Jeremy Spencer

Jeremy Spencer was born in Indiana on the last day of the year 1977. At the age of 5, he moved to northern California where he was raised. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field of history and currently works in the law library at UC Davis. In late 2002, he created The Scrambler in order to expose more of his family and friends to literature and the arts. Over the years, it has morphed from a print zine to a fully online monthly publication featuring, but not limited to poetry.

Publication Questions:

1) What projects are you currently on? (Include issue #s, books, chapbooks, broadsides, special projects, print and web).

Every month I put together an online issue for The Scrambler and have been doing so for the last year and a half. I have also started a new online project called Sactown Poetry which uses blog software but is not actually a blog. The purpose of Sactown Poetry is to document the poetry scene in and around the Sacramento metropolitan area. I mean for the site to serve as a sort of virtual archive for Sacramento area poets and their poetry readings and performances. I know it is pretty much impossible to get every reading/performance but the goal is to get as many as possible. Hopefully, it will be a site where other people send me their videos of Sacramento area poets as well. I am also working on translating a collection of poems from a Brazilian poet named Maria Alice. I hope to have that finished and available online and in print by the end of the year.

2) What has been your biggest challenge as a poetry publisher/editor?

Probably rejecting submissions. I know how it feels to get rejected over and over again. But that is part of being an editor, in fact one of the most important parts.

3) Do you regret any paths you have followed as a publisher/editor?

Only that I did not have a web presence for The Scrambler sooner. I had the web address for a long time before I actually put any content online.

4) Name one poet who has not appeared in your publication which you would love to have included and why.

Here's 2- Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Kim Addonizio. Ferlinghetti because he is basically a legend in both the poetry and publishing worlds. I admire him- if he didn't stand up for Howl back in the fifties, all of us publishers and writers now would be suffering even more than we do. And Kim Addonizio because I think she is one of the best writers there is, period. She knows how to tell a story through her poems.

5) Who is the designer of your web site and how much input do you have in the design of the web site and the other design elements including covers for books, etc.?

I design and update the website. My friend Nick Deamer is an artist and designs the logos and he designed the covers for the print editions of the zine when it used to be published in print.

6) What recognitions have you received as a publisher/editor?

None really. That is not why I do this. I do it because I have to.

7) Where do you see your publication/editing in 5 years?

Eventually, I want to put out an online issue of The Scrambler twice a month. I also want to have edited/translated/published a few collections of poetry by American and Brazilian writers that will appear both online and in print forms. I also hope that the Sactown Poetry site is thriving and is being updated daily since there is so much happening poetry-wise around the Sacramento area.

8) What are some of your other interests?

Music, traveling, writing, eating and every season believing the Kings will win the NBA championship.

9) What is your favorite poem as of today and why?

As of today I would have to say the poem "This Practice" by Ada Limón. Since I first read it months ago, it has stuck with me because of its clarity and the way her words move around the page and make you realize that that is how poetry should be written. Also any poem by E.E. Cummings in No Thanks, especially numbers 9, 16, 21, 26, 37, 55 and 57.

10) Recommend a poetry book, blog or web site to our audience (not from one of your press) and why.

I will recommend a poet- Paulo Leminski. You can find some of his work here.

11) What is the most exciting aspect of being a poetry publisher/editor?

Reading submissions.

12) Leave us with a recipe for poetry.

Only write poems if it hurts to keep them inside any longer.