Category: Thoughts

I created and published a local literary zine / guide book in Sacramento that has been in circulation for six months. It is called Iambic. Click here to head over to the Iambic Tab. I never thought I would be a magazine publisher but here is why I did it. This article below was added to Iambic issue 6:

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Downtown Sacramento offers dozen of venues for art events. Second Saturday just shows a glimpse of it. On any given day, you can find visual arts, music, comedy, burlesques, and theater plays.

There is also large poetry community. I have been part of Sacramento poetry for the past two years. I entered the scene with little knowledge of the scope of poetry in Sacramento. Over the past two years, I have dedicated time and energy to seeking out as many poetry forums as I can find. I visited over a dozen venues and special events, met hundreds of poets in the area who regularly perform and have even worked with several on projects. What became apparent was that Sacramento lacked an up-to-date resource where people can seek out events, venues, coaches, and information about the Sacramento poetry scene. I looked at what had been established and decided that a zine would be appropriate for these three simple factors:

1. Eskimo Pie website is online but it is not maintained anymore.

When I moved to Sacramento from Stockton in October 2015, I checked the Eskimo pie website (www.eskimopie.net). It offered a calendar for open mic venues and poetry events in the Central Valley community. It was established by Rebecca Morrison, well known poet in the Sacramento poetry community.  I had the fortune to meet Rebecca during her personal trip back to the states. The site became a great blueprint to model sections in Iambic.

2. Display unknown people’s poetry, visual arts and short stories.

I learn one of the big caveats in literary magazines is that any work posted on social media is considered to be published. Poets and writers want to present their work to the masses but Industry wants to be the first to do it. Poets and writers early in their careers need small publications looking for new and unique works to feature them. Iambic offers a no-cost way to submit your work for consideration for publication. We publish frequently and our scope is very broad. I also created a “Youth Poet” section which feature poets less than 25 years of age.

3. Be a guide to a large poetry community

I was alone when I moved to Sacramento.  I got a position at The Art institute, and was living with roommates.  My friend circle was bleak. I needed to find an activity to distract me from this. I discovered the Sacramento Poetry Center. I went to an open mic and was interested with poetry again.  So, I asked a few poets about other venues and they directed me to them.  So, I checked out all the open mic venues in the area and it became a habit. I started participating in open mics and studying to be a poet and spoken word artist. But, I notice that not all poets go to every open mic venue or workshop in town regularly.  Poets started noticing and asking me about different venues.  I would give them my analysis and I became known as a circuit poet.

Conclusion

I created Iambic to serve my poetry community as a guide since; there are a variety of venues for patrons and workshops for poets to work on their craft. But, it was also to make outsiders aware that a poetry scene exists. So, I have been publishing Iambic for 6 months. Here is to another successful six months!