Everyday Literature

Most of us don’t go to poetry slams, or poetry readings, book signings or what have you. Literary events are too steeped in convention and pretense to be anything more than a turn-off. Most people don’t even read poetry at all, let alone aloud. We don’t read literary magazines- besides- they cost too much. Most people want nothing to do with that literary stuff. The way most of us see it, Literature is too obscure, old-fashioned, and esoteric to be relevant to our lives. Whatever the cause, and there are many, there is an aversion to literature in general. Whatever it is, most of us don’t think we can write, or fully appreciate others’ writing, so we don’t bother.

The purpose of this web site is to find and dispel that fear, so that literature can become a part of our lives, our culture, our humanity, the way it should be, and has been.

After all, we’re only talking about language here. Language, the principal part of literature, is an every-day thing. Its our most versatile tool. It’s what makes us human. We could almost take language for granted. We are all capable of applying literature to our lives, because it is constantly applied to us. Poetry is everywhere, in the ebb and flow of language, the economy of thought. We are all a part of it. We use words, create new ones, arrange them in countless combinations, and add meanings. Poetry is a matter of survival. Story is inevitable. We experience these things every day of our lives. Everyone does. Somewhere in the midst of all that language, there is a new literature waiting to be found, and it doesn’t look anything like what you think of as “Literature”.

This is what I want to know. If language is so commonplace why is literature on a pedestal of such height that most of us never reach for it?

A big part of the problem is the image that literature has. Consider literary magazines for example. Suppose you were to go to the store and buy a literary magazine. First of all, you wouldn’t find it in the magazine rack at the grocery store, or Wal-Mart. These places don’t sell literary magazines because most people don’t read them, to stock them would be a commercial mistake. You would have to go to the book store or to a coffee-house. A literary magazine like The New Yorker or The Atlantic Monthly would cost you more than three dollars. Think how many newspapers you could buy with that much money. What would you get for your three dollars? There’s quality literature, sure, but what else is in there? As with any magazine, you can’t help but notice the ads. There are ads for people who buy stocks and luxury cars. There are ads for people who smoke cigars. There are ads for people who sail boats. All the ads are for big spenders. I am not any of these people. I’ll even venture to say that the majority of people on earth don’t drive golf balls from their yachts. Besides, what does the image of people like these have anything to do with literature? Those people, those elite few, are the target audience of the literary magazines. The literary magazines are talking to them. People don’t want to eavesdrop on a conversation that isn’t intended for them- that would be rude- so they go away, leaving our literature without the majority of its audience.

Perhaps the intended audience isn’t the problem. Maybe we’re afraid literature will make us feel stupid. Its the fear that’s stupid. Lets imagine for a moment that literature is the same thing as conversation. Both have a lot in common. What would life be like if you were afraid conversation would make you look stupid? You wouldn’t talk to people or learn from them. Human contact would suck. Business would be impossible. Life would be cold and quiet.

There is a place for literature in the everyday life of a human being. After all, literature was invented by illiterate primitive people. Literature isn’t doomed, but it is time to cut the shit. No more artifice. No more pretense. A voice without ears is worthless.

Thank you for reading what I have to say.