Today, poetry pals,
we are chatting with Wendy Bourke, of Words and Words and Whatnot, who has been
contemplating the question: What to do with all that poetry! I am sure we all
have a ton of it, tucked away in journals and drawers. Wendy and I chatted
about some ideas that may prove useful. We hope to hear what you do with your poetry in the comments!
Sherry: Thanks for thinking of this topic, Wendy. I
am sure all of us have reams of poems, in drawers and totes, on cd’s and thumb
drives. What to do with it all?
Wendy: While
trying to get a handle on organizing the mountain of poetry I have produced
throughout my life, I came upon the following piece, that I had written in 2016
~ poetry ~
I wandered, in the
hustling, unfamiliar city
on whizzing roads,
through concrete mazes
in peaceful, bright
spirits and spacey hazes,
that, often,
accompanies a dreamy ramble through
the frenzy and the
fuss that modernity confers …
as image after
image, on the shifting canvas,
gifted me with
snippets of scent and sound,
abracadabra’ed with
bits of memory and emotion ...
impressions ...
that bloomed like garland blossoms
strung together,
with words that floated, as free
and natural, as
notes of birdsong on a breeze
~ poetry ~
City Scene
And as I read this
poem, plucked from a pile of many, many other poems, I thought to myself: 'for
poets, poetry is everywhere ... figuratively ... and literally' ~ smiles ~
The first couple of
years that I blogged, I saved my poems in scrapbooks ~ mistake ~ for a myriad
of reasons I won't waste time going into here. Then, when I finally switched to
putting them in binders, I filed them chronologically ... which worked fine ...
for about a year. Who can remember if a poem was penned in 2008 or 2013? I
found myself back-and-forthing through good poems and poems in need of a redo –
over and over and over. And I got to the point (which is where I am now ...
drowning in a sea of poems) where it became clear, that I really have to give
some thought to my archiving options, before putting any more effort into yet
another badly thought out direction.
It occurred to me
that it might be helpful to share some methods I've employed (in my endless
trial-and-error approach) that I have found beneficial ... and ask for input
and info from fellow poets, about what has worked for them. Basically I want to
hit the pause button and review and inquire into: 'What to do with all that
poetry!'
Sherry: Let’s dive
right in to this thorny topic!
Wendy: Keeping my
poetry organized has been a real job, and I have often been dissappointed with
the end results. I have read comments from other poets saying they have just
about given up organizing their poetry.
Sherry: I hear you!
I must have had a thousand poems written before I started blogging, and have
written 2800 more online, according to Blogger. I have poems in notebooks, in
drawers, loose in a tote. I began to get worried that when I die, my kids might
inadvertently (or advertently, lol) send my life’s work to the landfill. Later,
in this discussion, I will tell you how I resolved this.
Wendy: Well, let's
begin at the beginning, Sherry ... which is publishing our poetry. Getting
published by poetry publishers is very, very hard. I recently heard back from a
publisher that had asked for submissions of one poem-per-poet. I was rejected,
of course, but I took solace in the fact that so were the 5,538 'other' poets.
An organized
approach can help. I once believed that volume-volume-volume was a good
strategy, but (at least in my case) I have not found that to be very effective.
That said, it really does make a difference if you put in the time, and read
the kind of poetry that a potential publisher publishes. If it doesn't sound
like a fit to your work, it won't be published.
I have found themed
anthologies, or journals with a themed prompt, offer a much better chance of
success. Also, new publishers (who do not have 20 years of email subscribers)
are less overwhelmed with submissions. Organizations that are
supported by membership fees such as The Tanka Society of America and The
Ontario Poetry Society usually guarantee inclusion of at least one piece
(though they ask for several to choose from).
Smaller pieces,
such as Japanese and other, often niche, small-form poems, have several
publication vehicles and include more pieces (therefore, much more publishing
opportunity) in their hard copy and e-zine offerings. Occasionally a
poetry forum will put together an anthology from poems that have appeared on
their site – as was the case, fairly recently, with the d'Verse Anthology:
Chiaroscuro.
Sherry: Poets
United did a small anthology too, back in 2011. Anthologies are a lot of work,
but very satisfying to members.
Many of us write
mostly for ourselves and each other, and don’t bother submitting poems (though
many of the more serious poets do, of course.) I have been more than happy that
anyone comes along to read my poems on-site, LOL. I haven’t submitted
work very often. I have work in only a half dozen anthologies.
But self-publishing
is a great option, and I do know quite a bit about that.
Wendy: Self
Published Books are a truly viable and, I am told, affordable option, which is
why I'd love to learn more. Also, 'one-of' photo books that celebrate a
grandchild or a wedding can be a lovely, and very personal, memento.
Sherry: I am all
about self-publishing. I had a cancer scare some years back, (thankfully the
tumor was benign), and my one regret then was that I had not archived my work.
Since getting the all-clear, I have been
using the self-publishing house lulu.com (there are many) to put my work into solid form for
posterity. These companies offer affordable options, a choice of layouts and
templates, hard cover and soft cover, coil or perfect bound, and I can assure you the result is an
affordable, bookstore quality product.
I don’t try to sell
mine, but many poets do, some very successfully. I create my books mainly as an archive, though a few are available for sale.
But one has the option of making their books available at both lulu.com and Amazon. You pay as you go, per volume, order as
many or few as you like. They are reasonably priced, so you can add your margin
to the actual cost of the book and not only reclaim your initial cost, but make
a small profit, if that is your objective.
Also, you can put a
link on your blog, your readers can click on it, and it takes them right to the
publishing house and/or Amazon, where a reader can purchase the book directly.
The writer doesn’t have to do anything but tuck away the small profits as they
come in.
Wendy: Wow! That is
awesome information, Sherry. Thanks for taking the time to lay that out so
thoroughly for us. I feel like I'm ready to wade into the self-publishing
waters now.
Sherry: All year
long, as I am blogging, I enter each poem in a template (for poetry, I use the 6x9 inch US
trade perfect bound paperback template). At the end of each year, I have a book
of that year's poems to edit and publish. A 225-page book of poems (text only)
costs about 10 dollars for paperback, more expensive for hardcover. The books are
bookstore quality. I’ve been doing this for years.
I also have done
some special editions of selected poems and stories, and plan a few more. And I
have made some wonderful photo-books as gifts for loved ones. I enjoy
doing those the most. They are much more expensive, but absolutely wonderful to
give as a gift.
I have a small
shelf of my own books now, and I feel satisfied that I have honoured my work in
this way. (On the far left are three large photo books. Note coil bindings are also available. But the best format is publisher perfect bound, which I use for the poetry books.)
Wendy: Golly you've
got a real handle on this thing, Sherry ... beautiful bookstore quality books
that hold your life's work and lovely gifts for loved ones to treasure.
In addition to
going the self-publishing route though, I think I will probably continue with
my binders for several reasons:
- I like the flexibility to be able to rejig pieces
that I don't feel are quite ready for publication.
- I like to be able to move pages around, so that
similar themed poems are facing each other and I get a good idea of how a
book would lay out, when published.
- I like to be able to include small coloured
photographs, pertinent emails and comments and personal notes (i.e. I
wrote this poem the last night we spent at the lake) that might give more
meaning to the poem for others, as they come upon them.
Sherry: Oh, they
sound like a treasure trove of memories. I envy you them!!!
Wendy: In a way, I
guess, I think of my poetry binders almost like a journal of my poetry
journey. If anyone reading this has not yet committed to hard copies of
your work, I would urge you to give it some thought. Having worked as a
University Academic Secretary for decades, I have lost track of the
number of technical advances that have rendered the previous data storage
device unretrievable.
Personalized Binder
As far as personalized binders go, I am a big fan. Online companies, like
Zazzle, offer a plethora of imaged binders (everything from old tomes that look
like something out of the middle ages to garden scenes to forests) which they
personalize to your specifications. Of course, you can send in a photo you've
taken and they will use that.
These binders are in the $40.00 range. (Mine were
given to me as gifts from my family.) A binder with a clear window cover
(that you can fill yourself) is a much cheaper option at around $10.00. I also
am a big fan of clear sheet protectors (around $12.00 per 100). If you opt not
to use them, you'll have to 3-hole punch your page, and that, with any pieces
you may have taped to it, can quickly take on a tattered, messy
appearance. I use double-sided tape (as many glues eventually dry,
discolour and leach through the paper). I also insert thin card stock sheets
between the pages of poetry. It just gives a nicer feel to what would,
otherwise, be very wobbly pages. All of these supplies can be found at any
Office Supply Store.
Before filling your
binders, you should decide how you want to organize it. Chronologically (which
has its pros and cons), by subject matter (such as nature, for example – blog
labels are made for this), or perhaps (as I did) by my favourites (my 2 pink
floral binders house the poems that mean the most to me (and here, movable
pages really pay off, as time goes by ... lol)
Binder
as a Working Journal
I think the main
idea is that the poetry that you are most happy with, proud of, and that says
something about who you are, should be archived in a special way and not left
to languish amongst the do-overs ... or worse: can't be found at all.
However you choose to archive your poetry, it should clearly indicate that it
is poetry ... and not just a box (or binder) of papers.
Sherry: That is
very key! (Am thinking of the landfill as the Last Resort of my work. Ack!)
Wendy: We put so
much of ourselves into our poetry. We owe it to ourselves, to our family and
friends, and to our descendants (who – you never know – might have a poetic
bend and be curious about what Great-great-great grandma or grandpa wrote) ...
Well, a poet can dream ...
Sherry: Yes, we
dream, we dream……..my family tends to act as if my poetry is a slightly
embarrassing aberration we don't talk about, but maybe once I’m gone, they’ll pop one of the
covers. Smiles.
Thanks for this
informative chat, Wendy. Friends, we would love to hear from you. Do you
archive your work? In what format? Have you tried any of these options and, if
so, how satisfied are you with the results? Let us know in your comments, okay?
And do come back
and see who we talk to next. Who knows, it might be you!
