Poetry Self-Publication Project

For English class, we were challenged to "self-publish" our own original poetry by putting it out in the world in the most creative ways we could come up with. This wasn't easy, as previous years had already taken most of the cool ideas. The following video is of myself documenting my self-publication process. 

Some of the ways I self-published (if it wasn't clear in the video) were:

• printing out 35 sheets of card stock paper at Staples and cutting them into 100+ individual bookmark-sized copies
• leaving copies in the pamphlet holders in buses/in map holders in Granville Island
• sharing and discussing it with friends 
• posting it on bus stops/benches/bulletin boards/signs/poles in UBC, Kits, Granville Island, and by Canada Place downtown
• giving copies to store owners (Banyan Books and Signed Sealed Delivered Stationery on W4th) to leave for customers
• hiding copies inside of classic literature books in public libraries
• putting copies in the baskets of locked bikes
• posting it on an online forum and receiving feedback (https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/37jq89/fishermans_tale/)
• submitting it to a poetry contest (TeenInk)

I tried to vary the methods in which I self published with keeping a few factors in mind. I tried to leave it in places where many demographics could access it (such as in touristy areas such as Canada Place and Granville Island and busier commercial areas such as W4th Ave), in thoughtful locations where people would be interested and willing to read it (in a book/stationery store, in a library), and in places where people wouldn't generally expect to see poetry (on the bus, in their bicycle basket). In addition, I shared it in ways where I could receive feedback from readers (on Reddit, and by sharing it with friends), and on sites that were meant for the self-publication of poetry (TeenInk contest and Reddit Original Content forum). By posting it online and leaving it in books at a library, it gives my self-publication more of a lasting affect. Even after the poems come down off of the signs and bulletins, people will still be able to find it online, and will be able to stumble across it in a library book for years to come.

Poem: "Fisherman's Tale" (Original Poem) *See previous post*
Music: "Thunder" and "Patient Love" by Passenger

Fisherman's Tale (Original Poem)

we come from a long line of fisherman
generations and generations before

we wake in the angry dawn
emerging from humble cabins
like periwinkles caught in the tide

we wake as the first hazy evidence
of time moving forward

we are a wharf with no ships
just a makeshift rod and a rusty reel

we surrender to the emerald sea
jeweled with celestial constilations
of seastars clinging to rock but

we challenge the sky
that burns tentatively orange
between indigo and stone white

we cast to whip the wind
to reprimand the temperamental storms
to leave scars that fade into soft thin clouds

we cast to offer our gentlest favour
to the deep churning current

we pray for the gracious alms
to fill our mended nets
with merciful marlin and kingfish
a courtly school of herring

we reel in heartstrings lost at sea
generations and generations before
torn away by the damned winds
claimed by the ocean
ready to be hoisted ashore