First Leaves

In April of ’84 I started a WANT LIST notebook. The first page consisted of things I wanted to own or see or do and included such wants as “my poetry in various magazines” and “a driver’s license” and “a new typewriter” and “an ongoing intimate relationship.”

For a month and a half I recorded my progress toward these goals.

On May 6th I wrote, “First Leaves accepted one of my poems. Yay! Now I know why they took so long. They took ‘Tea for Two.’”

First Leaves was the literary magazine of Santa Rosa Junior College. This was my first literary magazine publication. What a thrill. They accepted the poem knowing nothing about me, just because they thought it was good. I hopped about the room, I rolled on the floor. I kissed the cat.