Time Is Running Out! & Other Thoughts

Pardon this commercial interruption, folks, but let’s face it—a big purpose behind this blog is to try & get The Spring Ghazals into as many people’s hands as possible. 

So, here’s the scoop—if you’re thinking of buying the book, what better time to do it than when you can purchase The Spring Ghazals for $10.20 instead of $12.00?  All you need to do is enter coupon code LEAF305 between now & 11:59 p.m. on November 15th when you checkout with The Spring Ghazals at Lulu.  Here’s the link for purchasing the book.

I do hope that you’ll consider buying the book.  It’s true that much of the content (tho not quite all) is scattered far & wide across the Robert Frost’s Banjo blog.  However, a series of poems posted in somewhat random order on a blog that includes posts on everything from recipes to musical instrument history to essays on women’s literature—well, they just don’t add up to a book of poetry. 

& The Spring Ghazals is very much a book.  The ordering of the poems—I believe—really informs the book’s themes.  Even the “front matter” is important to understanding what the book is about.  None of these things can be reproduced on a blog in the same way that they can be reproduced in a book.

Remember when people talked about the death of vinyl records?  Sometimes it occurs to me that the “fate” of books may turn out ultimately to be much the same.  Right now, vinyl lps are often sold as a premium item by artists such as Amanda Palmer who are really using the new digital industries to take control of their art, independent of the corporate recording industry.  Poetry publishing of course is much different than the music business—even for corporate publishing houses, poetry books are at best loss leaders.  In some ways, the proliferation of poetry blogs may in fact have literally “devalued” books—after all, if the content is free—even if the form it’s delivered in may not be as satisfying—why pay? 

I hope that’s not the majority rationale, I really do.  I believe The Spring Ghazals is in its own, no doubt small way, a beautiful thing.  It is a beautiful thing because of the poetry it contains—which can be found for free—but it’s also a beautiful thing because of the way it brings the poems together.  That’s the “premium” content.

From time to time, I will post poems from the book on this blog so interested potential readers can get a “taste.”  I don’t foresee making the content freely available all in one place in book order, however.

So, once again, hope you take advantage of this offer from Lulu in the next few days.  & next time—within the next couple of days—I’ll return to non-commercial programming!