Self-Published Poem Project II

June 08, 2015

Promenade

After a blissful spring shower

The cloud-filled sky clears room

for a date with the moon

Along the path, stand tall the glowing street lamps

Flooding the cement with a pool of yellow warm light

Dyeing the foliage with a range of colors bright

Light steps I dance across the mirrored path

Splished and splashed

I follow the sound of soft string

plucking from afar

and wander into that

deep veiled night

Oasis of My Life

In this parched and scorching desert,

you are the oasis that I seek to find

I am mesmerized by that

turquoise shade of water, so fresh and clear

and it glistened goldenly under the sunlight

surrounded by trees

bearing plum and exotic fruits

The water sweet and refreshing.

It is magical.

Wonderful, bubbly sensation filled my mouth; instantly

left me feeling transformed

I quenched my thirst with endless provision.

Like a sponge soaking up without restraint

and with verve.

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Attempt 1: Bookmarks

Since I've done this project last year too, I thought I should do something different than posting my poems around campus. So I started out with just an idea that I could make bookmarks with my poem and paintings on them and hand them out at the libraries. But I have no clue how I should go from there. I don't know how to format Word into bookmark so I tried searching up bookmark designers online but all of them have really childish designs. I also wonder whether I should print them out on paper then glue it on card stock,but I thought that was too time consuming.

So I went to Staples to check out if there's anything useful for my purposes. AND with my luck, I came across the aisle that is selling all the Avery products (blank tabs, dividers, cards, etc.) Usually that's a section I don't pay attention to since those are usually businesses related product. But something caught my eyes on the cover saying that you can customize the product on their website: Avery.ca and you can also print them out yourself. I thought at first to check out their website first since I couldn't find any product that resembles a bookmark in the aisle. BUT just before I left, I found a pack of tent cards at the corner of another aisle and it's also from Avery!

It's a card stock that's thick enough for a bookmark and it's also at the right size. So I bought it and went to their website. And to my surprise, the program is easy to use and has lots of cool templates, too. Although it still took me a long time to design the bookmark and format it so it will come out aligning perfectly with the card stock but at last I got it to work.

And it looks like this:

Front

Back

And so I printed out a total 100 copies of bookmarks, which took me forever. It was just a never ending cycle of printing and cropping. After all the hard labour work, I was ready to hand them out at the libraries.

I decided to go to five public libraries and hand out 20 bookmarks at each place. I took bus 99 on the first day which took me to the Kitsilano Branch and West point Grey Branch. I explained to the librarians that I was doing a English project where we have to self-publish our poem and I've made bookmarks with my poem on it and asked them if I can leave the bookmarks around for people to take it. I was glad that they didn't reject me. but they said they will have to take a look at the bookmarks before they put it out. And so I left without seeing my bookmarks getting displayed. I was worried that they wouldn't put out my bookmarks. So I went back two days later to check out if they have put it out or not. And they did. I was so glad that my hard work did not go into waste.

After I went to Kitsilano Branch, I headed back to West Point Grey library. When the librarians heard that I was doing the project, she immediately let me put my bookmarks on the bookshelf and even ask me if I need to take a picture. She told me that there's a lot of students like me coming in lately for this project.

On the second day, I went to Dunbar library. The librarian there also told me that they will take a look before putting it out. And so I went back the next day to check on it and found it at the literary section.

Last day, I took bus 41 to Kerrisdale and Oakridge libraries to hand out my bookmarks. The librarian at Kerrisdale was also very nice when I explained to her about this project. She immediately grabbed a plastic holder and put my bookmarks at the teens section so I was able to take a picture.

My last stop was the Oakridge branch, Although I didn't get to see them putting it out, the librarian told me that they will put it at the teen section, too.

Overall, the process of distributing my poem went quite smoothly. I was really happy when the librarians complimented on my bookmarks saying that they look pretty and asked me if I drew those pictures myself.
I was originally planning to go to the central branch and Richmond public library to hand out my bookmarks, too, but my printer is running out of ink so the quality is becoming not so great. So I decided to make do with 100 copies. I just hope that other people will see the bookmarks and take one home so my work won't go to waste.

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Attempt 2: Online Forums
I've also posted my poems on several online forums. One of them is Deviant Art and the other is Hello Poetry. Since I just posted the poems not too long ago so the number of people who has seen the poem is not that much. I will say around 50 people in total. I will provide the link to each poem on each forum.