Tuesday, April 25, 2006

What is this

I got an invite from the editor of In Our Words: A Generation Defining Itself to submit some poems for consideration in this anthology. I had gotten the same invite last year and, as a natural skeptic, decided not to pursue it. Is anyone familiar with this publication? Is it good? Not so good? It claims to have published 900 writers, which raises me brown eyebrows.

9 comments:

Rachel Mallino said...

Sarah,

I received the same email, and like yourself, was skeptical. I emailed the editor and asked if contributers receive a complimentary contributers copy of the publication and he said yes. For me, this makes it a little more legit than originally thought. Still, 900? I read some examples online - some good, more not so good. I see that Michi is up there, though. I'm on the fence about it. Maybe Michi will chime in.

- Rachel

michi said...

i've been published there a few times, so has arlene and a few other poets i know. what i like about the publication is that it is truly international, and there is a wide variety of writers and styles. i don't like all of the stuff in the books, of course, but there are some poems well worth reading, some writing that makes touches me. m

michi said...

oh btw call this an omen - the word verification is wmsxrSUB! :)

Carl Bryant said...

I bet our lives would be much simpler, if we only learned to listen to the tea leaves of the word verification script.

Like Rae and Michi said - if you get a free copy (and the title isn't something like "poets I hate") - go for it.

gityom,
carl

michi said...

*LOL* what do we make of duuzwah then?
in austrian german that would be du zwei, so sarah, send them something, and they'll publish two of your poems! ;)

m

Pris said...

I know...I'm always skeptical, too. Sounds as if you got some feedback that this one may be on the up and up, though. I've been in a few anthologies done by people I know or know of, but have the same natural skepticism of one that writes out of the blue and visions of poetry.com dance in my head:-)

SarahJane said...

i don't know.
Michi - i really do admire your poem there, which is one the editor has made available on the website, but there is a lot of choppy stuff, too. getting published for the heck of it isn't that important. You're right that not having to pay for a book means it's on the up-and-up, but i'm going to sit this one out methinks.

Gene Justice said...

Sarah,

If you can accept the fact that the anth is a little more concerned with 'representing' a particular generation than it is with representing poetic excellence, then it's fine. And you do get a contributor's copy. There's even some funky royalty agreement that means you'll get part of the profits should it pull a profit. Course, You'll be sharing it with about 180 other writers, so even if it does come through, your take is likely to be small.

I'm in the latest one, as is Arlene Ang, Louis Bourgeois (editor of Vox), Tara Betts, Eva Salzman, Adriana DiGennaro and a number of other familiar faces. There are, yes, any number of pieces in the anth that I could live without being in the company of, and there are some design decisions I would have handled differently, but there are also several solid pieces throughout, and generally, I'm happy to have placed a piece there. The main thing, at least for me, is to treat the pub more as having participated in a documentary than having broken through to a premium venue in terms of really good poetry. That's got value too, but it's different value than you may be looking for.

Some honest thoughts, from a past contributor.

(and if it's any help, the word verification oracle says irrrufwp. Acronym for I really really really understand fussiness w/regards to poetry? Okay, need to work on that a bit...)

SarahJane said...

hey thanks, gene, for the input.
rae, you in?

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