While many book publishers and academy types might argue otherwise, poetry has always been an oral form, first and foremost. A poem on the page is theoretical, incomplete; like a promising idea not yet vetted. Reading your work out loud is also one of the best forms of editing, and not just for poetry, but straight fiction and non-fiction, too.
In the 1930s, the Raven Poetry Circle toured the West Village, selling their poems and hosting readings while the publishing world collapsed around them.
Every May, they hosted a poetry fair in Washington Square Park, selling poems for pennies. I think its time to do it again.
Inspired more by friends like Chuck Wendig, Will Hindmarch and Jane Friedman than Joe Konrath, et al, and emboldened by everything I learned from working with Joshua Tallent while running Digital Book World, my goal for the project was two-fold: do enough of it myself to have hands-on experience of what it takes, what’s “easy” and what isn’t; and to get the monkey of finally publishing this particular book off my back!
What librarians make. Or Why Should I be More than a Librarian? from Joyce Valenza on Vimeo.
What librarians make. (Or Why Should I be More than a Librarian?)
(Inspired by Taylor Mali and his poem What Teachers Make, or Objection Overruled, or If things don’t work out, you can always go [...]
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