...Poetry Journal Swap...

just a quick question

could we include a couple poems of our own? or a couple written by friends?

Yes of course! I plan to include probably two of my own, and a couple by friends as well.

It should just be more of the real poets than yourself and friends. Charles Bukowski, Keats, Emily Dickenson. Beatnick poets, published poets that not many people know about. Poems that you discovered a long time ago and still love and remember.

how many pages should the journal have?

2 questions, can some lyrics be considered as poems? where can i find a moleskin notebook? thanks =)

It's really up to you how many pages the journal has. I would do at least 50. Typically, moleskine cahiers and the Rhodia notebooks have anywhere from 49 to 96 pages. It doesn't seem like much, but if you think about how many poems it could hold, it's rather a lot.

Lyrics could be considered poems. Some of the songwriters are considered poets. But keep in mind, this isn't a lyric journal.

You can find moleskines anywhere. You can get them cheap on amazon. You can buy them at Barnes and Noble or Borders, or Books-a-million. Remember, you don't have to have a moleskine cahier. You might find a suitable journal at the Dollar Store.

I already swap a journal with a good friend in Ohio. I'm in California. I plan on being responsible with any swap I participate in, ergo, I'm a newbie may I join this swap in particular? I have yet to swap anything yet as I just joined October 13th, but I would love to participate.

The cool thing about the sign up by date being so late is... you have enough time to participate in another parcel swap. If you mail something out soon, you should get a rating by the time this swap starts. So, join this swap, and swap something somewhere else before this one starts.

heh, I consider myself a 'real' poet - as real as any other.

just to clarify... I just got a giggle out of the 'real' thing. I think this swap is a great idea as is, and I really wouldn't subject anyone but my hubby to 50 pages of my work! :)

This is a really cool idea!! I've taken a creative writing/poetry class, and have had a lot of fun writing my own, but still love reading other's poems... most definitely will have to join this swap!!

Thanks. As for "real" poets. I consider myself a real poet as well, only because if I don't write it when it pops into my head, it haunts me until I do. It can be anything really. You can fill up a 50 page journal with a lot of poems. A couple of your own. A couple of your friends with their permission of course. Poems from small publications such as zines. Famous poets. There so many things you can run with on this swap.

So...I just want to make sure I understand. You CAN put your own poems in, but it needs to MOSTLY be famous poets, published poets, etc. ? Am I thinking along the correct lines for this? Just wanna make sure. And OMG, I LOVE this IDEA, I am SO inspired already. Also, can we make it longer than 50 pages if we'd like to? And if we do one of more than 50 pages, can we also leave some pages blank for our partner to be able to fill the rest of the pages with poems that they'd like to write in the future?

Rainbowdaze.... YES!

You understand it correctly. Fill it with poems you love, that make you think, that inspire you. You can include your own, just be humble about it. :)

Yes, it can be longer than 50 pages. I am using a Rhodia stapled notebook, which has 49 sheets, but makes 96 pages. The 50 page was a good minimum. And, it is a wonderful idea to leave room at the end for fill ins. I need to clarify all this in the description.

could we use a composition notebook? i just bought that notebook today and i wasnt sure if we can use that but we can decorate it if we can

You may use a composition notebook. It's a classic.

ok thank you.

I am signed up for this swap and been working on it a few weeks now. Unless I can get three quarters of it finished before the deadline (I might have to drop). This is REALLY fun, but really time consuming. I am afraid I'd never make the deadline. I made the front and back covers and 9 pages (18 pages front-and-back). But by the time I go through my favorite poets' works, select just the perfect poems that convey my taste, re-write them carefully to maintain the integrity of the poets' work & making certain my printing is most legible....and trying togroup them cohesively on each page, well the most I have been able to do is a page or two a day. I will keep working at it HARD, but if I look like I am no where near the finish (cause the two weeks after, near Christmas will be too hard to do much) I will back out and hope you do a similar swap again - and I will have a lot done by then ;-)

So far I have added my favorites by: Robert Hillyer, Denise Levertov, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Marilyn Chin, Conrad Aiken, Margaret Atwood, e.e cummings, Basho, Buson, Walt Whitman, Theodore Roethke, and Christina Rossetti.... I truly am enjoying this.

i have started my journal. hope my partner likes it!

Is a 7X5 notebook ok? otherwise I can use a comp. notebook. It has 100 pages.

Hopefully you will let me join up. I am quite new and have one snail mail rating at the moment but have sent stuff out for another snail mail swap. Let me know and I will get started on it this weekend.

All right, this was no easy feat. I have offically completed over 50 pags - and spent something like $20 at Kinkos (I did some color copies). Anyways, I only need to add a few more Christmas poems and a few of mine. All the rest is done! So I am in.

a 7x5 notebook is the kind I am using. Sometimes I am writing in my normal cursive and other times in very small print. The look of the journal is sort of bland, but the poems inside are hardly classic. I hope the partner who receives it will like them like I do.

are we writing on both sides of each page, or one side?

Well I did one side, but since I used 8.5" X 11.5" standard sized typing paper. It's really a lot of poetry (over 75 poems for certain). I think it might have shown through with my larger typing paper, but I think if I had bought and used a different type I could have done that; crossing my fingers that one side is okay. Good question, melissableuz!

hey Im new I just joined and I would love to do this and I can fill the jornal fast, I will start 2morrow on it, please let me join thank you ^_^

i'd love to join this swap, but right now i have a 1 rating from august before i went on hiatus. ; w ;! i'm working towards rectifying that rating, however. marcsgirl is going to give me her address again so i can send her a bundle of kawaii stuff in lieu of the penpal letter. and i just sent jessicakan her kawaii stuff form centuries ago....i'll watch this swap just in case. :3

Everyone... I extended the mail by date to New Years Day. I know the post office should be closed on that day, but if you drop it in a box or get postage for it the day after... no problem. It gives us time to relax on the holidays and work on the journals.

Oh, and one sided pages are fine. You can really make the journal how you want.

I am making and binding my own journal, is this ok?

I have found that in making the journal on word i am able to fit much more poetry on a word document than i could handwriting it in a journal. also plan to decorate and embellish the cover and bind with some very strong yarn to match the cover. :)

That sounds wonderful.

Again... this one is my fault. Please dont think I am a crummy host. I need a little more time to make this swap special. So I extended the mail by date.

mailed out on 1/25, hope it arrives safely!