Last night on a bus ride home from a movie screening, I was deeply absorbed in a newspaper story about JT LeRoy <http://www.jtleroy.com/> when I heard a man's voice saying, "Miss? Miss?" I finally looked up and he said, "Do you read poetry?" I said, "Yes, occasionally..." wondering where this was headed. He then started digging in his backpack, took out a portfolio and handed me two poems typed on rather nice paper. His only explanation was, "I like to hand them out to people who read so they will get out." Okay, here is the beginning of one:
When I awake it's not always with the zest and freshness of Autumn's fruits
Though it comes with a gradual ease of memories of other Blessed pusuits
It is tited "Ayo's Anthem" and credited to Jay Scott Moss.
I wanted to relate this story as an example of someone I really admire. It took real guts for him to do what he did and put his work out there like that. Sometimes I think Guerilla Marketing <http://www.gmarketing.com/> of this kind is the only real way left to connect with your audience. We are so inundated with media messages that everything starts to fade into the background as just so much noise.
Would I have the guts to get on the subway and approach perfect strangers to sell my magazine? "Pssst, sir? Are you a gardener?" I haven't reached that level of confidence or desperation yet. But it is in the back of my mind.
Washington Gardener Magazine is the award-winning publication for Mid-Atlantic USA gardeners by local gardeners.
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I really admire the guy you met for doing what it did. I am also a poet and I was actually thinking of doing a similar thing to get my work out to the masses. Good luck to him I hope it does him well!
ReplyDeleteMichelle - thanks so much for leaving a comment on my blog regarding the "Guerilla Marketing" street poet - am enjoying reading your poems now at http://www.murmursofanobody.co.uk/. I think the web is great way to publish your work or to put out any artwork to find its audience.
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