Sometimes social media really sucks. It can be tedious and petty and like being in high school over again - you know what I'm talking about.
And other times social media can be an amazing force for good. This is one of those times:
Back in February I got an email from Michele McDannold. Michele is a part of the Literary Underground, a kick ass organization of writers and editors that have their fingers in more projects that I could highlight here. Michele wanted to know if I was interested in participating in a poetry project she called THIS IS POETRY.
Here's the basic gist:
THIS IS POETRY
The Literary Underground is pleased to announce a new project called “This is Poetry”. The project will ultimately result in an eight-volume collection of poetry, each volume representing poets from a specific geographic region as well as several special collections. These perfect-bound books will be published under Citizens for Decent Literature Press, founded as part of The Literary Underground. Co-edited by Michele McDannold and Brian W. Fugett, we are currently working on the first two volumes: Women of the Small Press and the American Midwest.
The Literary Underground is pleased to announce a new project called “This is Poetry”. The project will ultimately result in an eight-volume collection of poetry, each volume representing poets from a specific geographic region as well as several special collections. These perfect-bound books will be published under Citizens for Decent Literature Press, founded as part of The Literary Underground. Co-edited by Michele McDannold and Brian W. Fugett, we are currently working on the first two volumes: Women of the Small Press and the American Midwest.
Poems selected for this project will first be published online via tumblr blog – http://thisispoetry.tumblr.com/ – a bit of a social media experiment with poetry. Wouldn’t it be great if poetry went viral? We think so.
Submissions are taken by invitation only and based on referral from poets participating in the project. This is how the project is taking on an organic life of its own. It’s not just the eds hitting up their favorite poets. It’s the eds hitting up their favorite poets, their favorite poets tossing in their favorite poets and so on etc into awesomeness.
Another important and exciting aspect of this project is that we are encouraging contributors to send in their best, most defining work including and emphasizing on previously published poems. It is our intent to highlight other small press publishers, noting the publication credit with a link to the online presence of the small press publisher with each poem published on the tumblr as well as a links page including the same, gathered for easier reference.
viva la Underground
SUPPORT THE SMALL PRESS!
SUPPORT THE SMALL PRESS!
Naturally I said yes.
I think one of the best things about this project is how they emphasized previously published poems. Small press publishers work so hard and they need our love and support (I, for one, would never have anything in the world if it weren't for them and am eternally grateful.) and they also need to support each other. The list of presses on the tumblr page is a hell of a group of editors, not to mention a goldmine for writers looking for good homes for their work.
Since then the tumblr has exploded with poetry resulting in not only the first print edition of This Is Poetry Volume 1: Women of the Small Press but they're also having a party and if you're in town you should go:
If you're anywhere near The Legacy Theatre - run, walk, drive, hitchhike - just get there because it promises to be a grand ol' night.
Finally here's one of my favorite pieces from This Is Poetry:
Road Trip
Road Trip
(for T.C.)
(for T.C.)
Hell, go there, where there
is a long stretch of music and no
destination except to go there;
not even get there, but just
the going wherever going goes
when it needs no more sense
than a bat flying out of hell, its
blindness singed with the power
of speed, with the glory of not
knowing where the walls are
and flying through them.
is a long stretch of music and no
destination except to go there;
not even get there, but just
the going wherever going goes
when it needs no more sense
than a bat flying out of hell, its
blindness singed with the power
of speed, with the glory of not
knowing where the walls are
and flying through them.
©Ann Menebroker has been writing and publishing for over fifty years. She has been published in the United States, Sweden, and has had some of her work translated into German and other languages. Among the anthologies she has appeared in is The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. Her work has also been in two college text books.
She continues to write and lives in Sacramento, California.
"Road Trip" was previously published in the broadside Swallowed by This Whale of Time, Littlesnake Broadsides by Rattlesnake Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment