He keeps a haven of poetry alive
CAMBRIDGE -- When he bought the venerable Grolier Poetry Book Shop in April, poet and professor Ifeanyi Menkiti took a leap of faith. It will take a lot of that to make the store succeed in a publishing world where poetry inhabits a tiny corner.
Menkiti is undaunted.
``I have a strong sense of hope and belief that poetry can help our world," he said. ``The sense of a world together has formed a very important part of my own poetry, and I'm hoping the Grolier can organize programs to keep that spirit alive."
For 79 years, the little box on Plympton Street near Harvard Square, where bookshelves share wall space with framed photos of such friends and patrons as Allen Ginsberg, T.S. Eliot, and Marianne Moore, persisted under only two owners -- founder Gordon Cairnie and, since 1974, Louisa Solano. It's one of only two all-poetry stores in America; the other is Seattle's Open Books.
Solano has had health problems in recent years, and the store suffered. Business hours were unpredictable. Wanting to retire, she put the Grolier up for sale but found no buyers who would commit to keeping it poetry-only. But then she got an offer from Menkiti, a Nigerian-born poet and longtime professor of philosophy at Wellesley College.
``He's the perfect owner," Solano said. ``He is a poet, which should please poets, a generous man in approach and attitude, and has a fund of knowledge that has not been present in the poetry community."
Born in Onitsha, Nigeria, Menkiti, 65, received his bachelor's degree at California's Pomona College and his PhD in philosophy from Harvard. He has taught at Wellesley since 1973 and has published three collections of poetry. He and his wife, Carol, who helps with the store, have four children. He has been a Grolier friend since he came to Cambridge in 1969 and gave poetry readings at the store in the early 1970s. ``The thought of this thing that we all loved so much going down the drain was just too much," he said in an interview at the store.
Poetry is a tiny part of American publishing and bookselling. Poets House, a library and educational center in New York, collects virtually all poetry books. This year it collected about 2,100 new titles for its annual showcase event, its largest haul yet. Still, that's a fraction of the 195,000 new books published in 2004.
Large commercial houses still publish poets, including such famous names as Billy Collins, Franz Wright, Rita Dove, and Adrienne Rich. ``It doesn't make scads of money," said Deborah Garrison, poetry editor of Alfred A. Knopf. ``On the other hand, it does last a long time. Poets who haven't been dead that long, such as James Merrill, become part of the canon. A lot of fiction is commercial and fun, but I don't think we'll be reading it in 100 years."
Desktop and computer-based technology has revolutionized poetry publishing. ``Only 10 percent of books in our showcase come from the commercial sector," said Lee Briccetti, executive director of Poets House. ``The rest comes from independent and university publishers." Briccetti said more poets are getting into print, in small press runs from small nonprofit houses. But the tenuous finances of such publishers make it difficult for poets to reach their intended audience.
The cold fact is that general bookstores sell few poetry books. ``There's a reason there aren't 400 poetry titles on display at
Chris Morrow, manager of Northshire Bookstore, a large independent store in Manchester, Vt., said poetry represents less than 1 percent of sales. Even so, he said, ``It's one of those sections which we feel is important enough to warrant having a lower return on our investment than other sections. It's part of the mission of a good independent bookstore."
It seems that poetry requires direct human contact to succeed. ``In my view," said Briccetti, ``live readings and gatherings have become the most important means of selling poetry. There is no real marketing. You don't see ads for poetry books."
That's one of the reasons Menkiti took the plunge. He is brimming with ideas for readings and events and hopes to rebuild and broaden the Grolier's inventory, including poets from around the world in English translation, and possibly hold bilingual poetry readings.
Beginning with Cairnie in 1927, the Grolier was a community poetry center, a legendary meeting place for poets, famous and unknown alike. ``It holds the traces of poetic life in its memory, in the floor and walls," said poet Gail Mazur, founder of the Cambridge-based Blacksmith House Poetry Series. ``So many people writing poetry had their first realization that there was a place for them, at the Grolier."
When Solano took over the store after Cairnie's death, she reorganized it, Menkiti said, so that you could find the books you needed. But there was less of the old raffishness, too. The battered sofa under the window disappeared. Readings and other events continued, including the Grolier Poetry Prize, but became more erratic recently, while inventory diminished amid financial problems. ``I would also like to bring back some of the old conversation, to have people come and enjoy the place," Menkiti said.
Menkiti has given himself no deadline for success, but he knows he can't run the store at a loss over the long run. One advantage is that Harvard University, which owns the building, has kept the rent low. ``We aren't going to get rich," Menkiti said, ``but my hope is that at least the store can sustain itself."
David Mehegan can be reached at mehegan@globe.com. 
