Semi-Urban Cartography

On the phone yesterday. A lot, it turned out although the morning didn’t promise such a thing. With a sick dog in my life who eventually passed in the early evening, it felt like I was always talking to someone. Always relaying messages and information. The vet and her advice. My wife who was in between massages, making decisions. My mother who noticed a Facebook post about my hope for his eventual well-being who on the eve of her birthday, met us at the hospital and watched us go through the decision to put him to sleep.

All in all, the house is empty today. My eyes still hurt. My mind still races with the subject of those phone calls though.

One of the conversations I managed to have was with David Beispeil, a Portland area poet/writer/organizer whose credits are too many to mention. One prominent role that David occupies is as the Director of the Attic Writers, a writer’s resource center here in town. They offer classes and consultations. I came across my contact with him as I randomly explored their site. From the name of one of their consultation services, I thought they might be a place for me to connect to.

Those who know me, know my poems are getting “out there”. Where “there” is, I don’t quite know with any certainty anymore. While I am pleased with the infrequent recognitions I receive from the at large literary world, I’m not quite sure when I look back/forward that I see my verse fitting into anything concrete. No tradition. No stream of the literary moment. My work ends up “anywhere” and that’s what I end up celebrating. Every few weeks a poem is received. Every few weeks I get the good word.

Every few weeks I wonder what kind of writer am I. What kind of writer am I?

David Beispiel had some things to say about what kind of writer. Not knowing me, he couldn’t speak to my specific work but he spoke to becoming what kind of writer you are and making that a matter of choice. Our conversation was about a specific poetry consultation class that the Attic offers. You can bring them a 20-25 page poetry manuscript and one of their poets will consult with you: coming up with a submission strategy, having an idea of what your poetry is made up of, looking at chapbooks.

What is a chapbook, exactly?

I’ve always known that chapbooks are small press poetry books, something between self-published (read: photocopied) broadsides with crude design and those perfect bound University Presses. My sense of myself is that I’m beyond needing a Xerox card and some coins while not quite ready to approach the University of Pittsburgh to bring out my initial offering. Where does that place me? Beispiel was very clear that while a chapbook isn’t a place to make money for a poet, it does allow you to transcend the first of the literary world’s misgivings: vanity presses, while advancing, are still the realm of the impatient. The unedited. Amateur. He said that although you’ll be paid in copies, a number of notable poets have parlayed that chapbook press success and turned it to one of the larger poetry presses. All this said, even Black Sparrow Press doesn’t “make” a poet a rich man or open every door, but it conveys something.

In ten years, if my book is out on Copper Canyon will I be happy? Of course. And I’ll clearly see the place where my work fits.

Here are some steps I’m taking over the next few months in order to position myself to begin a chapbook publishing effort.

1.) Read a lot of publisher’s guidelines. I’ve located a few databases that collect chapbook publishers. If I read a hundred sets of writer’s guidelines, I should get a good idea of what people are looking for.

2.) Peel back the veil on my own work and look for cohesion. This seems pretty self-explanatory but it’s difficult to see “into” your own catalog of work. Am I filling a niche I don’t quite see yet?

3.) Look at geography in the publisher. If the house seeks to promote it’s writer, where do I want to potentially travel? If it’s regional (Oregon, Washington, Montana or BC) I could more easily get to events where I’m “featured” and can make a face for myself. Of course, I’d love to be notable in New York or Montreal, but that’s not going to get me face time.

4.) Will the publisher promote me with any sort of on-line presence? Is it feasible to work on a print/on-line system where I have not only paper but a URL to hand out? This is something I should demand — I think.

5.) I’ll need a special query letter. Is this where I need eventual consultation from the Attic Writers?

6.) The question that keeps coming to me as one that needs answering: Is there an advantage to now seeking out publication of individual poems in magazines that also have chapbook publishers? It feels to me like that follows the same logic as querying the producers who judged your award winning screenplay.

7.) The on-going piece that’s been missing: finding someone who can serve as a sort of advisor/ad hoc editor of my poems as they’re forming into a manuscript. I’d love to have a voice that is critical and loving.

These are my ideas. In death, a conversation that takes on new life.