Community Poetry Project

Purpose: To get poetry out to people who might not ordinarily be exposed in different ways. In short, to shove poetry in faces - but in a friendly way (quoting the great Kevlar Mc"Fear"son).

Project: Creating "appetizer" cards to entice readers to learn more about poetry. Just a nibble, a taste, to leave them wanting more.

Synopsis: So, it might not be the most original idea, but I pulled together 30 cards, painted a picture on the front (so people wouldn't think it was garbage and throw it out) and sticker a few lines of poetry on the back with a link so they can read more. My intention is to place the cards inside of library books - those that poetry people wouldn't read (like mechanical textbooks, science books, biographies, etc.).

Photos of project putting-togetherness:

stickers of poem-ness!

gotta have some india ink

fun paintings to capture attention (yes, i'm no artist)

dear blogger, why don't you let me rotate photos?

finished product

lookit all those great poem-y cards!

Delivery: Sneaking into the library like a ninja with squeaky shoes, I crept up to the Vernon Okanagan Library branch's second floor and wafted into the non-fiction sections. My first target: Biographies! Here I met an interesting challenge - avoiding artsy-type biographicals, as presumably these people have had some exposure to poetry.

Funny story - I was so intent on getting this project completed successfully that I didn't notice that the bathroom I used on the way out had urinals ; )

My first target:

"AHHHHrnold says, read this poem, fool!" - Wait, that's Mr. T.

Good 'ole Arnold. Next I thought "who else probably isn't expose to a lot of poetry?" Answer - sports people! Probably a bit of stereotype, but alas:

Ahh, nothing goes together like poetry and baseball

Nearby I located another source of poetential new poetry fanatics, anime readers! Hop out of your crazy righty-lefty reading books and come check out some Emily Dickenson!

hi-ya!

My quest continued...books on knitting, books on pets, my card pile dwindiling by the minute as I kept an eagle eye out for crafy librarians who could sabatoge my plan.

My final stealthy submission:

Cancer and...flourine? I might have tried to
match the poems to the text a bit better...

Maybe a bit macabre, but I thought if anyone needs a bit of distraction, it's probably people with cancer, right?

GO POETRY!

Blert, Blort, Blabbart

I found Jordan Scott's Blert half fascinating, half...hem. I get that it's an exploration of the sounds that Jordan may have difficulty with in spoken language, but is that an excuse to cram words where they don't belong?

Example, p36:

Broca's
camel clutch
grapple thalamus flux
box tonsils fresh black box
tongue scatter suckle polygon
syllable collar pop
mullet split end
leg lock glottal
lip off

What in the hell? What is a camel clutch? A syllable collar pop? Who the hell knows!

Here's one I found interesting and felt I could get behind (p32)

I take the spoon out of my mouth. Open wide. Wait for trill. Open wide. Will not mumble, will not slur, will not dread the word, will not chew gum, or put gobstoppers, lollipops or toffee in my mouth before each vocal tilt flirts cuckoo. If you brace a megaphone to my throat, you will hear a tiddlywink blink, a lark rustle in the ripe corn, and my esophagus blunderbuss - exhaust in your glossary.

I guess my hang up is that I like things to make sense, I have trouble when things intentionally do not make sense - but that doesn't mean it's not good.

P.S. The cover is cool ass.