About this project

The Kickstarter

Walt Whitman self-published the first edition of Leaves of Grass. Had Kickstarter been around in 1855, he'd have done it this way. Help two poets publish their first book of poems. A contribution of $25 or more reserves your copy of the book + a special book of Madlibs, but as little as $1 wins our love and gratitude.

The Book

Hi There. We're TISHON and Caits. We're also known as Tishon and Caitlin Meissner. We've been friends for roughly five years and in those five years we've shared countless letters. These letters aren't letters in the true sense of the word. They are poems, poems that, like letters, have brought us closer together as friends. These are poems about love, Jazz, Africa, New Jersey, Pabst Blue Ribbon, growing up with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air – basically, LIFE. We'd like to share these poems with you in hopes that our letters become your letters, that somewhere between the first and last word is something that speaks to you personally. It's quite possible one of these poems were written about you. Yes, you. Don't ask how.

The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You is a book of these poems. Written sometime between 2003 and 2010, the poems explore what it means to be young and driven to prose in a city so big it forgets your face.

The idea to do a collaborative book came out of the realization that we're all bound by common experiences. For us, poetry is the recognition and celebration of these common experiences. In putting these poems in book form, we hope to add something indelible to the tradition of verse. But, most of all, we want you, after having read the book, to feel a little a closer to, not only us, but every person you've ever met. We want it to be poetry you can believe in. Wait, no. That one's already taken. We want it to be poetry you wouldn't mind sharing an apartment with.

Poems

We figured it's a good idea to let you hear some of the work from the book. In the video below, we recite two poems that will be in The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You.

http://vimeo.com/22477895

What You Get For Pledging

Details for how to get each on the right --->

THE BOOK

Thank You postcard (photograph by Grover Watts)

Limited Edition Bookmark (1 of 3 bookmarks designed by Caits Meissner)

One of three (your choice) limited edition silk-screened 13"x19" posters designed by Caits Meissner. 

Where The Money's Going

In short, printing and production. We want The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You to be more than just a bunch of pages glued together. We want it to be a beautiful book, one that is carefully designed and printed on quality paper. We'd like it to be the kind of book that makes the other books on your shelf slightly jealous. And why not? You deserve nothing less.

Thank you so much!