Relative Success, Relative Failure: Life as a Poet
I met with some writer friends last night where we talked about what success really meant for a poet: a certain number of books sold (maybe over 1000?) or a certain prize (one with a sticker, one of the members of our party said) or certain publications (Poetry, Paris Review, American Poetry Review.) A reading at a prized venue? A PAID reading? A teaching job? (We talked about the job market: jobs that used to require two books now require three.) Does success mean that someone across the country who has never met you might recognize your name? A Pushcart Prize? A grant? A review in the New York Times?
One of the party mentioned that poets ask for so little. That’s true, really. When I worked (albeit briefly) in technical book publishing, a goal of selling 60K of a certain title was considered pretty modest. When a book only sold 10K, it was considered a sad failure. On the other hand, a poet with 10K sales should throw a party. 60K would be considered pretty off the charts of a poetry book.
We talked about the things that help promote poetry books and which thing was the most effective: readings? reviews? We agreed that reading could be unpredictable (stories of a reading with 100 attendees and 0 book sales, or 12 attendees and 10 book sales, etc) and that the rewards of reviews were not directly tied to sales and were mostly intangible. Still, we poets do what we can. Not for the money, not for any specific expectation of reward, but more of a kind of intangible goal: to connect with other people with our writing.
We have dreams that a first book will change our lives. With a second book, we know the book won’t really change anything, but we hope for the best.
All-Poetry, All-the-Time, or Why I’m Glad to Be Back in Seattle
Some things make you feel really feel like you’re back “home.” Like when the sun comes out in February, and you can see Mount Rainier (or a big full moon.) Like going over to your friend’s house for a poetry group meeting – a group that’s been meeting regularly for almost eight (nine?) years – and listening to your poet friend’s war stories and poems, hearing their good news and discouragements, shared over hot tea and plates of snacks. Like going back to a poetry reading series I used to help with – the SoulFood Books series – and seeing Lana and Michael. The guest poet last night was Tom C. Hunley, publisher of my first book. He’s a funny, laconic deliverer of poems. He also said that Becoming the Villainess is Steel Toe Books’ bestseller (Yay! that warmed my heart!) I’m also going to participate in another Seattle ritual tomorrow, and attend a poetry reading at Open Books – Mary Ruefle is in town!
All the socializing and poetry-izing is wearing me out, but in a good way. I feel like my life’s pace has quickened from the gradual, laconic heartbeat of California life to a caffeine-buzzed doubletime here in Seattle. More people to see, more stuff to do. It’s a poetry-stuffed town! In fact, I missed two readings this week already! But I wrote a new long poem, I sent out a few subs, I heard back from some lit mags, and Glenn is still dusting up his poetry submission database system we’ve been working on since December. (Much more thorough than my Excel spreadsheet, I can say that.) I also know I need to get on the ball and start booking readings for my new book this fall and next spring. If you feel like you’d love to have me come out to your conference or college, to read a bunch of poems about love, marriage, Japanese anime, etc, please let me know! I am feeling bashful about asking this time around, but I’m not sure why. The ARCs should be ready in a couple of months…it’s getting so close!
If you’re in the Seattle area, come out and see me at the Richard Hugo House Thursday night at 7:30 PM – I’m reading with Janet Knox, whose new chapbook has just come out from Concrete Wolf. Should be fun!
Tonight at SoulFood Books in Redmond…
Thursday, September 20, 2007 7:00 PM
Poetry Open Mike Description: Come read your best!
This month’s featured readers are Kelli Russell Agodon and Ann Batchelor Hursey…
That’s where I’ll be!
You guys will be so jealous of me when I tell you who I got listen to yesterday at the poetry festival – Richard Siken, blogger and winner of the Yale Younger Poets prize for Crush. He did a charming reading/talk on spirituality and the self – reading some new work as well as “Crush” poems, which I enjoyed anew. What an interesting and funny guy. He said some accused him of being a “morning after poet.” HA! Here’s my favorite poem from the book, “Poem in Which Things are Crossed Out.”
http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=177722
Anyway, I know some of you must be tired of seeing me promote readings, but I promise this is the last one for April! (Oh, poetry month, both a blessing and a curse, and full of your muddy shoes!)
Hey Seattlites! Come out to the Richard Hugo House at 7 PM tomorrow to see me reading with Juliet Patterson, who hails from far away Minneapolis who reads her book, Truant Lover, from Nightboat Press, which is pretty cool. Click here to read her “first book interview” with Kate Greenstreet and one of her poems:
http://www.kickingwind.com/62906.html
