"What are NFTs and How Can Writers Benefit From Them?"
A chat with Katie Dozier & Timothy Green, Editors of Rattle
Ahoy and TGIF, dear friends. I come with news of another editor panel, freshly wrapped!
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of speaking with Katie Dozier and Tim Green, Rattle’s Associate Editor and Editor, respectively. Many of you are familiar with Rattle as the prestigious poetry journal whose “mission is to promote the practice of poetry.”
However, we did not focus primarily on Rattle in our conversation. (If you’re interested in an interview specifically about the magazine, here you go.) What I wanted to talk to Katie and Tim about are NFTs. I know they both have expertise in this area. And I really wanted them to help us all understand. What exactly are NFTs? What is NFT poetry? How can writers create, trade and sell NFTs? What exactly is blockchain? What in heavens does it mean when a poet says she “minted a poem on the blockchain”?
Katie and Tim talked about their background in this area. Tim was first interested in blockchain’s uses for ensuring election integrity. He also credits Katie for piquing his interest when she’d mentioned NFTs in a submission cover letter to the magazine. Later, after accepting her poem, he invited her to guest-edit an issue dedicated to NFT poetry, issue 80.
In the introduction to the issue, they write,
NFTs are non-fungible tokens, using a blockchain to make a permanent, collectible digital record of something—in this case poems. Turning poems into collectable art opens up many new opportunities for creating and sharing poetry, and the dozen poets in the issue are at the cutting edge of introducing poetry into this technology. In the conversation section, we talk to Sasha Stiles, who trained an AI language model on her own poetry, creating “Technelegy,” a transhuman alter-ego and writing partner. The interview attempts to explain the blockchain and explore the places poetry might go in the future.
Feeling confused? Don’t worry. It is confusing and a lot to take in! Hopefully the interview will help.
And hopefully looking at the scope of what can be done with NFT poetry will dazzle you into to wanting to learn more. Many incorporate elements of visual art. They often evoke the sorts of video installations you might encounter in a museum. Some dramatize the process of poetry creation itself. Some are cheeky and light-hearted.
Here are just a few:
Tim’s “The List,” where “[e]very moment of composition is recorded, shown here at 7x speed.”
Katie’s “Howling,” a video poem and experimental haibun.
“I, Sinkhole,” by Kate Armstrong, “a poem written with products in a Zazzle store.”
“bewildered with stars,” “an excerpt from a poem written by Franny Choi, reimagined as a generative audiovisual installation created by artist & technologist Alida Sun.”
Here is theVERSEverse an entire NFT poetry gallery.
Is it difficult to get started with NFTs? In fact, no. Katie described it as simple as posting on Facebook. Once you begin engaging, you will be part of what Tim called “a network of trading and sharing,” one which he called “just fun.”
Are there controversies surrounding NFTs? Should people feel daunted by its reliance on cryptocurrency? What about the environmental impact? What can lit mag editors gain by embracing this technology? What are other advantages for writers, insofar as building community, cultivating audience and even making money from their work?
We covered it all, my friends, and to catch it you will have to tune in!
To those who participated in the conversation, thank you for joining. (Just one of you, this time around. But oh, I love your face!)
And, of course, huge thank you to Katie and Tim for sharing their expertise on NFTs with us all.
Happy viewing!
This video is for paying subscribers only. A subscription gains you access to all exclusive Lit Mag News content, including subscriber-only posts, info sessions, workshops, and more. Plus you help make my work here possible! Your support is appreciated.