UNLIKE OTHER GENRES ,POETRY MUST BE AND ALSO MEAN. A NEW  REFRESHING FEELING OF REVERIE SHOULD SEIZE THE READER OF A GOOD POEM, HE SHOULD EXPERIENCE THE GREAT FUSION OF HIS SOUL, MIND AND SPIRIT IN THEIR QUEST TO DECIPHER THE MEANING OF THE POEM. I DO NOT SUSCRIBE TO ABSTRACT RUBBISH BUT ALSO A GOOD POEM SHOULD DAZZLE THE MIND OF THE READER AND LINGER IN HIS MIND FOR LONG.  THE POEM MAY USE SIMPLE WORDS BUT IMAGES AND SYMBOLS SHOULD BE ATLEAST CAPTIVATING. Adogas poem has beuty and rhyme . HAVE A BIT OF MINE.
WEB OF LOVE
(For sa’adat)

Didn’t the poet
Wear the sights of saints
To see beyond the face of the sun?

Didn’t the poet
Don the garb of mourning
To dance the kiss of death?

Didn’t the poet
Gulp the drink of madness
And sing the Song of Songs?

All, for the poetess’s sake?

Is that why
He Swaggered
Staggered
Tumbled
Rumbled
And crashed
Into the wilderness as   dust of dusk?

Could it equally be why?
He was slapped
Smashed
Chained
And hanged
Across the seven stakes in the WEB OF LOVE?

FORGOT TO SAY , MOST OF THE INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS DO NOT ACCEPT UNSOLICITED  MANUSCRIPTS DIRECTLY  FROM AUTHORS. THEY HAVE AGENTS, AS I SAID THEY GO FOR AWARD WINNERS, VERY FEW HOWEVER RECOGNISE NEW TALENTS, SO TRY YOUR LUCK .
By the way which of the genre have you thrown yourself into ? we may xchage writings 4 critism , i also have a work that is receiving attention from a publisher, a naijapublisher o, I have hopelessly allowed the intimidating muses of poetry to seize my soul.

LASTLY, [b]BE BOLD PUBLISH AND ALWAYS REMEMBER THE ADAGE, [[/b]]publish or perish.[/i]

ON PUBLISHING 4
YOU CAN ALSO SUBMIT YOUR WORKS TO INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS,  LIKE FABER AND FABER, BLOOMSBURY , JONATHAN CAPE ,IF YOUR WORK IS ACCEPTED YOU WILL PAID ROYALTIES. DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED however IF YOUR WORK IS REJECTED. HELEN, CHIMAMANDA ,SEFI ATTAH  and the rest ,had and still have the advantage of living in writer-friendly environments.  YOU CAN ALSO TRY FARAFINA(a Nigerian company,publishers of most recent african fiction,U can find them online) TO publish in naija ,  my sister you may have to pay for it , and dont be deceived that you will make money out of it, except during the launching if you are lucky or if you win an award, not every good writer wins an award .anyway.
ON SOURCING FOR A SPONSOR that may be quite difficult as u are not working,  I STRONGLYC advice that:YOU KEEP WRITING, JOIN WRITING CLUBS, SEND REGULAR CONTRIBUTION TO LITERARY COLUMNS, READ WIDELY,MINGLE WITH ESTABLISHED WRITERS , AND KEEP IMPROVING YOUR WRITING, WHO KNOWS U MAY SIGN A contract with CORGI and even win the BOOKER? USE THE INTERNET WELL, IF YOU PROVIDE AN E-MAIL I MAT SEND YOU A LIST OF ESTABLISHED PUBLISHERS THAT ACCEPt UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS DIRECTLY FROM WRITERS. If you are ready to publish locally, the naija way, I may also recommend some very good naijapublishers .

ON PUBLISHING 3
THIRD: DISTRIBUTE copies of your manuscript to trusted book editors,grammarians, academicians, critics,literary playmates for editing , proof reading and constructive criticism. listen to good advice especially from experienced writers. re- draft if need be. CHIKA UNIGWE RE DRAFTED HER novel , the phoenix 11 times. don't be in a rush.
FOURTH:APPROACH a writer friendly publisher, discuss the aspects editing, proof reading, publicity, cover design, distribution network, and printing. be fully involved and demand for the best quality. some locally published books are produced up to international standard, eg, THE GHOST OF ZINA BY CHARLES AYO DADA, YELLOW -YELLOW BY KAINE AGARY,NINE LIVES BY EL-NUKOYA etc. THE GHOST OF ZINA WAS A SECOND RUNNER IN PAT NATIONAL UTOMI BOOK CONTEST. YELLOW-YELLOW WON THE ANA PRIZE and VICTOR NWANKO BOOK PRIZE.Pay particular to distribution, make sure the book is properly advertised, and well distributed and if you are sure of your onions enter for contest locally and internationally. REMEMBER, helon habila published his debut before it won THE CAINE. IN Nigeria of TODAY even professors and established authors finance the publication of their books:PROF. LAMIKANRA, ABUBAKAR GIMBA, REMI RAJI, AHMED YERIMA,NIYI OSUNDARE , THE LATE OHAETO TO MENTION A FEW.

ON PUBLISHING 2
MOST OF LOCAL PUBLISHERS SHORT FALL THE STANDARD, IT IS ALSO NOT COMPLETELY WRONG TO CALL THEM PRINTERS. THEY ARE JUST A REFLECTION OF THE COUNTRY ITSELF, NOTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE. IN THAT CASE YOU MAKE DO WITH WHAT YOU HAVE. I SEE NOTHING WRONG IN FINANCING THE PUBLICATION OF YOUR BOOK. HOWEVER, YOU HAVE TO BE FULLY INVOLVED SO AS TO MAKE SURE THE FINAL PRODUCT IS OF HIGH QUALITY.
FIRST : join a writer's club say ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN AUTHORS where u will meet writer's, book editors, literary journalist and even writer- friendly publishers, most of who are writers like you , forced to become publishers because the big publishing houses wont publish them. there, u will sharpen your skills,and get useful critism, and learn more about what it means to be awriter in a writer unfriendly economy.
SECOND:read literary columns of national dailies and literary magazines for info on publishers , editors and writing related issues. i recoomend literari on SUNDAY SUN, bookshelf on WEEKLY TRUST,the write stuff ,ON NEW NIGERIAN WEEKLY, AND ARTS PAGES OF SUNDAY VANGUARD, GUARDIAN,THISDAY ON SUNDAY, SUNDAY INDEPENDENT.

ON PUBLISHING.

ANY HONEST  AND SERIOUS NIGERIAN AUTHOR OR WRITER KNOWS THE PROBLEM  OF PUBLISHING IN NIGERIA. THE SO CALLED ESTABLISHED PUBLISHING OUTFITS SELDOM PUBLISH A NEW WRITER because OF THE MARKET CONSIDERATION. THEY WANT ESTABLISHED WRITERS THAT WILL SELL,  THE CHIMAMANDA'S , WOLE SOYINKA'S, BEN OKRI'S, AND OTHERS. EVEN IF THEY DO, THEY  DEMAND MONEY  BFOR THEY PUBLISH ,  SO THEY DO NOT LOSE, IF THE BOOK  DOES NOT SELL .
COURAGE AND BOLDNESS ARE SOME OF THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD WRITER. IF YOU ARE SURE YOUR WORK IS GOOD , YOU CAN APROACH SOME WRITER FRIENDLY PUBLISHERS AND GET YOUR BOOK PUBLISHED. HELON HABILA  WAS BOLD , HE SELF PUBLISHED  HIS DEBUT WAITING FOR ANGEL. THE BOOK LATER CAME TO WIN THE CAINE PRIZE AND THE COMMONWEALTH WRITERS PRIZE. HIS SECOND NOVEL MEASURING TIME IS NOW HITTING BOOKSHELFS WORLD WIDE. AND HABILA IS NOW A LECTURER IN A PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITY IN THE US.WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF HELON WAS NOT BOLD ENOUGH TO FINANCE THE PUBLICATION OF HIS BOOKS. BE BOLD, PUBLISH.

that's good, you need to get a publisher, actually dis days we have more of printers than publishers. Infact even the very established writers result to vanity publishing in naja. the genre also, matter, is it poetry,prose or drama?u need 2 get the book edited , proof read, beforeit goes to the press. u may try this publishers, KRAFTBOOKS IBADAN, BOOKCRAFT IBADAN.