Durable Goods: The Missouri Collective is a micro-zine that fits in the palm of your hand. Once upon a time it was filled with writers from the small press and traveled all over the world, was archived in libraries, and touched every continent. It was a zine about connection and tangibility. It was something to look forward to. It still is, only in a different way.

At the end of 2021, I revived this zine which had been out of print since 2013 or so to begin a collaboration with the editor of Rusty Truck, Scot D. Young. He is also an educator. He is a man who cares about children. He’s a man who loves poetry. In rural Missouri, he teaches a class of poetry to children who are stuck in a trauma loop. These kids are abused in ways we never want to imagine and what he has given them is a way to vent these atrocities and to make some sense of the good parts of their identity.

Scot had the students and I had a zine. We formulated something on the fly and got the kids to work. We reached out on Facebook to see if any folks were interested in receiving this work and we had 70 folks subscribe. DG has never been about making money and always about connection. The cost of a subscription covers the cost of basic materials and all the extras that come in the mail are my own donation. Keeping the zine inexpensive has meant accessibility to everyone. This first year we have had several benefactors who donated books for the kids, their time to educate them, funds to purchase new poetry to expand their horizons, and even money to buy food because these kids often don’t eat. Scot and I are forever grateful to these people who have opened their hearts.

Durable Goods #4 featuring Angel Hill went out earlier this month. This leaves 4 more issues for the year. The purpose of this post is to start generating interest for the 2022-2023 series of Durable Goods: The Missouri Collective. Subscription prices are based on the number of issues, which is based on the number of students in the class. I do send internationally, but this cost is a bit more. This year there were 8 students so the cost was $6.50 domestic, $13.00 international. I imagine the class size will be similar each year, but you never know how popular Scot will get.

There will only be 75 available subscriptions each year because I am a working woman with other creative projects and active endeavors. Currently, 25 of the 75 spots are already either verbally reserved or paid for. If you are interested in taking a chance on poetry from these teenagers and would like to be a part of the Durable Goods experience, you can send me an email about your interest. Please place “Durable Goods” in the subject line so I can properly file the email. You wouldn’t have to pay until the new cycle is about to begin. This is just a place holder. You can email me at aleathiadrehmer@gmail.com

Read. Write. Be Kind to Each Other. Support Small Press.

Aleathia