Broom

The first poem I ever got paid for

In 1970, I was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts — a recent dropout from Brown University’s prestigious creative writing MFA program where my main focus was poetry and not going completely insane.

When I quit Brown after one semester, all I wanted to do was live life, not just write about it.

And it was from that place where my Broom poem originated— that and my increasing ability to be present, sparked by some deep diving into Zen.

Gathering up my courage, I mailed my poem to Rolling Stone Magazine, highly doubtful that anything would come of it.

I was wrong.

A few months later, I received a letter in the mail, informing me that Rolling Stone would soon be publishing my poem. Along with the letter was a check for $10.

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

$10!

Whoa! Somebody was actually paying me for poetry!

The joy I felt at that moment was totally off the charts. I was no longer working in obscurity! It was official! What I wrote was being valued by someone other than me and, praise the Lord and pass the thesaurus, it was going to be read…