Voting on the Title of a Mail Poetry Call

[gurdonark]

Today I'd like to "kick off" the first step in designing my Mail Poetry call, but I need some help from my readers. What is "Mail Poetry", you ask? Stated simply, "Mail Poetry" is a form of mail art. Mail art is too big a concept for one little voice like me to set out the definitive definition. Stated too simply, it is art exchanged through the mail, either one to one or in response to "mail art calls". The concept goes much further than that. For most of us who do it, mail art is an effort to "go around" the traditional ways in which art and culture are shared in our society. Mail art is not about galleries, making money, or making judgments about others. For many of us, and especially for me, mail art is not about talent, but instead about the idea and the earnest effort. I believe that all personal expression in this mode seeks what I pretentiously capitalize and call "The Experience" or the Moment, that point of aesthetic departure from the land of mundane triumphs and despairs into the land of fascinating, and yet sometimes transforming or devastating, daydreams.

I have participated in a goodish number of mail art calls, but I have never run a mail art call. Meanwhile, my first choice for personal expression is usually poetry. Why poetry?, one might ask (particularly one who has read my poems). For me, poetry exemplifies so much of the opportunity to achieve interpersonal connection, without the baggage of a marketplace or a coherent aesthetic establishment against which to rebel. Poetry doesn't sell,and nobody agrees on what is truly good (though we sometimes agree on what is truly awful). Certainly, not all poetry is "created equally", but I've found that I've enjoyed most of all in a mail art vein those poetry exchanges I've done with others. I love the idea of putting one's heart into a poem without any thought of publication, money (which is good, because nobody makes any), academic approval or the other hallmarks of "art as commodity".

marstokyo suggested some time ago that I sponsor a Mail Poetry call. I thought this a fantastic idea. I am all about bad poetry, shared effusively, both as reader and as poet. In Mail Poetry, one solicits the individual contribution of the individual artist, in the form of a poem. No restrictions will be placed on the poem, other than on perhaps paper size. There will be no "judging", no prizes, no return of submissions, no recognition in any "big" way. In some way, I will get these poems "out", but how I do it will depend on the quantity of response. In every event, there will be some public "Moment", whether it is a public reading, a booklet, or some other mode, and in every event, each person will receive documentation of his or her contribution in the project.

Mail art calls usually have a "theme". Some recent ones I've seen use a single word or phrase, like "Fear", "Chess", "Invoking World Peace". These are probably the easiest, but I have in mind something slightly, but not materially, quirkier. The problem leading to this poll is that sometimes in life I have a flash of inspiration, as if God has defined the Way of the gurdonark. This time, though, I need to choose my Mail Poetry Call theme, and I have so many stray ribbons of ideas.

Hence, I call upon the wisest people I know to help me out.

[Poll #113320]

Thank you all for your help. I'll choose the "winner" based on this poll (whether the democratic result, or a quirky comment in favor of one or the other), and then begin promoting my call. Of course, I'll post the call here as well, as I'd love it if any of you wish to join in.

Comments

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

mailopotry -----practitioners being called mailopotrists

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Malopoets, and it has a nice cross-cultural pun as well!

Re:

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

don't forget the *i* in Mail. :-)

[thiscafe.livejournal.com]

They are all truly wonderful. All would be fun to write in.
We chose Infinite Space/Tiny Apartment because of the concept that small creates large and opens the window to infinite space, so then we could write about anything! And since we write intuitively, it would give us the greatest freedom on the greatest number of occasions!
Cheers! :-)

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

My thinking exactly. The topic as chosen lends itself to so many things. I would write intuitively, too, if only I had intuition.

Oh, may I ask a favor? You are in the "next wave" of book mailouts, but I left your address at my work e mail filing cabinet. Could you e mail it to me again, as I'd like to put it in tomorrow's mail? Thanks!

[nacowafer.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I can write on any of those...and I haven't a clue about poetry. But I may just try...

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I hope so. You are so about poetry, much more than I am. In fact, I have proof, which has been laying in a directory, waiting to be formatted.

The one which seems to be the winner is actually the easiest one, IMHO, because the theme is so broad it lends itself to so many approaches.

By now, I'm kind of rooting for "leafy sea dragons", because leafy sea dragons look really cool, but it's all good.

Besides, I know you can write a better poem than I can make a book! :).

Thanks for commenting, and voting.

i used to live in a two room apartment / strangers knocking on my walls....

[espvivisection.livejournal.com]

Should "tiny apartment" be chosen, as it appears it will, i'll be happy to participate.

Re: i used to live in a two room apartment / strangers knocking on my walls....

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

That's great! I love to read your writing.

One for the sea dragons

[microbie.livejournal.com]

The National Aquarium in Baltimore has a wonderful seahorse exhibit right now, which included two or three different species of sea dragons. They were marvelous; I'd never seen them before.