Poetry, community and the small press

Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

I am not an academic poet. I am not a part of a faculty of a major university, nor on the board of a     prestigious literary organization. I always have been a part of that great eclectic sea of the small press. In fact my activities have mostly been outside of the gated communities of the academy. I started the Ibbetson Street Press with my wife Dianne Robitaille and my good friend Richard Wilhelm in 1998. For years I had been published in small presses, and I came to realize without a vibrant small press community talented poets would not see the light of day. A student of literary history will realize that many of our great poets from Whitman to Frost to Ginsberg got their start in little magazines and small presses.

In the Boston area we have 100 colleges and universities in residence and in Somerville, my hometown, there are more writers’ per-capita than on the isle of Manhattan. Many writers in the area have told me how cliquish and exclusive they feel the community can be here and that there were few outlets for their work.

So Richard, Dianne and I decided to start a small literary magazine the “Ibbetson Street Press” that eventually morphed into Ibbetson Street, named after 33 Ibbetson Street in Somerville where I lived for 7 years, before moving down the block to 25 School Street in 2001.

We started slowly, with just a few local poets in our first editions. But over the years the production values improved and we started to get submissions nationally and internationally. The Press has been included in the highly selective “Index of Periodical Verse.” We have published such accomplished poets as the late Sarah Hannah, Danielle Legros Georges, Diana Der Hovanessian, Jared Smith, Robert K. Johnson, and Afaa Michael Weaver, whose face graced the cover of a recent “Poets and Writers” magazine.

As we got more confident we started publishing poetry collections, and now have a list of over 40 books and chapbooks. One of the first books we published under our imprint “Singing Bone” was “City of Poets: 18 Boston Voices.” We also have published books by Israeli poet Helen Bar Lev and John Michael Simon, members of the “Voices Israel” organization.

To increase the sense of community, about 3 years ago Harris Gardner (a well-known poet and poetry activist in Boston) and I started a writers’ group “Breaking Bagels with the Bards.” It started in the basement of a local bagel shop in Harvard Square and eventually moved on a rotating basis to two Au Bon Cafes in Somerville and Cambridge Every Saturday we have up to 25 poets and writers of all stripes chatting, networking, and making new friends.

And even more publishing opportunities have opened for our folks. One of our members, Steve Glines, started the Wilderness House Literary Retreat” in Littleton that featured such poets as: Robert Creeley, Lois Ames and Weaver. Later Glines founded the “Wilderness House Literary Review” http://whlreview.com. Many of our bards are on staff and many more have been published in the magazine.

Another member Gloria Mindock is a small press publisher. Her press the “Cervena Barva Press” has published chapbooks and poetry collections of many of our members as well as national and overseas poets. And of course the Ibbetson Street Press has tapped the talent pool for talented bards.

And since the internet now offers unique possibilities in writing and publishing I established the “Ibbetson Update” that has reviewed hundreds of books from the world of the small press. Many of our writers got their first experience in writing reviews and more than a few have gone one to more lucrative writing gigs. We have reviewed chapbooks, and books from major university press to mom and pop small presses. We treat every book be it perfect bound or saddle-stitched with the same respect. The book is a sacred object in our view. The “Update” has been been cited in an award presentation for the “Connecticut Book Award,” has been cited on many websites and resumes and has been praised by New England Pen, as well as award-winning small press poets to university professors.

I also host a TV show on our local TV station “Somerville Community Access TV.” Here I present to the community the rich mother lode of poets and writers we have in the Boston-area. Over the years I have interviewed local poets, well-published novelists, and sent many of these tapes to be archived at major university libraries. In fact at one point the curator of the Harvard Poetry Room expressed an interest in buying the tapes, but I donated them; knowing they would have a good home.

I have always believed that poets need to have space on the page as well as the stage. So I have hosted a number of poetry venues over the years. The longest one is the Newton Free Library Poetry Series. This has proved an important venue to introduce new and established poets into the community. I also have an open mic for “emerging talents” to strut their poetic stuff.

I am also the local arts/editor for our city newspaper The Somerville News. In that capacity I feature mostly local poets in my column Lyrical Somerville. But I had even greater ambitions for my grassroots efforts. Writer and Bagel Bard member Timothy Gager and myself started the Somerville News Writers Festival (with much help from the Norton and Tauro families) that has featured local writers and poets as well as nationally and internationally known heavyweights like Robert Pinsky, Robert Olen Butler, Franz Wright, Lan Samantha Chang, and many more.

What I hope I have achieved, along with the many folks who have helped me along the way, is a “community of poets.” We are open to everyone. Just make yourself known, and eventually you will be participating, reading, and may even be publishing.

I am not getting rich on this. In fact I lose money on my publishing efforts. But though I am poor in currency, my life is rich because I am immersed with what I love.

I encourage everyone to build a poetry community wherever you may reside you won’t regret it.

Comments

[Christine]

Doug,
You've written an excellent essay touting the good work of small presses. Thank you for sharing your story.

[Nasra]

I was so touched to read this. I come from Middle east, I have been always writing poetry in english and this pours more home into my world...

I could feel the spark, it is what lights the fire

[A letter from Nasra- in response]

Poetry, community and the small press

I was so touched reading your article on the above subject on The Somerville News. It had so much inspired me, and it reminds me a bit of where I have come from.. I’m an Afro Arab poet. I never thought one day I will publish, but then I found my self with first book Collective Thoughts, poetry and collective arts of children with cancer in my country Oman. I thought that it is hard even though I put the book as charity project to bring awareness on children with cancer. Then once again I saw myself with 2nd book Within Myself: the willpower to live beyond cancer. First time coming to face to face with women who are touched with breast cancer and creating a door for voices of Omani Arab women to tell their stories how they fought cancer. I sprinkled it with my own poetry and the book 100% was charity project for our only cancer association in Oman. Now I see myself once again on a challenge to bring Tanzanian women with breast cancer. Their true stories on how they are taking a journey with cancer and first project outside my country. I’m so clueless on how to publish a book on a international level but because of the type of project it opened up many doors for me as a poet. Your work in hospital is inspiration for me, I hope one day I can too just reach to be as half as poetry therapist because poetry for sure it did change my destiny.. Thank you for standing in the face of challenges for the sake of poetry .. Nasra Al Adawi http://braveface-thedaringstandagainstcancer.blogspot.com/