i don't know what the word *permanance* means in reference to poetry & publishing. there are radically diverse views regarding whether diy self-publishing is legit form of publishing, or must publishing be under the aegis of an editor, a board even, which is all funded by a grant.
reading the thoughts of the talented poet
nicholas manning re: publishing poems on blogs counts as the real deal or not makes me want to air my own 2 cents worth. manning is concerned with the permanence - if i understand him correctly - of writing. i guess we all are, since surely each one of us secretly thinks that we might be a cesar vallejo or gerard manly hopkins toiling in relative obscurity only to be rediscovered soon after our deaths and celebrated as the geniuses we are.
i have my doubts about the permanence of anything. that does not mean to imply that i also in my best and worst moments like to think of myself as a rimbaud laboring in obscurity until. . .well, a discovery of my work. but quite honestly i don't give a shit about it. to me writing is part of living, and perhaps as ephemeral as the passing day. why bother to publish at all is the question, since it is the writing that counts. i'll answer that rhetorical question with a very concrete answer: because i love to read. i have many, many, many, many favorite poets. and i want to read everything they got.
which is why i like blogs, why i encourage poet friends who don't have blogs to start one. i'm the type of reader who wants to read yr grocery lists. i get frustrated by the poets i have crushes on who don't publish all the time. whether their poems will mean something to a future reader is hardly a matter, since i and the poet i'm reading will be dead. what we do now is what matters.
i do not advocate a sort of pop fleetingness in style, subject and what-not. i'm as influenced by trends as each one of us. i do mean write with the highest abilities we got. this is our only life so do yr fucking best. but permanence of writing, like permanence of living, of my life, is illusory. i won't be here for ever. neither will these words. neither will you.
the punk in me knows that poetry is not a commodity. it might be a fetish, even a religion, but not a saleable item. therefore, do it yrself. i'm beginning to publish more and more poems on this blog. i'll continue to do so. as a poet i admire and respect said some time ago, no one will recognize yr genius, so get busy and do it yrself.
poetry is a gift. at least for me it is. so far, i've given away far more copies of my chaps than i've ever sold. as long as i can afford to, i'll continue to give them away. i've learned from jim mccrary, the great lawrence, ks poet, that self-publishing is as legit as you can get. do for yrself, now.
another poet i greatly admire, tho he may chafe at my language, then again maybe not, is bill knott who has vowed to stop publishing books and is in the process of putting all of his poems on his
blog.
i'll end this ramble at knott's example.