  Poetry
This week: Edited by: Ben Langhinrichs  
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Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, teach English.
Popular sentiment
Greetings! I am a guest editor for the Poetry Newsletter, which they let me write even after my contentious newsletter, "In defense of formal poetry." I'm glad to be back, and want to talk about non-standard poetry publishing. Ben Langhinrichs |
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Those who can write well, write novels. Those who can't write well, write short stories. Those who can't write at all, write poetry.
Sentiment among some
Poetry in a Hostile World
It may seem odd to refer to a hostile world when poetry is so widely taught and written, so I should amend that to a hostile publishing world. Despite the fact that poetry is often about feelings, especially love and despair, actually trying to get your poems published can feel as futile as Waiting for Godot. The elite poetry journals have unspoken rules that seem to contradict the written rules, and frequently publish poems that don't seem to communicate anything.
Let's look at the submission guidelines for one of the best known and elite poetry journals.
Poetry Magazine:
Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. Harriet Monroe's "Open Door" policy, set forth in Volume I of the magazine, remains the most succinct statement of Poetry's mission: to print the best poetry written today, in whatever style, genre, or approach. The magazine established its reputation early by publishing the first important poems of T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, H. D., William Carlos Williams, Carl Sandburg, and other now-classic authors. In succeeding decades it has presented—often for the first time—works by virtually every significant poet of the 20th century.
Of course, when they say "whatever style, genre, or approach" it does not mean comic verse or love poetry or confessional poetry or inspirational poetry or sonnets or villanelles or rondeaus or triolets or limericks or haiku, among many constraints. They seem to prefer non-rhyming, non-metered poems that are long and intricate and symbolic. As has been frequently noted, they would likely not accept anything submitted by T. S. Eliot today.
But having said all this, we actually live in a welcoming world, so long as we are willing to revise our ideas of who controls the keys to the gate. We live in a world where Writing.com allows us to publish poems at no cost and without significant constraints (other than rating appropriately). Before you laugh at that as "publishing", consider the site statistics (available by clicking on Site Tools - Sitewide Stats on the menu in the upper left):
Members Currently Active On Writing.Com: 247,177 Members
To give you some perspective on that number, when Poets & Writers Magazine lists circulation figures for poetry journals, the top category is 10,000+. Many prestigious journals are lucky to fall in the 1000-2500 circulation range, but you have your work available to an audience one hundred times as great.
But nobody reads my poems! you may think. You may wonder how they would even get noticed among the many new works every day. There are many ways, but have you considered a really non-standard idea, such as advertising? peach  obviously believes in his haiku poems, so he sponsors them regularly. You will see them pop up all the time among the sponsored links. (Today's is Invalid Item ) Granted, he spends 13 cents for each person who reads his poems, but that means you could get thirty-eight readers for the price of a Cafe Mocha Grande at Starbucks.
If you get more specific and sponsor a genre, the price can go way, way down. For example, if you want somebody to read your new Inspirational poem, you could give it a BidClick of 42 GPs and it would be one of those top six sponsored links every time somebody went to the Inspirational genre. Since those are likely to be people seeking inspirational works, it is not only cheap but targeted advertising. For that same Starbucks coffee, you could get over a thousand readers (if that many click on your link). To find out all about BidClick advertising, look at GiftPoint Tools - BidClick Advertising on that upper left menu.
But what if you don't want to spend a penny (or don't have two cents to rub together), and still want to share your work with the world. Nowadays, you can use Facebook and Twitter and Google Buzz and all sorts of ways to get your poems out. Post them on Writing.com, then promote them on Twitter. It may seem like a lot of effort to get followers, but my daughter has over 3500 followers who read about her politics and cooking. Her cost for Twitter so far: $0.00 (and lots and lots of time).
So, bypass the elite (and elitist) poetry journals, and spend your time building a popular following on Writing.com, on Facebook, on Twitter, on a blog. You will find there are plenty of people who like and appreciate your poetry, even if it does rhyme and talk about love. You think the world doesn't want rhyming love poetry? That's what poetry means to most people.
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Editor's Picks
An open poetic plea deserves an answer
First sponsored poem under 'Inspirational'
First sponsored poem under 'Death'
First sponsored poem under 'Political'
First sponsored poem under 'Teen'
Social networking by an addict
Some thoughts on downsides to Twitter
A Twitter poem
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Feedback from readers
NOVAcatmando  An enlightening perspective and the analogy to the fashion industry both appropriate and clarifying. Interestingly too, reference to what I term `elitist' poetry has always been an issue for me. You scratch your head after reading asking: `What is this all about? Am I missing something?' That to my view renders it useless much like the analogy to high fashion. What is the point of it if it serves no meaningful function?
I couldn't agree more. Poetry should speak to you, not shout above your head.
NOVAcatmando I say, "ruffle away"
storm the ivory towers of versification
pelt them with metered taunts and incantations...
Yowza!
fyn  LOVED this newsletter!!!!
Thanks! We aim to please.
DRSmith A most interesting and well spoken parallel using the clothing industry to demo the staying power of classic style vs trendiness... i'd even risk calling the shift to same an "excuse" (for some for sheer lack of classic talent). Sort of like "art" I've seen... a $200k welded mass of auto bumpers outside a gov't building; a $35k pair of shorts attached to a wall motor in an art gallery, moving six inches up and down off the floor. Can you imagine the classic masters of yore seeing such in their era, and saying... "Mona be hanged, now that's art". Here's a free verse I recently saw as "Poem of the month" in a national mag:
I row across the lake
all the dragonfiles are screwing.
Stop it. It's Sunday.
Now, some may see it, but to me, the King has no clothes. Give me Poe, Whittier, Kilmer any day. For giggles and grins, a spoof of same (more so of "$$ contests) should anyone care; enjoy,
Yikes!
ransomme Thank you for this wonderful article. I agree about the classics and wish with every fiber of my being that I could write, sonnets, odes and ballads like the masters.
The only way is to try and keep trying.
lindamv A great analogy, and so true! We should all be able to write the type of poetry we want to, instead of being put down by those who supposedly 'know better'. Thanks for expressing this so well.
You are certainly welcome.
monty31802 A very interesting newsletter well worth reading,
I especially like the explanation on writers being able to do thier thing.
Freedom is a wonderful thing.
scribbler I disagree wholeheartedly when you say that fashion never looks back to old fashion. That's all fashion ever does! We reinvent old looks to fit what we want to express now.
Look at this season, it's all about bringing back the Dynasty era of glitz and modified shoulder pads!
At the other end of the spectrum there is a resurgence of prohibition era outerwear and hats. Drop waists are incredibly popular!
Shows what I know about fashion, I guess!
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Poetry: February 24, 2010 Issue [#3576]
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