Poetry promoter says if you submit it, she'll publish it
The box in front of the Sherman Cafe in Union Square looks like any other newspaper holder. Except for the stenciled flowers. And the fact that it is sealed. In fact, the box vends nothing at all. Instead, it has a mail slot that announces, ``Poetry Box. Submit."
Inside the cafe , a flier clarifies this cryptic directive, issuing a clarion call to potential contributors: ``Poets, experience the goodness of life, express your selves with generosity and forthrightness -- submit and be merry." After several weeks, the flier promises, submissions will be transformed into a free Poetry Box magazine.
But who will turn these slips of paper into a magazine? There's no name on the flier -- not even an anonymous e - mail.
Rachel Strutt, program manager for the Somerville Arts Council, said the council wasn't behind the box. She thought the Sherman put it outside.
Sherman co-owner Karyn Coughlin was equally mystified. She thought local poet and Ibbetson Press publisher Doug Holder might be responsible.
Strike three. ``I have been wondering the same darn thing," e-mailed Holder, who fed a poem to the box.
A call to City Hall solved the mystery. News box permit 1105 was granted to Max Azanow of Brighton, who arranged it for his girlfriend, Elizabeth Murphy.
Murphy, 23, an editor, former Sherman employee and unpublished poet, happily acknowledged that she is the brains behind the Poetry Box.
``Getting published, even a single poem, is not easy," Murphy said. The box is ``a way to open the doors to people who wouldn't necessarily publish" their work.
The Union Square location, which Azanow chose, is part of that plan. The couple picked the area for its diversity and burgeoning population of artists, many of whom frequent the Sherman.
Azanow and Murphy dreamed up the idea a year and a half ago but didn't put it into motion until last winter, when they stumbled across the necessary item -- an abandoned free-newspaper box ``thrown over the fence at the Mass. Pike by BU," Murphy said.
The refurbished Poetry Box finally opened for business in early May. (Sherman worker Jessica Faust, 24, dimly remembered ``a couple of people in a pickup truck" installing it.)
Murphy posted only three fliers explaining the project -- one in the Sherman, and the other two in the Cambridge 1369 coffeehouses. ``I wasn't really sure that anyone was that interested," she said. Murphy also passes out small promotional cards, usually pretending that she has nothing to do with the project.
As of last week, the Box had collected ``about 21" poems. Murphy rues making the box difficult to open and hard to see inside: ``I don't want to go to the trouble if there's nothing there!"
So far, the submissions fulfill Murphy's hope of mixing forethought with spontaneity. (Weather concerns prevented her from attaching a pad of paper to the box itself.)
``People don't feel like it's intimidating," she said.
About half the poems are anonymous. One poet wrote on a napkin. Another used a plane ticket stub from Tennessee. Holder typed his poem and included complete contact information.
Murphy plans to go to press (er, photocopy ) soon to satisfy contributors and encourage future ones. While the first issue will be a simple copy job, she's considering trying for a Somerville Arts Council grant to fund future issues.
As for her anonymity, she hasn't gone out of her way to protect it, or ``waited until dark or anything" to open the box, figuring that the truth eventually would come out. In fact, the Sherman's other owner, Ben Dryer, already suspected Murphy.
``I think he was out front when I was peeking in the side," Murphy said.
Still, Murphy thinks that her identity doesn't matter. The box itself is the editor and makes the decisions about what gets published: ``You submitted, I'm including it."
