The Story of PUSH

 

 

  In 2003 an unusual bit of information surfaced about a new computer technology.  My friends and I had been hearing that someone, somewhere was copying electronic text documents and photos onto Compacts Discs (CDs) with a small, affordable, home unit.  Hard to believe there was a time before this was possible, but in 2001 it was revolutionary.  Before the CD there was the floppy drive with limited capacity.  Now you could design and store a large volume of text and photos with little effort.

 

  Working with Rich Haydon of TAPJoE Press, we envisioned how this would change the world of the small poetry press.  Our first “wild Idea” was that small publishers could now copy their book, with multiple photos and images, for a fraction of the cost of a published paper book and sell them for a fraction of the hard copy price.  CD’s would be easy to mail the old fashioned day or electronically and PDF would secure the content.  The cheaper sales price would mean that buyers would be more willing to acquire our nebulous product and folks would love the idea.  Libraries would now look like a CD music collection. 

 

  Little did we know that we were too far ahead of ourselves to realize that this was not going to work.  We ordered custom CD centers, bought a bundle of clear plastic jewel cases, and quickly finished up the PUSH manuscript that I had prepared. I was already planning for the hard copy PUSH and had designed and printed out a unique blockprint which would now fit inside jewel cases.  We envisioned a release in just a few months.  

 

  We stuffed Jewel cases with block prints, built some wire display stands, and sat back to wait for the first available CD printer, now called a CD copier.  We were so excited we failed to see the ominous outcome:  Selling the unit to book stores, and even friends was proving more difficult then imagined.  Each customer required a personal, in-depth, discussion and for some reason, the idea wasn’t clear to buyers.  To make matters worse, we found that most sales, which were few and far between, were quickly returned when the buyer realized it wasn’t a music CD. Additionally, in 2001 there was Apple and PC incompatibility, and even pre and post apple program compatibility issues that were not easy to compromise.  Finally, after 4 or 5 moths, we realize the idea was laden with problems that we could not resolve at our market level.  We gathered up the unsold copies, and slouched back to paper and glue. 

 

  I always felt uneasy about the project because PUSH still existed and it HAD been released so therefore I included it in my bio with other writing projects.  However, had it actually been a release and even, did it even exist?  I gave up on the project heart and soul and the poems became a distant memory, sort of like dieing in one sense and remaining alive in another.  I went on to publish Buckskin Larch and Bedrock under the Cave Moon label in 2011 and “Listos” under the same label in 2017, both real life books (I’ve been told).

 

  All along I had, in the back of my mind intentions to republish PUSH, but it was a past project and was generally pushed aside by new projects;  While the book was standing still, the world was changing.  Around 2011 I signed up for a facebook account though I hardly ever used it and hardly ever bothered to even look at it.  I had a Web site, “Fired Clay” for awhile but the demands of creating an attractive site was simply too time consuming to make it a long term interest.  

 

  In 2020 I started using fb messenger and discovered fb Marketplace.  One thing led to another and while dusting off PUSH I realized I could release a second edition of PUSH in a way that promised to be both interesting and interactive, without the clutter of schedules, deadlines, or billing cycles.

 

  Now that the uses of CDs, PDF, and social media has a basic foundation, it seems a good time to experiment once more with the ill fated text of PUSH.  I probably don’t need to remind myself, that on reviewing the PUSH manuscript I found it relatively complete, relatively satisfactory, and relatively exciting to be back with it for another round of experimental poetics.  And that is what you have here, with this re-release: a serialized, poem-by-poem release on Facebook, planned for regular, unplanned sequential additions through the entire book.  It is anyone’s guess, at this stage how far I will get with this project, how long it will take, and what will transpire in the meantime.  At this step, I hope to generate some feedback, on the regular channels of Facebook, that is, if someone besides YOU actually reviews this project.  

 

  For now, look for a poem every few days on no schedule. The pages will follow the facebook timeline format down a page at a time.  I may substitute a poem posting with a note, but I hope not as the book should stand alone.  As they say, “The pocket of Death’s Jacket is filled with stones for the living” and with that, let’s get to it./mh2020