Given the slowness and clumsiness of the Kindle's experimental internet browser, it's good that the Amazon Kindle Store has a wide variety of blogs and newsfeeds you can have delivered straight to your Kindle library. Even better that 64 of them supposedly cover poetry. It's a great idea: the blog appears as one document, with new updates automatically appearing at the front, in a simple format that looks OK on your Kindle.
I'm assuming that many of the people who run these blogs cannot have tried to read them on a Kindle. A couple that I tried consisted of several pages of code, and then nothing. Another few consisted of links to the web pages where the content was originally posted, which was useless. I tend to believe that a good poem is a good poem, however you come about it, but I've got to say that the Kindle web browser is not the way to experience new poetry. I bookmarked The Write Room and Ragazine for reading on my PC, but cancelled my subscriptions. A few more were sound in terms of presentation, but lacking in quality content.
Enough complaining for now. These are the ones worth subscribing to...
Word Riot
In General: This one's more fiction than poetry to be honest, but the poems that do make it in are fantastic.
Best Recent Poem: A Prompt by Joy Herman
How often/How much? Monthly, 99p per month.
Flotsam
In General: Short, sweet reviews and articles that usually include a poem to illustrate the point. If you write poetry yourself, Flotsam help you with starting points and ways to edit. The style of writing is more personal and less academic than most literary journalism, which I enjoyed.
Best Recent Poem: Steps by Frank O'Hara (I have no idea if this is a breach of copyright)
How often/How much? Updates every few days, 99p per month
I am hoping to make this blog available in a Kindle friendly format very soon. When I've managed it, I'll let you know how it works.
No comments:
Post a Comment