Some notes from "Chapbook Now: Producing Chapbooks"

I couldn't attend most of the chapbook festival events last week, but I did manage to escape from my day job for a few hours on Friday to attend the workshop "Chapbook Now: Producing Chapbooks."  Rachel Levitsky, Sharon Dolin and Ryan Murphy all gave some notes on the chapbook, both as poets who have their own chapbooks and as poets who publish chapbooks of other poets' work, with Alice Quinn of the PSA moderating.

It was an informative workshop and I thought I'd share my notes since many people couldn't attend.

Rachel spoke to her Belladonna reading series and the chaplets she produces which act as publication, program and keepsake.  Two things I took away from her remarks are that poets need conversation with other poets as much as they need to be published and the chapbook can help get your work into the hands of people who "get" your work which in turn helps build a creative community for you that you wouldn't otherwise have found.  I also like how she stressed that chapbooks should be built around an "idea" rather than a "theme."  As someone who generates work through the exploration of a charged idea, I totally understood the delineation she was making.  Engaging an idea and exploring it in-depth through a sequence of poems is quite different than collecting a group of poems that are just built around a common theme.

Ryan's stories about his fictitious press (presses to be exact since he makes up a new one for each chapbook he publishes) were quite inspiring.  He makes all his books by hand, doesn't sell them and finances them himself (it's his great love and hobby), and gives them away via his mailing list.  I found it a great call to get involved (and get my own letter press!) with publishing poets you love and not waiting around for the established presses to do it.  The comment I've been mulling the most concerned escaping from the weight of your own project, which I've been feeling of late with some of my own.  If you find yourself unable to generate new work because your imagination is so tangled in work that is underway, self-publishing a chapbook of the project can help free you from it as the publishing acts as a sort of release or setting free, physically manifesting the project in a book form.

And Sharon shared what she called her top ten secrets for poets looking to publish a chapbook, a very common sense guide that echoes lessons I've learned over the years from submitting to chapbook contests.  I won't reprint all 10, but here are ones that struck me (paraphrased as best I can):

2. Everything begins with the title.  Think of the title of the chapbook as the first poem.

4. Chapbooks can be organized in a number of ways including: your greatest hits; around an idea; a sequence of connected poems (like a narrative or a gallery show); or a single long poem.

7. The second poem matters too: be sure to vary it and show your versatility by juxtaposing a second poem that is very different from the first poem.

10. The chapbook may not necessarily lead to a full length book, but it will lead to more readings and exposure.  Think of the chapbook as your calling card.

One area not covered (at least in our session) was the electronic chapbook.  Since chapbooks are handmade labors of love, it might seem sacrilege to consider the electronic version, but with the rise of POD services and the ability to embed audio with the e-book, it is a new vehicle for allowing your work to reach larger and larger audiences while retaining a print option.

I left feeling like I've done things right, as if I have conquered three of the main chapbook types: Pear Slip in definitely a group of poems organized around the exploration of a thing and idea; Narcissus Resists is a sonnet sequence; and Platos de Sal is a single long poem, my "short story in verse" as I affectionately call it.  I think I'm ready now to make the transition to the full-length manuscript world (and I have four contenders waiting in the wings...).

Poem in Hobble Creek Review

"In the Shadow City..." is included in the new issue (Issue 2, Volume 3) of Hobble Creek Review. It's a poem from my Impossible Gotham project. There are some great poets in this issue: Collin Kelly, Joe Milfold, Montgomery Maxton, Nanette Rayman Rivera and many others. Kudos to Justin Evans for putting such a fine issue together.

Click HERE to read.  Enjoy.

Festival of the Chapbook

Back in February, Didi Menendez and Emma Trelles guest-blogged on The Best American Poetry site for a week.  It was the same week as AWP and I fear some of their posts may have gotten lost in the tumult.  As the festival of the chapbook gets underway here in NY in the coming days, I'd like to highlight their shout-out to the chapbook (and to thank them for including Narcissus Resists on their list).

Review of Platos de Sal by Grady Harp

The very generous Grady Harp has reviewed Platos de Sal.  Here are some excerpts:

Rarely has same sex love been so discreetly shared, or so erotically charged simply through the use of a few phrases or words.

In the form of a beautifully constructed poem Matthew Hittinger has related a story other writers would need a novel to define. This is a poet to watch carefully as his talent grows with every new work he writes.

Click HERE to read the rest!

Narcissus Resists and Pink Narcissus

Around the time Narcissus Resists was released poet Andrew Demcak wrote his five-part poem sequence Pink Narcissus in response to the 1971 James Bidgood film (which I also reference in Narcissus Resists).  Andrew was kind enough to dedicate his poem to me in celebration of the release of Narcissus Resists (very sweet Andrew, thank you!).

You can read Andrew's mini e-chap HERE.  (Yes, that's me on the cover, a painting courtesy of the very talented Didi Menendez who published both our projects).

Grady Harp was also kind enough to review Andrew's project:

Demcak has approached Hittinger's superb work much the way music composers pay homage to colleagues, e.g. Brahms' 'Variations on a Theme by Haydn', Rachmaninov's 'Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini', among others. In doing so he enriches our experience with Hittinger's work while continuing to prove his own important standing as a poet unafraid to explore shrouded psyches. An excellent accomplishment and an exciting poetic response to a current colleague! And it is stunningly set off by the art of Didi Menendez who also published this fine work. 

Click HERE to read the whole review.

Submission Call: "Queens of Poetry" Tribute Anthology

My friend Dustin Brookshire has launched a new project:

Queens of Poetry: A Tribute to Bosselaar, Duhamel, Laux, and Wier is an anthology under production by poet and editor Dustin Brookshire. Queens of Poetry is split into four sections– one for each poet. Each section will contain poems written by fans, a question & answer portion, and a poem or two from the “queen” of the section.

Head on over to the Queens of Poetry website HERE for submission information.