then. I've published a handful of those poems, some of the formal ones. It was a good way to kind of clear out the pipes and get rid of all the self-absorbed ideas like 'no one understands me because I'm so different (even though I'm really not that different)' that kind of stuff.

As I've gotten older, I've slowed down with my writing. Lately, I don't have the time to write/publish as much as I used to, and I've been freelance writing--I review for several journals (The Hollins Critic, The Arkansas Review, The Pedestal Magazine, occasionally, etc.) and I write articles and all kinds of crap. I even took a turn at writing slogans for a novelty button manufacturer. And, of course, I teach high school English. I write poems when I can. I try to do it every day. I have two collections published, _____(Want/Need) and Anthem, and a third coming out this fall called Riceland. I have 2 or 3 more put together, looking for publishers. I published a couple hundred poems then stopped counting. I've always been prolific, though. I don't know why. I'm just wired that way. I write songs, stories, stage and screenplays, novels, poems, etc. I publish what I can. I have a lot of stuff online, but I honestly try to publish my best work in print, so a lot more of my writing isn't available online. It takes so much energy to publish in a meaningful way--energy that could be spent writing. My 'newest' collection, Anthem, for example--that was accepted 4 years ago. I wrote it, who knows, maybe 5 years ago. It came out in May of this year. If I wrote romance novels, I'd be rich. But I write poems and little stories about people talking about having a beer.

Anyway, sorry to ramble. Thanks for the interest. I do love your blog, regardless of whether you talk about me or not. I blog at clbledsoe.blogspot.com, but I honestly don't update that often.

Best,
CL