If you came by the Rumpus table at the AWP convention in Chicago last week you might have seen me or my partner/book designer Amy Letter demonstrating this anthology.
Almost three years ago, we published our first poem at The Rumpus, Elizabeth Bradfield’s “In Praise of Entropy.” It was the first entry in our now yearly National Poetry Month poem-a-day project.
About six months ago, I started collecting these poems together (and getting permission from their authors) in order to make an e-book anthology of the work we’ve showcased on The Rumpus, and here it is: The Rumpus Original Poetry Anthology. It showcases work from 100 poets, both their poems and, when available, embedded audio and video.
Video in particular, I think, will be a large part of the future of poetry in e-books, whether it’s video of the poet performing as in Oscar Bermeo’s “Ode to Government Cheese” or video which tells its own story alongside the poem as in John Gallaher’s “And Then At the Boat Show” or video that itself is the poem, as in Amy Letter’s “Universal Translator.”
This anthology covers the period from April 2009 through early May 2011, and I hope that, as you read the anthology (and listen to the audio and watch the video), you come away with a feel for poetry as you’ll find it at The Rumpus. I solicit directly from poets, and I do that because when I started as poetry editor here, I worried that if I read blindly, I would wind up with a poetry section that sounded and looked like me. I’m a very narrow slice of the poetic pie. So I asked for poems from people with ten books and from people waiting to publish their first, from those whose work felt familiar to me and from those writing in ways I’d never ten before. The result is a collection that reflects, in part, the diversity of voices and styles in contemporary poetry.
It’s available at the iTunes Bookstore for $9.99. It’s only available for iPad at present, but as more ebook formats make themselves as video friendly as we need, we’ll offer it in those formats as well.
This project couldn’t have happened without the 100 poets who allowed us to use their work, without the wonderful cover image provided by Dolores Coe, and without the book design skills of Amy Letter. Enjoy!
3 responses
Say its i-pad only (like poem flow) but hey, that’s what most creative people use. Unless your a broke creative person and you have a $79 Kyros Android tablet. Maybe next time.
Boo. Why not a text only ebook for the Kindle and Nook? I hate reading on the ipad. It’s not a pleasant experience at all. When’s the last time you read a novel on your laptop? Right, never. Lit screens cause eyestrain to the point it interferes with reading comprehension. That’s a scientifically proven fact.
This is like McSweeney’s refusing to release their books to e-ink readers. I almost always prefer actual books, but for beasts like “The Instructions” or “Infinite Jest”, the Kindle is a wrist saver. Light, portable and easy on the eyes.
Hi, this is Amy the book designer. I hope you’ll hold your “boos,” at least for the moment. 🙂 There will be other versions of the book for other formats. However, this book is fully interactive, very animated, in addition to having the sweet media features. That’s not something that other platforms support just yet.
In other words, the book in its full awesomeness won’t play on a Kindle, and that’s not our doing, that’s Amazon’s doing. (Same deal with other devices.)
We are going to do text-only versions so that the collection will be available to everyone. It will happen. Look for that!
However, if you want something that dances and does amazing things that plain paper books can’t do — and really, what’s the point of an ebook if it’s not making good use of the “e”? — then the iPad is the place to be right now.
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