The editors of In Company: An Anthology of New Mexico Poets after 1960 have been waiting for their book to come to life for more than 10 years.
Lee Bartlett, V. B. Price and Dianne Edwards had a vision for an anthology of New Mexican poets, but getting it going was a challenge. Ten years ago, an endowment was given to UNM Press by Mary Burritt Christiansen, to publish poetry in New Mexico, which helped jumpstart their ideas.
"The effort to get it going along with the endowment prompted the whole thing, but it laid in rest for many, many years," Edwards said.
The concept for the anthology is simple. It's split into three parts; the elders of New Mexico poetry, the middle-aged poets and new voices.
"We were very excited about the idea of bringing these voices together," Edwards said. "The diversity of voices, ones that sometimes haven't been heard, are now given a chance to be read."
Edwards said the three editors brainstormed about the poets they had seen around New Mexico and sent out letters of invitation to 85 of them. Of those, 81 were chosen because their poetry was compatible with the volume's tone.
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The editors said in the book that if there was ever a state overflowing with poets, it's New Mexico as it is rich with semi permeable cultural boundaries among its population.
"It's both all-American and uniquely local, beyond the mainstream but eccentric and deeply enduring," they write.
They said the borderline conditions of being the fifth largest state, yet the poorest one, is essential to the life of the creative people here.
"It's isolation for the great literary center, and its reputation as a multi-cultural enclave and haven for exiles has made New Mexico considerably more than a far away provincial literary outpost," Price said in a news release.
If that's true, then the desert enclave has done wonders for these poets by the looks of the 541 pages of sheer writing genius. Edwards said that even more poets were inadvertently overlooked and the editors hope to add even more writers in later editions.
In Company was released by UNM Press this month, and Edwards said sales have been so good that a paperback edition is now in the works. Three readings have been scheduled in Albuquerque, and readings in New York are being planned.
Edwards said he has especially been touched by the generosity of the 81 poets who include Rudolfo Anaya, Simon Ortiz, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Joy Harjo and Kate Horsley. All of them gave their works free of charge for the anthology, and in turn the editors have given all royalties back to UNM Press so that other poetry books can be published in the future.
"This really is a labor of love on everyone's parts," Edwards said. For more information visit www.unmpress.com.
