Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: doubt imposter syndrome

  • Dystopian Dreams

    Eye To the Telescope Banner

    Eye to the Telescope is an online journal form the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association that has been publishing speculative poetry since 2011. They publish science fiction, fantasy and horror and even pay their authors for their poems! Each issue has a different editor which keeps things fresh and interesting.

    I can't remember how I came across this journal but I decided to have a crack at writing a poem for Issue 46.  I had a great time attempting to combine my twin loves of sci-fi/fantasy and poetry. The theme for the issue was quest, which felt apt given writing speculative poetry proved to be quite an adventure. 

    Luckily for me, the editor Wendy Van Camp liked my poem, Dystopian Dreams. A lot of the poems I write in response to themes end up being in some way a negation or a rejection of that theme. Like the time the prompt was to write about a movie I'd watched and instead I wrote a poem about how I was too tired and sleep deprived from breast feeding to watch movies!

     

    In this case, my poem was about how 

     

    It’s always thrusters and jetpacks

    cargo bays and airlocks

     

    but

     

    It’s never washing diapers

    and cleaning toilets.

     

    If you want to check out the rest of my poem and read all the great poetry of Issue 46 of Eye to the Telescope, head on over and check it out.

     

  • The Poisoned Path

    The Crow

    The environment has been on my mind of late. From day to day I don't give it much thought but when I have a moment to be still or quiet, a sense of unease creeps into my thoughts. At times it feels overwhelming, this tide of humanity that has over taken this fragile and precious planet. And then it comes out in my poetry.

    I wrote A Poisoned Path a couple of years ago after a morning walk down to the local creek. It runs between houses and a golf course until the houses turn into an industrial estate. I was standing at the water's edge looking through the trees to the sun shining on the green when I saw a rabbit bounding down the path. She seemed so out of place, here in the suburbs at the edge of a sprawling city.

    I've been sending this poem out the various publications since then and I am so pleased that Brenda Eldridge of Ginninderra Press has decided to publish it in the September edition of The Crow. You can subscribe to The Crow or grab a copy for only $5 – it's the best value poetry journal in the country!

     

  • Gems Zine

    IP -Gems Zine

    I'm not sure what is about certain poems. You know the ones – they've got something about them that you feel says something important. So you keep dusting them off and sending them in to journals and competitions hoping that they will find the reader they're looking for.

    Way back in August 2020 I did my very first online poetry workshop with the award-winning Australian poet, Dr Mark Tredinnick. What The Light Tells was a six week masterclass on the art of writing poetry. At the time I had only been writing poetry again for a couple of years and it pushed and stretched me in so many ways.

    As part of that class I wrote fifteen poems. An astonishing number and in the workshops I've done since then I haven't even been able to come close to that effort. Not all of the poems were good. Not all of them I liked. But there are a handful that I still have faith in after all these years. And so I keep sending them off.

    Happily for me, two of those poems - paper garden and Life Support - have just been picked up by Gems Zine, the publishing collective based in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia). I am beyond thrilled that they saw something in these pieces and that they are now out in the world and able to be read!

    Thanks Gems for publishing them!

     

  • Going Viral

    IP - going viral

    If you live in Victoria and you're not already a member of Writers Victoria, go join it right now! Don't worry, I'll wait here till you're done.

    Oh good, you're back! Now why did I want you to join Writers Victoria? Well they run a great bunch of courses throughout the year on all things writing from poetry through to fiction and non-fiction. The courses range from free lunchtime seminars for members to full day workshops either online or in person.

    And if that's not enough to convince you, they also publish the excellent The Victorian Writer magazine four times a year. That's a gorgeous print magazine featuring the best writing right now. And I am super flattered to be included in the December 2021 issue, Transformation, with my poem going viral.

    If you don't have the funds for a membership at the moment I would highly recommend singing up for their newsletter which will keep you up to date with current writing opportunities.

     

  • Rochford Street Review

    Rochfors Street Review - Two Girls And A SwingI’m super happy to have six of my poems featured in issue 32 of the free online Australian journal Rochford Street Review. The journal is edited by Mark Roberts and Linda Adair and they do a fantastic job of bringing together a wonderful publication.

    In this issue you can find reviews of recent publications, launches, articles and of course poetry. Head on over to Rochford Street Review to read poems in Norwegian and English from Elinor Nauen, one line, monostitch poems from Amanda Anastasi and much, much more!

     

  • too late

    Milestones Cover

    Another fine anthology from independent Australian publisher, Stephen Matthews of Ginninderra Press. Filled with poetry from some of the finest Australian poets. Including yours truly with the poem, too late.

    When I read my very first Ginninderra Press anthology, way back in 2018, I had a go at writing a poem to fit the theme. It was too late to be included in the anthology but I was interested in writing the poem as an exercise and a challenge. Reading the poems in the book had inspired me. The poets had such a diverse and broad reaction to the theme of wild. However, I really struggled to write something as original or as compelling.

    Fast forward to four years later and a poem of mine is in a Ginninderra Press anthology. I am becoming better at writing poems for themes. At looking at them from the corner of my eye and taking a journey to somewhere new. Or as was the case with this poem, realising that it would it the theme. I love it when I've already written something that would be perfect for a journal or anthology!

     

  • Intimacy in Solitude

    IP - More Than Melanin 4

    IP - More Than Melanin 5

    I am stoked to be part of the awesome zine, More Than Melanin, featuring a whole stack of incredible female BIPOC authors and artists from around the world.

    Edited by the wonderful Kanika Chopra, Issue 2: Intimacy in Solitude feature my poem, Shelter.

    The zine looks amazing and is on sale now. Get your copy before they’re sold out!

     

     

  • The Crow

    IP - The Crow 1

    IP - The Crow 2

    It flies in from South Australia and lands in my letterbox. This small, elegant journal of twenty pages. Lovingly edited and curated by Joan Fenney it is a delight to read. And I am delighted to say that my poem, Nana's Kitchen is one of the poems in the June 2021 issue.

    Joan writes the most fabulous editorials for each issue where she pulls the threads of the poems together and adds a quote about writing. I love dipping in and out of the pages, discovering new voices and places as I read the poems that have been included in this issue.

    You can subscribe to The Crow here.

     

  • Legacy

    Teesta Review

    I'm super excited to have not one, but two poems appearing in Legacy, Issue 32 of the Indian journal, Teetsa Review. It's the first time my poetry has left these shores (if you don't count the copy of my first book, Defenestration which is at my Uncle's house in Panadura, Sri Lanka) and I'm over the moon.

    When I was first writing poetry, it was to make sense of the intense emotions I was experiencing as a teen and then later, a twenty year old. My writing was very much focussed on the present moment. I still write largely about my own personal experience, however, these days I often find myself writing about the past and in particular my identity.

    It marks a shift in my work from being about creativity and motherhood to unpicking the legacy of my mixed race heritage. Writing about my background was something I resisted for a long time as there is an expectation that writers of colour write about their difference. I wasn't interested in doing that – I wanted to write poetry about universal themes that tie us all together, rather than write about all the ways I can be separated and pulled apart.

    And yet, Never Seen, the first poem I had accepted by a poetry journal was about race. The theme for that particular issue of Cordite was Brownface so I had to write about race if I wanted to submit. At the time there was a poem that was hovering around me, waiting to be written. It seemed to fit the theme so I wrote about race for the first time.

    When that particular poem was accepted by a journal I had conflicted feelings. Huge excitement for the recognition of my ability but great discomfort about having to write about race to be published. I'm still unpicking the implications of that poem and its publication. One of the poem's legacies, however, is that I am now writing about my heritage. And those poems are being published.

    I am wondering why these poems of mine are being accepted by journals. Is there an authenticity there that is lacking in my other poetry? Or is it their difference and unique voice that is appealing? It's hard for me to know the answers to these questions. And I don't know if those answers are important. Perhaps it's enough to hold those questions for a while and feel their weight.

    If you are interested you can read two of my poems about my heritage in the latest issue of Teesta Review. 

     

  • Getting Rejected

    IP - Lets Get Rejected 1

    As a writer the one sure thing about your work is that you'll get rejected, countless times, before you're accepted. The above picture is a list of the poems I submitted in 2020 via the Submittable platform which is used by many literary organisations. There were also a whole bunch of poems I sent off via email.

    The way I've dealt with the inevitable fear and doubt of submitting my work to journals, competitions and publishers is to embrace rejection – #letgetrejected. I got this idea from someone, I can't remember who, online. I send out each poem fully expecting it to be rejected so when it happens I don't fall in a heap because it's what I'm expecting. On the rare occasions my work is accepted, there is great rejoicing and jubilation. Often dancing and shouting too!

    Once I get rejected, I send the poem right back out again to someone else. Sometimes I edit it and sometimes I send it off as it is. I got this idea from Liz Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love, in one of her TED talks on creativity. What one editor rejects, another may accept. It's all down to taste and timing. 

    If you write enough, you'll develop a back catalogue of poems you can draw upon to send out. And the process of submitting and resubmitting your work over a period of time will mean your style and voice are heard by editors. They may not initially warm to it but over time they will come to know it and hopefully, appreciate it.