Writing on a Budget: Salve for the Tax Season

By Lisbeth Coiman

Taxes looming in the background
Technical support calls drowned
the hours reserved for a scene.
The uncooperative screen
Shows Deductions 1099 Schedule C
A foreign language to me
 
Go for a walk at the beach
escape the whole number siege
 
Expenses multiply
While the gains dissatisfy
In the spread sheet display
Not-enough teaching hour downplay
The effort to create a breadwinner
Out of the tepid words of the beginner
 
Groceries offer distraction
An easy task without extraction
 
Paying the bills is not the issue
Change a flat tire without a fissure
Fight an intruder
I can do without sudor
Taxes, a whole new fiend
I never esteemed.
 
Lavender salve on my hands
To tackle IRS demands.

The following publications are seeking work by emerging writers:

1. Los Nietos Press
Word limit: 48-100 pages
Genre: Poetry and Short Stories
Submission Fee: $0
Submission Guidelines

2. Coffee House Press
Word limit: full length manuscripts / collections
Genre: literary novels, short fiction, poetry, essays, and creative non-fiction
Submission Fees: $0
Submission Guidelines

3. Rabid Oak
Word limit: Under 1,000 words
Genre: Poetry, flash fiction, flash non-fiction
Submission Fees: $0
Submission Guidelines


Writer Lisbeth Coiman from the shoulders up, standing in front of a flower bush

Writer Lisbeth Coiman from the shoulders up, standing in front of a flower bush