![[P]](http://onepoetry.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/untitled1.jpg "NewPoetry.ca")
I’m sick of borders. I’m sick of silos. Bunkers, too. Don’t even get me started on garrisons. I’m sick of the various poetries and poets I read and admire fighting and carping about each other instead of collaborating constructively (however that is interpreted between artists) to generate new poetic possibilities. I’m sick of judgments and systems of criticism that involve aesthetic preference over intellectual accomplishment, that reward attendance and loyalty over risk and depth, that spend more time tromping on the art and experiments of others than perfecting their own. I’m sick of lack of space for difference, or at least for difference within the same pages.
So, here’s what I propose: one site, many poetries. A magazine that proposes themed issues, then builds them by inviting poets and performers from all genres and forms to interpret as they will.
The web is the first medium that I know of that can accommodate most, if not all, of the forms currently out there. Through text, image, audio, video, and multimedia, as well as whatever new technologies are to come, NewPoetry.ca will publish the best of everything we can find: lyrical, visual, dub, sound, narrative, formal, hip-hop, surreal, automatic, recitation, aural, slam, flarf, algorithmic generations… and whatever is to come!
We’ll do this by bringing in key representatives from as many fields of production as we can, many of whom previously found themselves on opposite sides of the editorial pages. We’ll ask these people to bring us the best from their forms and styles for each issue. And we’ll see what comes.
People who have signed on to this idea include:
- Ken Babstock
- Elizabeth Bachinsky
- Derek Beaulieu
- Christian Bök
- Julie Bruck
- Mark Callanan
- Afua Cooper
- Dani Couture
- Steven Heighton
- Amanda Jernigan
- Anita Lahey
- Michael Lista
- Erin Moure
- Susan Musgrave
- Robert Priest
- a.rawlings
- Damian Rogers
- Stuart Ross
- Carmine Starnino
- Darren Wershler
- Rob Winger
Look for this list to grow! If you think as we do, you can be part too. Watch for our upcoming themes and funnel the best work you find our way; yours or that of others. Let’s see what we come up with together.
George Murray
Looking forward to this, George. Well done!
Yes, and yes.
Fabulous! Look forward to whatever may come next.
Love it! sign me up.
Yay! Yay!!
Sign me up.
This is a great idea! Very excited!
Such a great idea! I’m definitely interested in participating.
Sign me up!
Great, I think – but en anglais seulement?
Non! Erin Moure choisira les poèmes qui sont écrits en français.
Gilles, il y aura des oeuvres et des projets en français, bien sûr!
Woohoo, des textes en français !
Right on. Count me in.
One site, many poetries – yes!
Long overdue. The contending schools should build collegiality and mutual respect. Culture grows as participation grows.
I’m in!
Sounds cool. I’d love to contribute.
sounds interesting and am interested
Looking forward to this. Love to be part of it.
YES PLEASE! WILL FORARD TO LIKE-MINDED POETS
Written in enthusiastic haste-correct error, forward
Excellent idea!
Couldn’t agree more, George — silos are for corn or missiles, not poets.
Sign me up. Saying what you are for rather than what you are against makes sense to me.
The etheatre has as many possibilities as the mind.
D
cool!
I’m interested in being a part of this, and reading what others contribute.
So excited to see you up and running. I’m sure this place will offer a fantastic forum for poets and readers alike. Here’s to you!
Bravo, George!
Good plan. I’ll contribute too if you want more voices still.
George,
A computer virus got my address book recently, so I’ve lost your address. Doubtless I could find it on the internet if I knew how. But don’t. So send me an email, will you, so I can write.
Al
George, I read “Look for this list to grow!” as “Look for this list to growl!” Likely both, yes?
I really hope so!
I’m on board and signing up
A focus of theme plus breadth of response.
Perfect. Poetry’s best possibilities.
sounds like a marvelous idea to me!
Never been in a silo or a bunker — so I’m all for it.
This all sounds good.