Earlier this year, I posted that I’d posted 500 poems on this blog in 2010, which was an arbitrary amount I’d chosen even earlier in the year when it became clear that I was on a record pace for posting.
Since then, I’ve added another 100 poems, bringing the 2010 total to 600. An equally arbitrary number, but one I’m proud of. (For comparison’s sake — 2009 saw, very roughly, about 360-370 new poems posted on the blog.)
I’ve talked elsewhere on the site about why I post everything here — might be worth saying it again.
The Dark Matter blog is essentially an experiment in looking at an entire body of Work — the good, the bad, the mediocre, the false starts and good tries as well as the “successful poems” — as being, ultimately, more important than any one poem. It’s an effort to see the trains of thought, the style shifts, and the themes as being all One Endeavor, one giant monster of artistic output.
Some have criticized it as being silly — that it limits, for instance, where I might submit poems for publication; that it keeps people from buying merchandise when they can get it all for free; that it doesn’t give the public only the best work I can do.
I just want to reiterate that I’ve carefully considered all that. Certainly, there are some journals that won’t take my work because it appeared here first. But over time, there’s a growing number of journals both in print and on the Web which do NOT consider an effort such as this to be a problem. I think that trend will continue and I tend to only support those journals that work this way, and will only submit to them.
In addition, I think of publication elsewhere as just another aspect of the Work as a whole. It’s not my be-all and end-all. First and foremost, I want the Work to be available; there are various ways to do that. Creating and publishing a manuscript — seeing a book as another art product built from the larger Work — is another. I don’t see them as mutually exclusive.
As an old punk, I don’t need the validation of an artistic establishment to feel comfortable with my efforts. I see this blog as a manifestation of a DIY spirit I cherish so much that I’ve got the letters “DIY” tattooed on my chest above my heart. People will find the poems and like them or not; I made sure they were out there, the good, the bad, and the ugly. That’s my job.
At any rate, I’ll likely move at a much slower pace here than in 2010. I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, both personally and professionally, and those will now move to center stage for a period of time.
I thank you for reading here, and please keep at it — there will be more of the Work posted here in 2011, if not quite so much as in the past year. Will keep you posted as I go forward on other projects too, especially as they relate to the new Duende Project CD that will be released on Jan. 9th. There will be gigs and public performances, new publications, and more.
Happy New Year to you all. May the future bring you what you most desire.
Tony
