Publishing Poetry--early in semester
See only comments section
Poem 4
To watch my video on Pizarnik (surreal narrative) and Mullen (poetic appropriation, please click on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qrTCjoW2Yw THE SURREAL NARRATIVE · Create a situation where people or forces of nature (wind, rain) or animals or plants or objects, etc. are doing impossible things, either to themselves or to others or with others. · Decide on either a single narrative in the poem with a beginning, middle, end OR several narratives with only emotional tone or some other connection as the thread. As Pizarnik does, you can explore your own emotions—externalizing them, never using “I.” This will be easy for some of you: Manuel is inspired by horror and sci-fi movies and video games, Brianna wrote an ekphrastic poem about Kahlo that's close to a surreal narrative, and Janessa can make this fit her interest in creating poetry that inspires people to overcome their demons (a...
Hello Professor Fink,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about publishing opportunities. I learned a new term: zines. I didn't know online journals could also be called zines. I wanted to ask you about how to protect your work. If I were to send my poetry to a publication, how would I protect it from potentially getting stolen or manipulated(having word added in I didn't write)? I would also like to know more about how to go about copyrighting my work. I already learned one way to copyright my work that I have been doing so far. I mail the poems to myself. Do you know of any other ways to copyright your work?
Also, my goal as a poet is to write for healing and service. I write to inspire others, give them healing, and help comfort them. Do you know any specific magazines dedicated to poetry specifically for that purpose?
Janessa,
ReplyDeleteI have never thought about theft of poetry, probably since publishing poetry makes almost no money for 99% of those in the field. I have known more poets than I can count in the last 4 decades, and I have ONLY ONCE heard of a poet (whom I didn't know before she wrote) saying that a magazine, journal, zine or other publisher stole their poetry. Once when I was the editor of a zine, a poet wrote saying that someone in the zine had stolen their lines and demanded that the poem be eliminated from the zine. I did the comparison and found it to be really minimal (and probably very accidental) so I emailed the "offending" poet and apologetically told her the situation and she and I agreed to take the poem off the zine. When one publishes a book, there's a copyright logo and page and legal language; check the book that I gave you at the beginning of the term, and if it's not there, check another poetry book.
As for how to deal with unpublished poems, you should ask the question online, copy and paste all the answers to me in an email--or maybe what you think are the 5 best answers, and then I'll tell you what I think is helpful and valid and what I think is garbage.
The WORLDS of poetry are vast and accommodate many styles and thematic emphases. Yes, there are publishers of poetry magazines and presses who explicitly interested in "healing and service" poetry. Since I'm not interesting in this relatively small section of the poetry "market," I have never looked into this area and when I've run across them accidentally, I've immediately forgotten the name, etc. So what you should do is let a google search find you these opportunities, and if you need me to look at one or two of the submissions guidelines to see if the publisher is legitimate or scam-oriented, I can do that.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI want to say to you keep up the phenomenal work. It's always nice reading work from the Lit. I wish you and the Lit abundant success as you continue inspiring us. May you enjoy creating the Lit.
Cool -donta
ReplyDeleteHello Professor Fink,
ReplyDeleteI just read about poetry networking and I learned some new things. The first thing I learned about was the Poets House in lower Manhattan. I didn't know about them. Ever since I got back into writing poetry more often, I've been reflecting on how I would like to use my poetry. I'm still not sure yet because since my main goal and purpose in writing is for healing and inspiration, I'm still trying to think about ways to do so with discretion.
Another thing I learned about is how to connect with writers. I like what you said about making sure you show writers you are trying to connect with genuine interest in their work because when you are looking to get published, it's especially easy to get wrapped up only in ourselves. So, I like how you were suggesting that we read some of their work so that when we discuss their work with them, we have more to say and elaborate on. Additionally, I also like this section because I felt it was educational for up and coming writers/poets about what to do and what not to do as well as how to network safely and wisely when just starting out.
Janessa, I'm glad that was helpful. Regarding connecting with writers, it is important to note that, just like people in many other fields such as accounting, computer science, etc., it's impossible to generalize about personalities and moral character, because you get the whole range. For example, if someone stereotypes accountants as "repressed" and cold and poets as highly connected to their emotions and warm, that person will frequently be surprised or even disturbed in situations of meeting both accountants and poets. So when first meeting a poet, take a while to formulate your overall sense of whether you can be collegial friends with that person.
DeleteYou are right. That's very important to do because we don't want to make assumptions about others because that can be very hurtful towards them. Plus, I like what you said at the end about making sure you formulate your overall sense of whether or not you can be collegial friends with that person when first meeting them. It goes in line with the principal of picking your associates wisely.
ReplyDeleteHere's something I may have suggested indirectly in the post but didn't say directly: If someone can find as few as five poets whose character you can trust and whose aesthetic sensibility is close enough to theirs in order for there to be a working relationship, it is possible for that group to intervene in the larger sphere of poetry by creating an e-zine (using a platform that doesn't count anything) edited by those 5 people. The poets would not only be published in the zine--not everyone in every issue--but would send out messages to other poets to submit and might even enlarge the circle of the group that way.
DeleteHi Professor Fink,
ReplyDeleteI just got through reading your expansion on how to assemble and submit a first book of poetry. While I was reading it, it brought back to mind my experiences of going to my library's "Writers Room" every now and then to get advice on my writing. In line with what you were telling us about how to assemble a book, one of the writers I spoke to from my library gave me tips on how to start a poetry book. He told me about creating my own e-book. I found it pretty interesting.
Something that was reinforced from reading your expansion on how to assemble and submit a first book of poetry is that the process of doing so requires a lot of persistence and patience. I remember being told by my mother, who lies to write like me, and other writers that sometimes you are going to get a lot of no's before you get a yes. Learning from you the process of assembling and submitting your first book of poetry helped me to see that more clearly as I learned how there is not only a process to assembling the book but also, to finding ways to submit your work for publication. In line with that, I like how you pointed out that when looking to submit our work on e-zines, we need to do research first on the e-zine and the type of poetry they are looking for so that we spare ourselves the irritation of needless rejection.
Lastly, I was inspired by your fourth suggestion of banning together with other poets and forming a collective. What I like about that idea is it opens you up to opportunities that offer you a two-fold benefit. By forming a collective, a writer not only gets the benefit of being able to experience a sense of accomplishment from getting their work published but, they also get the benefit of being able to learn from other writers which serves to help them in continuously growing and moving forward as a writer. This idea and suggestion inspired me to contemplate maybe looking into forming a collective where me and a group of friends would come together simply to share our writing with each other and others for the purpose of inspiring and supporting each other and others in their various journeys.