Txt pomez?! Why oh why?

(317) 426-POEM

Hi. My name is Chris, and I'm working with writer and editor friends on this--a text message lit journal. This may disgust you as a reader and a thinker. Enough dumbing down of literature, you may think, and frankly, in this project's nascent stages, I thought the same thing, and pondered the inevitable critical questions: Wouldn't reducing poems to 140 characters be a pity, and not necessarily pithy? Wouldn't such an endeavor serve to further shorten contemporary attention spans, thus adding another layer of dust to the work of Dante, Milton and Pope? And, furthermore, wouldn't such an endeavor eventually work to destroy its own art form?

But I rejiggered things, confounded myself, and roiled. Could it be possible that all these people I see wandering around lower Manhattan, nose pointed to their cell, are engaging with text in a very meaningful and accessible way? Wouldn't it be a shame if this addictive textual intercourse were not peppered by well-wrought language? And wouldn't it be something if such patches of verse referred the reader back to the entire garment?

With this hope, we will launch the first issue of Cellpoems on September 15. Until then, we are looking for your best short works of verse and criticism, as well as your feedback.

In the future

While Cellpoems will be distributed via text message, we will publish a new "issue" of the journal four times a year, here at www.cellpoems.org. The opening issue will be of general interest, with the following issues to focus on topics as specific as sneakers, specific poets, collaged versions of canonical or well-known works, and as general as travel, fear, and sex.

So, for now, please submit your poetry and criticism (of books, films, or even live performances) via this website or via text message at (317) 426-POEM.

Thanks for stopping by. We'll regularly update this blog with posts that ideally more resemble essays than announcements.