[New-Poetry] Recommending poetry presses and beyond

[Anny Ballardini]

I tend to agree with Hal and tried to explain why several times. Maybe because poetry is for me fundamentally a private act. From here to say that I tend to confessionalism would be an easy association, what if I say that poetry is confessionalism even if you do not confess yourself? A sort of private psychological intuition of the world /society /nature /industry /the lack thereof (see industrial areas eclipsed from residential ones) and so on whichever style you use? That for a poem to be a good one you have to dig under the skin of things?

  From: Halvard Johnson 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2:02 AM



  For me, those public readings usually put obstacles between
  readers and work--the ambience of the venue, the personality
  of the author, his or her performance ability or lack there of
  (too much performance ability can be a problem as well as
  too little). Ah, but you've heard all this from me before at
  various times.


  Hal, the bad listener


  "The bacon too carries on its modest
   love affair."
                          --Tony Towle


  Halvard Johnson
  ================
  halvard at earthlink.net
  http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard/index.html
  http://entropyandme.blogspot.com 
  http://imageswithoutwords.blogspot.com
  http://www.hamiltonstone.org

  http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard/vidalocabooks.html




  On Jan 22, 2008, at 6:10 PM, millb at aol.com wrote:


    I think, for me, it's not so much that ugly word artists hate, "marketing," passing out flyers and broadcasting commercials as it is about being willing to read your work, make yourself available for events, inquire about reviews, etc. . .I'm usually excited about the possibility of hearing a writer I like read his or her work.  With a few notable exceptions, a public reading adds to the texture of the work and makes it more immediate.

    Mill

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Skip Fox <skip at louisiana.edu>
    Bcc: millb at aol.com
    Sent: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:47 am
    Subject: RE: [New-Poetry] Recommending poetry presses and beyond


    I’m with Anny on this. I have not found a good reason to promote myself in almost 40 years of writing. The advantage, best case?: that a book gets to the few dozen (or more) people who will really read it (not necessarily with the certainty I had found Creeley Blackburn  Duncan Pound etc. indispensable, but with the sense that the reader will find it solidly nourishing, a meal). Down side: I’m distracted from what I should be doing (writing) and in the worse case the sense of others’ regard interferes with the work.

    Given that many will find our work by word of mouth, and given the fact that attention wouldn’t truly help a number of us, then there isa question as to the real value of marketing or self-promotion.  But, yes, if there is a good reason, I’m open as well . . .

    -----Original Message-----
    From: new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu [mailto:new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu] On Behalf Of Bob Grumman
    Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 7:02 PM
    To: NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News &amp;Views
    Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] Recommending poetry presses and beyond



    Anny Ballardini wrote:
    Someone should write a simple booklet with 10-12 chapters big characters:
    how to convince myself that marketing is good for poetry

    anyone?
    I promise I will read it first thing in the morning and after my prayers in the evening
    :-)

    Well, by marketing I mean simply getting one's work to people who will appreciate it (and not starve).  It's unavoidable, I'm afraid.

    --Bob 
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