Octopus : 1a
#1a. Is there some philosophical impetus at work here in this project? Is this, in some way, a campaign?
It didn't start as a campaign. But that didn't stop me from writing a small manifesto that frames the idea of what I'm doing. In keeping with the spirit of the series, it's short, and often placed on the back cover of some of the booklets. (Some? Well, for me, design always takes priority over the sound bite. If the cover calls for the manifesto to be jettisoned, it's tossed.) It reads:
"Scattered around town, on buses, trains, restrooms, coffee shops, left along with the tip; stuffed into a stranger's back pocket. Whatever. Wherever."
It has become, in some ways, a campaign. Not so much to spread any particular ideology, but rather some effort at spontaneous distribution to canvas the place, the planet with little books.
The effort has developed a momentum that's fueled by my own enthusiasm -- I love building these poem books -- and that of those who submit poems, ask for poems, distribute the poems. I'm not sure what to expect when people find the poems through the spontaneous distribution I encourage. I just like the idea of someone going about their usual lives and coming across this variation to the routine. Will you look at that? A miniature book... Additionally, it's always a pleasure to hear how poets who've been published are distributing their copies of the little books.
I decided early on that I would never profit from the little series. I determined that they could be used to raise money for worthy causes, but that I wouldn't sell them for personal gain. And it is that little principle, I think, that has kept the series honest, interesting, and exciting for me. I live in a consumer culture where everything, it seems, has a price. Poems-For-All is a rejection of that idea. And while I try to keep costs down, I do try to create booklets that are lavish and exciting to look at and read. Even free, crap is crap. I want people -- the poets I publish, and the folks who pick these up -- to feel as excited about getting the books as I do about making them.
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The question was posed during an interview for Octopus #4 .
It didn't start as a campaign. But that didn't stop me from writing a small manifesto that frames the idea of what I'm doing. In keeping with the spirit of the series, it's short, and often placed on the back cover of some of the booklets. (Some? Well, for me, design always takes priority over the sound bite. If the cover calls for the manifesto to be jettisoned, it's tossed.) It reads:
"Scattered around town, on buses, trains, restrooms, coffee shops, left along with the tip; stuffed into a stranger's back pocket. Whatever. Wherever."
It has become, in some ways, a campaign. Not so much to spread any particular ideology, but rather some effort at spontaneous distribution to canvas the place, the planet with little books.
The effort has developed a momentum that's fueled by my own enthusiasm -- I love building these poem books -- and that of those who submit poems, ask for poems, distribute the poems. I'm not sure what to expect when people find the poems through the spontaneous distribution I encourage. I just like the idea of someone going about their usual lives and coming across this variation to the routine. Will you look at that? A miniature book... Additionally, it's always a pleasure to hear how poets who've been published are distributing their copies of the little books.
I decided early on that I would never profit from the little series. I determined that they could be used to raise money for worthy causes, but that I wouldn't sell them for personal gain. And it is that little principle, I think, that has kept the series honest, interesting, and exciting for me. I live in a consumer culture where everything, it seems, has a price. Poems-For-All is a rejection of that idea. And while I try to keep costs down, I do try to create booklets that are lavish and exciting to look at and read. Even free, crap is crap. I want people -- the poets I publish, and the folks who pick these up -- to feel as excited about getting the books as I do about making them.
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The question was posed during an interview for Octopus #4 .
posted by Richard Hansen at
12:12 PM
