Poetry in Print — April 2012

Poetry month is almost over, and I’ve somehow managed to finish my compilation of poetry by Mormons in print at the last moment. This is the fifth listing I’ve prepared, and once again I think I’ve got most Mormon poets. But, undoubtedly, there will be others that I’ve missed. Please let me know who I’ve missed.

Last year Tyler called my attention to several poets I’d missed, mainly because I’d skipped web pages where previously published books were available to read (principally in Signature Books’ Online Library). After a lot of thought about including these items, I’ve decided to add them to the list.

But I must admit that I still have reservations. While I can’t justify it, I want to draw the line at what readers can download and put on their own devices–something that web pages aren’t quite designed to do (although they certainly can do it). Nor can I justify it given that the main provider of the books in question, Signature Books, takes advantage of authors, and by posting books to its online library instead of returning the rights to the authors, could be depriving them of the opportunity to make additional money from their work. But, that doesn’t mean that someone else couldn’t also post books on web pages and be much more friendly to authors.

The remaining question I have about this is about when books do go out-of-print. I realize that current technologies make it technically not necessary for books to go out-of-print, but from the author’s perspective, you do want the rights returned if the publisher isn’t putting any effort into promoting the title. If the book doesn’t have to go out-of-print ever, how large will this list grow? And if an author’s work never goes out-of-print, then will he ever get the rights to his work back? And if these titles are just being maintained so that the publisher can keep the rights, do we really want to keep them on a list like this, even if they are technically “in print?” I await your comments on this.

Like last year, I’ve separated out the titles that were published since the last compilation. I’ve also added an asterisk (*) before titles that I’ve discovered or was told about this year, but that weren’t published this past year.

2011 was another good year for Mormon poetry, with 15 new titles, one more than last year. Eleven of those were self-published, defined as the publisher listed as either one of the author service providers (authorhouse, Lulu, xlibris, etc.) or a publisher name that is the same as the author’s. In contrast, just 12 of the previously available titles were self-published. Of course, at least some of the others were also self-published, but the author used a publisher name that wasn’t the same as his own name.

As in previous years I tried to be thorough. I’ve compared the authors on this list to those in appearing in Dialogue, Irreantum, Tyler Chadwick’s Fire in the Pasture anthology, and last year’s posts and comments about poetry here on A Motley Vision. Of course, it is possible, if not likely, that I have missed something. Please let me know.

Poetry in Print:

8 thoughts on “Poetry in Print — April 2012”

Tyler says:

05/01/2012 at 9:52 am

This is a great compilation, Kent! There are several names here I wasn’t aware of and will have to add to my growing reading list.

One thought: Since you’ve included Deja Earley’s dissertation, here’s a link to Kristen Eliason’s MFA thesis, “Treatise on Drowning.”

Tyler says:

05/01/2012 at 10:03 am

Just noticed this one isn’t on your list:

Douglas L. Talley, Adam’s Dream: Poems for a Latter Day

Kent Larsen says:

05/01/2012 at 10:23 am

Thanks, Tyler.

I didn’t mention it above, but I decided to exclude dissertations and thesis until they are actually published. In the case of Deja Earley’s dissertation, UMI has “published” it and made it available through the online sellers like Amazon.com. In Kristen Eliason’s case, that doesn’t appear to be true — I don’t want to include things in library digital collections unless they were otherwise published because these collections are more like library holdings and not publications. The same is true for items that appear in UMI’s dissertation database, which includes items going back to the 1800s.

I’m surprised I missed the Talley item, to be honest, since I looked for every author who appeared in your anthology. I did search under “Doug Talley” but this didn’t appear. Using the full name it does come up. Sigh.

Kent Larsen says:

05/01/2012 at 8:47 pm

For those on Goodreads, I’ve added a Mormon Poetry List:

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/19518.Mormon_Poetry

Inari says:

05/02/2012 at 1:48 am

Your comments on the beginning about the rights going back to the author etc… reminded me of this article I read last week about book piracy. Not exactly the same matter, but interesting nonetheless.
http://www.thedominoproject.com/2012/04/piracy-you-wish.html

Kent Larsen says:

05/02/2012 at 4:58 am

Inari, Godin has obviously not looked much at the book sharing websites overseas, nor is he addressing the needs of the entire market. While the general idea is good enough, on the margins its a bit weak. Perhaps I’ll take that question on in another post. Lets not discuss it on this one, however.

Kristen Eliason says:

11/26/2012 at 11:59 pm

I’m not sure what your policy is re: chapbooks, but I do have one that was published in January 2012 by Dancing Girl Press. If you are interested, you can check it out here: http://dulcetshop.ecrater.com/p/13867795/yours-kristen-eliason. Thanks for this excellent list of writers.

Kent Larsen says:

11/27/2012 at 4:51 am

Kristen, my policy is to include chapbooks, as long as they meet the other criteria.

I will include your chapbook in future lists.