The future of art collecting
There are an infinite number of things to collect. Large and small, precious and not so. There are places that cater to the collector, there are safes, private rooms, desks with expandable codes to keep the unwanted out, all at the service of the avid collector. There are supplies, books, magazines, and newsletters. There are clubs, organizations and fraternities. All again, at the beck and call of the collector.
Paintings are an impressive category, as are wines, books, and antiques. Old military uniforms, musical instruments, even buttons and marbles. Don’t forget the trading cards we all had as kids or the stamps we all loved. There are coins, silverware, vinyl records…and the number goes on forever.
But here’s a new one, and how I found out about it. Poetry collecting.
Poetry collecting is just like collecting art, except in place of a picture you have a poem. Each poem, usually by a little known poet is collected and placed along with others of the same genre. You might collect American experimental, or you might collect Eastern European women of the early 20th Century. No matter where or what, there is a market for almost everyone.
I found this out after winning a small poetry contest where the top prize was $250 dollars. Shortly thereafter I was contacted and asked if I would be willing to sell the winning poem, (plus the rights) to a collector for $1600. I thought it was a joke, but as we continued to correspond, I realized this fellow was serious and would indeed pay the price offered.
I thought this entire procedure was insane. But the possible payout certainly had me interested. I kept up the correspondence and spoke to several outside sources only to find out this was something many poets knew about, and some even had made a fairly nice piece of change selling their work. Are poets the new painters?
I use the model of painters because the more I spoke about this with people in the know, the more I realized it was exactly the same as taking a flyer on an up-and-coming artist. Certainly Van Gogh’s first paintings sold for pennies. John Cage’s first notes on his music were pretty much worthless, until they weren’t. A woman I met told me that collectors are already starting to collect her work, and are offering real money. Last year she sold six poems after they were published in other places, and although she didn’t get rich it was a new way to make some money, and more importantly, it is a way to get noticed.
What makes this idea extremely interesting is that it may alter the current paradigm. No American poet has ever earned her/his living from writing poetry and only that. {That includes Whitman, Ginsburg, Angelou and Lucille Clifton}. Now, with this new spate of collectors, might a poet make a realistic living from solely writing poetry? Perhaps.
Here is one scenario. The poem is purchased… and then both poet and collector decide on a publication presentation. It might be special paper, special printing method or special inks. The poem is signed by the poet and then dated. It is then certified that this is the only “official copy”. A bill of sale is then completed and the collector has one more poem in his collection, and the poet has made her rent for the month.
No one can say for sure if this is a passing fad, or if we are really onto something. For the poets who struggle I hope this is the ‘next big thing’.
It would be great to see poets make a living doing what they love.
