young poets are alive and well

Back in May, when we came up with the idea for this blog, we thought it would be just like so many other projects of ours, developing in a sequence that boils down to three basic stages: startup excitement-stagnation-abandonment. Truth be told, it all happened over a couple of sixpacks one cool spring night at Daniel's rooftop. That day we also flirted with relaunching our old high school fanzine (we omit the name here to avoid being ashamed of ourselves), putting together a Poetry for Pets business, renting a mechanical rodeo bull for a poetry tour (we would recite while riding the bull).

After three months online we find it hard to believe this project is still alive and well, growing more ambitious. As cheesy as it may sound, this was fueled by the positive response and encouraging feedback. And it wouldn't have been possible without the collaboration of all the young poets out there that have submitted their work, nor without the support of fellow poet-bloggers (you know who you are!).

So this rare post just wants to acknowledge everyone who has helped us make YAPs what it is today... and to anounce that, by popular demand, we will add a new sister site called Young British Poets. Still under construction while we finish up gathering texts, it will be edited by our friend Kevin Bacon (yes, just like the well-known actor). Kevin is a poet and musician based in London, and he will help us collect and review materials for this new site. He runs the underground poetry fanzine Thamesick and plays the accordion with the balkan-pop group Dead Slobodans.

Again, thank you all very much.


Peace,

The Young American Poets team