A few weeks ago, I was on the train heading to the city, as a poet – by the name of Donell Manley, Jr. read one of his works, and then gave out a copy of the poem for a minimum $1.50 donation. He was doing it in an effort to raise money to copyright his book; and I thought it was a genius idea. So in an effort to raise money to fund my dreams, I decided to take a bite off of his steez; but made sure to take it to the next level.
I decided to use the retold version of the Things Are Not Always As The Seam poem, and the Original version of the poem, because they fit the theme of a “starving artist” asking for help to fund his or her dream – a story that many people can relate to. The design and typography was done by a friend – Shelldon, out in the UK; and my boy Eric was able to get the production team at his job in the city, to print them out and cut them for me.
My goal was to create something that felt timeless, and that people would want to (at least try to) hold on to forever. So I made sure to have them printed on card stock paper. And to really give my donators a sense of being a part of something, on the back, each card is numbered from First to (for now just) Twenty-Fifth, and I plan to hand write in their names, the date they donated, how much they donated, and sign the back.
This first set of 25 is just the start, as I plan to raise somewhere between $1,000 – $2,000, or more, to start-up the SongZiGe publishing company. That includes funding the designing and printing of my first poetry book, that I hope to put out early next year.
So far, the first card is being given to Shelldon, since he donated his time and effort to design the card, and last night, my friend – Idelle, donated a dollar for the second card. John would’ve had the 2nd or 3rd, but he didn’t have any cash on him. smh. But hey, for now, I’ll be giving these out to friends, fam, and people on the streets that want to help out a fellow dreamer, while keeping you guys posted on progress – maybe every week; and sometime in the future, I might set up a paypal or something, so that my supporters around the world can get in on the help.
But in the meantime, if you’re in the city, and want to find me for one, hit me up on Twitter, or email me at itsmeezy@gmail.com, and we’ll make it happen.
Appreciate the support, ya’ll
Sincerely,
Meez
