new broadsides...
I just got my May/June mailing from the GPP and the broadsides are truly stunning. I know there are those who might be confused about exactly what the GPP is/does, either thru deliberate misinformation or thru simple misunderstanding. please tell me where else but the Guerilla Poetics Project can you get, for two bucks a month, two fantastic poetry broadsides (plus extras for giving away to unsuspecting readers of literature) mailed to your house for an entire year that look like these:
letter pressed on a hand-fed 1914 C&P press by a craftsman who truly loves his work, designed by caring artists working hard to present the poems in a beautiful way, and given away to the public by Operatives who donate their time and money to make it all happen.
again, tell me: who else is doing anything like it? a non-profit gathering of artists and non-artists alike giving their hard-earned money and too-short time, who only want to further the place of poetry in the minds of the general reading public by giving away broadsides like those above. can you get anything like these broadsides print-on-demand anywhere? can you get em from an online "magazine?" can you print em on your home computer? cardstock, metal type and all? hell no you can't. it takes a collective expenditure of ink, sweat, treasure and great poetry to make happen. too often, small press people refuse to occasionally pay for a GOOD IDEA out of fear they might not personally benefit, and thus the small press remains small both in vision and its ability to reach readers. some small pressers think "the man" is keeping them from "hitting it big." not so. it is a combination of cultural apathy, the fragmentary online world, bottom line economics, a lack of imagination and many many other factors. the only way any of us semi-obscure writers have to "fight" the big box "man" is to subvert the publishing paradigm, not seek to join it. to use its strengths against it. together, we have the resources to produce something beautiful with a global reach that would elude each of us individually because of our own financial and time constraints.
besides, the GPP costs way less than the internet connection most of us use to send email each month. hell, it costs less than one fucking beer each month and you get a benefit no matter if you're a poet or just a reader/collector of literature. two bucks a month for a year. you also get to participate in actively furthering the reach of the small press as an entity and "fight the man" with great art produced by people who believe in it as something other than just a product.
letter pressed on a hand-fed 1914 C&P press by a craftsman who truly loves his work, designed by caring artists working hard to present the poems in a beautiful way, and given away to the public by Operatives who donate their time and money to make it all happen.
again, tell me: who else is doing anything like it? a non-profit gathering of artists and non-artists alike giving their hard-earned money and too-short time, who only want to further the place of poetry in the minds of the general reading public by giving away broadsides like those above. can you get anything like these broadsides print-on-demand anywhere? can you get em from an online "magazine?" can you print em on your home computer? cardstock, metal type and all? hell no you can't. it takes a collective expenditure of ink, sweat, treasure and great poetry to make happen. too often, small press people refuse to occasionally pay for a GOOD IDEA out of fear they might not personally benefit, and thus the small press remains small both in vision and its ability to reach readers. some small pressers think "the man" is keeping them from "hitting it big." not so. it is a combination of cultural apathy, the fragmentary online world, bottom line economics, a lack of imagination and many many other factors. the only way any of us semi-obscure writers have to "fight" the big box "man" is to subvert the publishing paradigm, not seek to join it. to use its strengths against it. together, we have the resources to produce something beautiful with a global reach that would elude each of us individually because of our own financial and time constraints.
besides, the GPP costs way less than the internet connection most of us use to send email each month. hell, it costs less than one fucking beer each month and you get a benefit no matter if you're a poet or just a reader/collector of literature. two bucks a month for a year. you also get to participate in actively furthering the reach of the small press as an entity and "fight the man" with great art produced by people who believe in it as something other than just a product.
posted by christopher cunningham at 12:40 PM
4 Comments:
well said, my man.
there are myriad reasons why the small press exists, and why it is small.
there are myriad reasons why any one writer is "chosen" over another in the literary world.
there are myriad reasons why poetry is no longer as popular as it once was.
and, likewise, there are myriad reasons why the GPP is vital and necessary and oh so goddamn right on.
This comment has been removed by the author.
oops, that was me
man, my computer is being crazy.
i just said, in a roundabout way, that gpp is great.
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