On the right is Molly Gaudry — author of We Take Me Apart and Flora The Whore. On the left is the PayPal poem she custom wrote for me for just $1.00.

Here’s the link:

The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drewblood for Karyn Eisler
[Unfortunately, the link to the poem is no longer available.
Wishing now I’d printed a hard copy for myself.]

~

While I’d like to think I’m special — the only person on the planet with the opportunity to trade tailored words for just a dollar — it’s not the case. For a whole host of reasons, Molly has made the exchange available to people other than me — to everyone, it seems. On her website she states:

“For $1.00, I WILL WRITE YOU A POEM and post it here and on our friend, Facebook … let’s call this enterprising, exciting, intriguing. Here are the facts:”

Yes, facts. She lists 23.

I first read about this a while back, but was reminded the other day when I saw a blog post about the poem she wrote for Dorothee Lang.

I wondered:

If I place a PayPal order for myself, what sort of poem will she craft?

She’d asked for guidelines; prompts; instructions.  I didn’t give her much to go on:

“No special instructions. I’m thinking of this as an intuitive poem — one where you, the writer, will know exactly the words I need to read.”

Molly, thank-you for Nancy Drewblood’s promise of new vistas with each forward step.

On another note …

Molly has hatched a plan to do a Ph.D. Item #10 on her fact list reads:

“I will cast a net and apply to dream PhD programs, good PhD programs, and backup PhD programs.”

Drawing from experience, having walked that road myself, I figure that even with full funding and brisk poetry sales she’ll need plenty of cash. I think she ought to hike her rate from $1.00 per poem … to more than that.