Welcome to Prime Time Poetry!
<-- ABC | NBC | CBS -->
What's black & white & now playing on small screens everywhere? The Prime Time Poetry issue!
But it's not as black & white as it might seem. Yes, the poems in the guide are roughly grouped into Expansive, Stand Up, and Ultratalk (as ABC, NBC, and CBS) with specials featuring Western, Performance & Slam, and even some surprises mixed in. But not so surprisingly, as we began to put the issue together we noticed considerable overlap, or, if I may -- gray areas. What unites them all, though, is this: They are all what we consider "prime time poetry," poems that can be understood, appreciated, and felt on a first read. Poetry that is, well, accessible.
This is not to say that we don't value difficulty in poetry. In recent years I personally have developed a taste for difficult work, precisely because there is so much puzzling out to do, relying on the reader to fill in & make leaps to decipher what is on the page.
But, sometimes I just want to read.
Sometimes I want a window into a room where I can make out the furniture. I want to look in and see chairs, see bodies, overhear conversations between lovers, between family members; I want a glimpse of something authentic, something I can relate to. I think this is what is meant by “accessible,” a term that has acquired a bad rap but that to me simply means work that doesn’t need a decoder ring and a cup of Ovaltine to figure out.
A little about Prime Time Poetry (swiped from Tom's Plumbline School post, the inspiration for this issue):
Remember when there were only three TV networks and all the shows with mass appeal came on at 7pm, 8pm, 9pm? That was called prime time. Does TV Guide still refer to that time slot as prime time? I don’t know. I think there are several strands of contemporary poetry that could fall under the umbrella term of prime time poetry, poems that are “written in the language actually used by men” (Wordsworth), poems that attempt to clearly address the day-to-day concerns of ordinary people, rather than disdaining poetry’s potential audience and being happy to write for a pocket audience, poems that are written for the whole family (David Kirby, for one, says he writes with an intelligent sixth-grader in mind).
Unlike past issues that explored more narrow regions, this issue is wide open, bringing together poets from all across the spectrum. This is in keeping with the original focus of Poemeleon, which is appropriate, considering we have arrived at our five-year anniversary! Yes, I can hardly believe that it has been five years since that conversation in my kitchen with my husband, who said, in essence, go for it.
In our original About Poemeleon statement I quote Forrest Gander from his excellent essay, Nymph Stick Insect: Observations on Poetry, Science and Creation:
"Like species, poems are not invented, but develop out of a kind of discourse, each poet tensed against another's poetics, in conversation."
All of us are in conversation, whether or not we are aware of it. This is what pushes us forward, as poetry continues to evolve.
So please, check out the issue, and feel free to channel surf at will. To get started you can follow the links at the top of the page or go directly to the table contents.
Also, as a last word, we are resuming our former publication schedule of June and December beginning with this issue. Check our Guidelines Page for our latest call for submissions.
With gratitude and appreciation --
Cati, Judy, Maureen, Ren, and with special thanks to Tom, who generously shared his concept for this issue and without whom we couldn't have pulled this off.