Care to Join My Mission?

Just when I decided to delete my Poets & Writers subscription, they go and send me one of their best issues ever. In the September/October 2007 issue, they focus on independent presses. They also feature other avenues which lead to great authors who for whatever reason, cannot get published though their talent is equal (if not better) to the authors on The New York Times best seller list.

On Saturday night Johnny and I were reading. He devoured the newest Dune hardback and I was reading page 15 of Poets & Writers: an article about the Guerilla Poetics Project. I read it again and excitedly asked Johnny, "May I be an Operative?!" The deal is, for a mere $25 a year, an Operative receives broadsides every month - poems that are letterpress printed on a small card. They then hide the poems in books (the GPP provides a target list) within bookstores or libraries. An innocent bookish type stumbles upon a poem and if they so choose, they can sign up to be an Operative, too! Poetry, letterpress art, and supporting independents - what's not to love? I'll tell you what's even better: Operatives not only receive broadsides to distribute, they also receive a copy of each poem to keep for their very own.

The Guerilla Poetics Project accepted me. I'm now an official Operative, poised to hide poems in a bookstore near you. Well, near me. I browse bookstores all the time anyway, but now I'll be meandering with a mission. I plan to go all subversive on Katy Budget Books, Brazos Bookstore, Bookstop, Barnes & Noble, and our local library - just for starters. There are plenty of bookstores in Houston. I need to visit the library soon anyway to do research in preparation for an upcoming interview.

I've also been meaning to visit old friends at Half Price Books where I used to work. I think I'll hide a few poems there as well. It's too bad I wasn't an Operative during my employment. There were good times, yet oh so many boring shifts where I could have tucked letterpress poems into novels.