Evenin' (mornin', afternoon, whatever suits your time zone) all. Back again to speak out for the unsung artists here in dA: the poets.
Yep, I hear the eyes rolling again. It's okay, we're not here to mooch your coffee and woo your significant others away from you. Well, I can't speak for all of us, but hey! It's not like you were drinking that coffee anyway, right?
No, I'm here today to offer a thread of hope for all the struggling wordsmiths who are desperate to get their work some exposure.
As I've stated before here, it's damned hard for us poets to be taken seriously in a community of visual artists, especially with the prevailing attitude towards poets is, shall we say, a little less than sterling. Too many people see poets as the bastard children of the art world (itself occasionally viewed with a cocked eyebrow and smirk-driven derisive comment about “eccentrics” ), and that makes our jobs all the more difficult.
However, let me throw this one out there for free in defense of poetry. This month is pretty well known for one major holiday (no, not my daughter's birthday, although that parks in pretty close to the top spot): Valentine's Day. And who hasn't plunked down top dollar for a box of chocolates and a Hallmark card chock-full of those wonderfully sappy little poems that you just hope and pray your sweetie will get all squishy over and put out for you? I mean, really, who do you think WROTE those poems, eh? The Poem Fairy didn't just wave her wand and spontaneously generate a card for you to buy; Hallmark doesn't have a Random Rhyming Love-O-Mat at their disposal.
Well, actually, they might, I can't speak for them.
But those cards were written by an actual working poet (yes, I know, I used “working” and “ poet” together in the same sentence, it DOES happen) whose words have been used to convey a certain mood and emotion.
So, poets, despair not! We're all in the same boat here, so it's up to us all to make a name for ourselves, both here on dA and in the real world.
And it's with this thought in mind that I present the most wonderful thing in the world for us literary artisans: the poetry club.
Now, I'm sure the majority of poets here in this little community of ours are members of at least one club of like-minded lyricists. But, as new poets join dA on a dAily (couldn't resist that) basis, I'm sure they're scratching caffeine-filled heads, wondering what the best way to get their work displayed might be.
So, here's a brief guide for the fresh meat, FRESHMEN, members of our written community.
First up, we have . This is one of my personal favorites. It's a very active club, with weekly themes, contests, member advancements, a chat room, and some sweet, super-supportive people running the show. I highly recommend this club to the newly joined struggling poet.
Next up, we have . Another very active, widespread club here on dA, also with contests, chatrooms, an entire section devoted to helping you refine and perfect your craft, as well as promoting its members to the community at large. One could do much worse than checking these guys out.
Now we come to . This is a pretty active club which recently formed from another, which I'll get to in just a moment. These guys have great contests, poet collaborations, a library (well, they'll have a library soon, it's in the works ), and writing exercises, for those of us with a touch of the occasional bout of creative irregularity. Swing by and say hi, they don't bite.
Now, was originally found here, at I'm kinda fuzzy on why the changeup occurred, but it's now under new ownership, so, in the words of John Lennon, it feels just like starting over. Why not stop by and show some support for the new guys, and your work might just be the key to getting them off the ground.
Next, we come to the first club I joined way back when, . Now, the club is currently inactive, as the admin has been MIA for... well, quite a while now (, where are you?! Come home to us!), so I guess you could say it's on hiatus. However, I have been in contact with some of the other members, and they are interested in keeping it up, as am I, so if anyone might know the whereabouts of , aka Samira, tell her we still feel the love! Anyway, there were fun contests here, the poet-of-the-week competitions, and just a nice, relaxed atmosphere. I miss it!
And, lastly, we come to the newest face on the poetic block, . Yes, I know, this is a bit of totally shameless self-promotion, as this is the club I just started up a couple of weeks ago. As everything is still in the works (there's not even a catchy avatar yet, you'll notice), I don't wanna bite off more than I can chew, but some of the things I'd like to see happen for the Underground are an active chatroom, a way for members to help each other with editing and proofreading questions, eventually contests, possibly themes (although I haven't quite settled on how to go about that yet), weekly suggestions for DD's for the members, and (hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, God please help me out with this one) at the end of each year, I'd like to gather up the very best of the work submitted to the Underground throughout the preceding months and get an anthology published, with the proceeds going to charity. Hey, it's an idea, right? And where would we be without ideas?
Anyway, there you have it. A quick guide to the bigger (and some not so big) clubs here on dA for the poetry crowd. Just remember, as a poet, you've signed on to what has got to be one of the most thankless, unsung jobs (short of doing laundry and/or washing dishes) that there is going today. It takes a tough skin to weather the slings and arrows that are cast our way, but that doesn't mean you have to go it alone. We are the Poetry Community on deviantArt. We're going to be here for a long, long time. And there is strength in numbers.
And don't forget who wrote your Valentine's cards, either. We're watching, y'know.