Pocketry

Category: Almanacks

  • Pocketry Presents A Poetry Podcast

    Pocketry Presents A Poetry Podcast

    We’re celebrating the third issue of the Pocketry Almanack as well as Pocketry’s 18 month anniversary with our very first podcast episode!

    We’ve gathered together all the poets appearing in issue three of the Pocketry Almanack as well as the artist who drew the back cover. They’ve sent in little gems which I’ve strung together to make a shiny necklace.

    In the first episode of the podcast you’ll hear readings from our featured poets Andrew Brion, Amanada Collins, Anne Collopy, Kelle Cunningham and Rowan White. Our back cover artist, Shirley Kanyon, shares her life, inspirations and creative process with us. You’ll also hear a story from Melbourne poet, Josh Cake, that was exchanged for a copy of the Almanack. As well as some intriguing words that have been bartered for the Almanack.

    So pop in your ear buds or put on your head phones and prepare your ears for an auditory treat to warm your mind.

    You can download an episode here, on Apple Music or Spotify.

    Happy listening!

  • All The Words

    All The Words

    Submissions for Issue two of the Pocketry Almanack have now closed and I am busy reading them all with great pleasure.

    Poets and artists from Europe, the Americas and Australia have submitted their work for consideration.

    It’s wonderful to know that poetry is alive and well and that there are still so many poets willing to send in their writing. It takes a brave soul to share their vulnerable self with the rest of the world. I thank all the submitters from the bottom of my heart for trusting their work to the Almanack.

    The hard part is choosing which ones to include when I have so many favourites. I’m beginning to regret the pocket-size of the Almanack. If only it were bigger, then I would be able to publish so many more poets!

  • Speaking in Tongues

    Speaking in Tongues

    Did you know that as well as publishing emerging and aspiring poets, Pocketry also publishes poems in languages other than English?

    I think it’s unfair to limit or restrict access to publication in literary journals to only those who can speak a particular language. As if being proficient in English somehow makes you a better poet. As if mastery of this tongue allows you entrance into the hallowed halls of literature. As if you only get to the part of the converstaion if you speak English.

    I want to read poems in other languages even if I can’t understand them. Puzzle over the way foreign letters twist and tumble across the page. Read meaning into the lines of text flowing down and down and down. Find words that look familiar in amongst the strangers.

    I know, I only speak English and this post is in English but if you know poets who write in other languages, please tell them about the Pocketry Almanack. Their poems are welcome here.

  • Keep It Short

    Keep It Short

    The Almanack is tiny.

    It measures 7.5 x 10.5 cm ( 3″ x 4″).

    And there are only 8 pages which includes the contents on the cover.

    All this is to say, keep your poems for the Almanack short.

    A maximum length of 18 lines (including lines breaks) and a maximum width per line of 45 characters (including spaces).

    Happy creating!

  • It’s Raw

    It’s Raw

    Pocketry publishes work from aspiring and emerging poets who haven’t yet been published in a literary journal. The poems between the pages of a Pocketry Almanack come from poets who are still learning their craft. They are writing and editing. Sending out their stuff to journals and getting rejected. But they keep trying because they want to share their words with the rest of the world.

    As a result, the poems published in a Pocketry Alamanack vary wildly in quality and subject matter from the ordinary to the sublime (and who’s to say ordinary cannot be sublime if done well?). Our aim is to showcase the poems and poets who aren’t getting any exposure. Everyone’s voice deserves to be heard.

  • Creating a Prototype

    Creating a Prototype

    Before opening the Pocketry Almanack for submissions, I had to create a prototype of the journal to discover exactly what was needed from contributors.

    First I had to figure out how to create an instant book and then how to create a template that could edited, printed and reproduced easily. In keeping with the instant book theme, I was looking for something that could be printed and assembled quickly.

    Once that was done came the fun part of playing with fonts and figuring out the style of the little booklets. The word Almanack conjures up olden days so I went with a font style similar to what was around in the 1700s.

    To get a feel for the end product I found some of my short poems and use the Pocketry logo for the back page.

    I then printed it out and assembled it. The whole process only took a couple of days of solid work. I was a woman obsessed!

  • All About Almanacks

    All About Almanacks

    An almanack is an annual calendar with important data and statistics such as tides and planetary movements. It can also be handbook of important information. The Pocketry Almanack doesn’t quite fit either definition but the word almanack conjures up printing presses and hand distributed leaflets. It’s this tactile world I wanted to re-create with this publication. I suppose we could call the Pocketry Almanack a handbook which contains work from authors engaged in the pastime of poetry. Or just love the word and use it anyway.

    The idea for the Pocketry Almanack came from a few different places. Last year independent Australian publisher Ginninderra Press started The Crow, a new literary journal for poets in South Australia. If they can do it, so can I! The Kickstarter for Fiddler’s Green: A Peculiar Parish Magazine #7 was posted on Instagram by @ninthwavedeisgns. Sadly I didn’t get to back it in time but I loved the fiddler’s fare and tweaked it for the almanack. The What Editors Want podcast interview with Tony White of Piece of Paper Press inspired the one page format of the pamphlet. How To Make Books: Fold, Cut & Stitch Your Way to a One-of-a-Kind Book by Esther K. Smith the artistic director of Purgatory Pie Press taught me how to make an instant book from a sheet of A4 paper. The word almanack came from the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett but I only looked up the definition after I’d created the web site and it was too late to change it (not that I really wanted to anyway). The elaborate and fanciful language was inspired by Russell who for many years was the MC of the Canberra Repertory’s Old Time Musical Hall.

    The Pocketry Almanack draws inspiration from many sources including but not limited to: drinking tea in fine bone china cups with roses painted on them; sitting in an overstuffed, red leather armchair while reading books in a wood panelled study; sitting next to the coachman as he drives a team of horses along the cobbled streets and lamplighters doing their rounds as dusk begins to fall.

    Welcome!