Ask Me About My Poetic Career

The podcast is up at the Poetry Foundation website. [Direct link.]

As it happens, I don't really believe in/value the notion of career when it comes to poetry. I'd prefer something like "how to build an audience" or "how to reach readers," which are more in-line with my ideas about small-scale publishing and DIY. Business is business and poetry is best served by those with goals other than the bottom line, is what I'm getting at. Ideally, poets should be more active, less passive, about offering their work through ways that do not compromise it by entangling it with the demands of the publishing industry's idea of marketability. Keeping a poetry blog or making a personal website on the internet is simply one way (a pretty effective way) a poet who might never attract the likes of Knopf can proceed. It's a healthier alternative to sitting around whining about how nobody reads poetry, poetry doesn't sell, American culture ignores poetry, etc.

As for the notion that readers need gatekeepers to either A) protect them from the untamed wilderness of the internet, or B) enlighten them as to what is deserving of their attention, that's very much at odds with my own practice/thinking. Some editors, presses, magazines and institutions do view their missions this way, true. As a result it's imperative for anyone interested in poetry (as writer or reader of the stuff) to seek out alternative sources, in addition to those bearing an official stamp (which are, after all, a good place to start). Why the hell not go directly to the poets themselves?

Just wanted to make sure I was clear on those two things, in case I wasn't. It's actually tougher than it seems to be coherent with a big mic in your face, though Curtis made it as pleasant as possible. (Witness the mess I made of Reb's poor poem when I tried to give it a close reading on the spot. HOO HOO WHEE!)

Anyway, here are the links to the stuff I mention, should you be here a'lookin:

Reb Livingston's blog Home-Schooled by a Cackling Jackal
"Retention" by Reb Livingston in Kulture Vulture
Her chapbook from Coconut

Flarf: Mainstream Poetry
Katie Degentesh's book The Anger Scale
Combo Arts
"Life Is a Strain for Me Much of the Time" by Katie Degentesh (scroll down)