...oh, we weren't speaking of poet laureates? Well, that's okay, because here are two good pieces on them speaking.

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From Guardian Unlimited, here's a speech by UK Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, on the relationship between poetry and power. His whole speech transcript is available. Highly recommended.

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"Americans still love poetry, says poet laureate Pinsky," by Lila Hanft for ClevelandJewishNews.com, profiles the former U.S. poet laureate. In the article, Robert Pinsky says, "As dancing is to movement, as cuisine is to nutrition, as lovemaking is to procreation, poetry is an art: an expressive form of speech. If art is important, poetry is important."

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Check out other Poetry News.

So in the past week, I've made several poetry submissions to:

• Virginia Quarterly Review (they've got to have the coolest online submission form on the planet)
• Michigan Quarterly Review
• Chattahoochee Review
• The Cincinnati Review (this submission makes me a bit nervous, because the poetry editor is a former undergrad professor of mine--I can already see the rejection note saying, "Your skills have actually diminished since college, and they weren't good then."--yes, maybe that was a foolish decision)

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I've also submitted a chapbook manuscript to the Wick Open Poetry Competition for Ohio poets.

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While part of me wants complete acceptance from all of the above, I'd really be happy with an acceptance from at least one.

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Actually, a nice rejection note from any of the above would go a long way toward making me feel good.

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Or even a coffee stain on one of the form rejection letters. (It doesn't take much.)

Received this question via e-mail from poet Liesl Garner:

"Last year I performed a poetry show at our local Fringe Festival. I got wonderful reviews, and I am performing a Repeat Performance in October of this year. The Fringe Festival is every Spring, and I plan to participate each year. After my first show, I was asked if I had my poetry printed in a chapbook for sale. I didn't, but for the Repeat Performance I want to have that available for audience members. I'm actually thinking of doing a chapbook for each year's performance. Is it bad for my hopes and dreams of someday becoming a published poet to be doing my own publishing of chapbooks?

"Currently, I just don't have the time to be submitting with the numbers I would have to in order to get noticed by a publisher. However, on my local scene, I have a large fan base that wants to see my work in print.

"Thanks, Liesl Garner"

Before I get into my ramble, you should probably read Nancy's Published Is Published post about what self-publishing will do to those poems that are self-published in the eyes of editors. Then, come back here to read what I have to say.

(Tapping on desk as Liesl reads Nancy's post. Ba-ba-ba. Humming to self.)

Back?

Okay then.

So you now know that self-publishing any of your poems will have editors considering those specific poems already published, right? That doesn't mean your career is over, it just means these specific poems are now only available as reprints. This fact can hurt when submitting to poetry journals and magazines or even chapbook contests. But the publication of some of your poems does not affect what you do with other poems that are not self-published.

If you decide that for the current crop of poems you wish to self-publish that it is okay if they risk being only available in your self-published chapbook format, then you should go for it. More and more poets are doing this. However, if you wish to see any of these specific poems in some journal or future chapbook competition winning collection, you may not want to include in your self-publishing effort.

As far as actually self-publishing, I advise you to either go with a local printer that you can work with directly--or there are some online POD companies that allow you to print and publish only one book at a time, which dramatically lowers the investment you have to make in your self-publishing venture. I'm sure some very nice poets (hint, hint) could even give suggestions in the blog comments below. Even if not, that's why God created Google; just type "POD Publishers" into Google, and you will receive plenty of online resources of how and who to proceed with.

On another note, there's no shame in self-publishing. Through the ages, poets have been especially prone to self-publication. And that trend only seems to be expanding even more with online and POD technologies now available to poets.

Just remember: Self-publishing does equal publishing. So those specific poems that are self-published could pay the price with publishers in the short term. Of course, most poets would agree that you're not risking much financially by self-publishing over traditional publication. For many, the main goal is to just reach an engaged audience.

Best,

Robert

"Poet relishes new challenge," by Mike Pride for Concord Monitor, is a very interesting and insightful article on new U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic, including more personal information about Simic and how he goes about writing his poetry.

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Today is my last chance to update you on what I've been up to recently in September.

First, check out the most recent edition of my Faulty Mindbomb project. This edition features the poem "After a drink at the Tavern," by Caili Wilk.

Go to: http://faultymindbomb.blogspot.com/2007/09/fmb0030.html

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Second, I recently submitted some poems to the Atlanta Review. I'm always very pumped when I'm able to fit in a little time to get some kind of submission action going.

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Third, I'm getting some poems together to submit to a chapbook competition for Ohio poets. Almost done putting the final touches on that, and I think I've got until the end of October to send it in. Good stuff.

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Anyway, thought I'd let you know what I've been up to, though wish there was a bit more to report. :)

Okay, so maybe that's not technically correct. For instance, I buy new poetry collections about once a week. And I know poets who purchase collections of poetry on a regular basis. People do buy poetry, but it's not easy finding a good selection of poetry to buy.

There's a chicken and egg problem with poetry collections in the marketplace. Booksellers don't stock too much poetry, because poetry doesn't sell well. Potential poetry buyers don't buy poetry, because there's not a good selection (or sometimes, in my personal experience, I've had trouble even finding a poetry section in bookstores).

Would poetry sell better if it had more shelf space? I'm not sure we'll ever know, because it doesn't make good business sense for bookstores to take a chance on poetry. I don't agree with it, but that's how the bottom line works.

"Local poetry publisher BOA rises to national status," by Matthew Daneman for Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, profiles prominent poetry publisher BOA. Of particular interest, BOA estimates 43% of its revenue comes from book sales and 37% from grants and donations--illustrating just how hard it is to sell poetry.

Despite this despicable state of the poetry publishing industry, I feel very certain that poetry will never die. Readers do go out of their way to find poetry in the nooks and crannies of bookstores and flea markets and Web sites and anywhere they can find it, because those who read poetry are passionate about poetry.

So anyway, I just sometimes get discouraged about the lack of shelf space devoted to poetry. I'm sure other poets do too. However, I just want to remind everyone (myself included) that we don't write poetry for the money or fame; we write poetry, because we can't stop ourselves. What's wrong with us anyway? (Just kidding, I think.)

On Saturday, I received two rejections in the mail. And I was actually pumped up after reading them.

Really, the first one from Asheville Poetry Review is the one that got me excited. While I could see it was a form rejection letter, there was a handwritten note at the bottom from the editor Keith Flynn:

"Robert,

It was nice to see you in NYC--sorry this isn't better news, but 'Pride Park' did make it to our final cut--thanks for your interest and keep pushing.

All best,

Keith"

And when I looked at my returned poems, the one Keith mentioned had been marked a few times with his signature. So, naturally, there was a part of me that was bummed about coming so close, but then there was another part of me that was excited to make it to the final cut in a journal that publishes a lot of poets I read in those annual Best American Poetry anthologies.

To emphasize the point, my rejection from The Sun had no special note--just a form rejection letter on a small piece of paper.

So yeah, "Pride Park" is definitely going out again soonish, and I'm excited to ramp up my submission efforts for the final 3 months of the year!