When Stone's Ordinary Words was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry (a prize voted on by book critics throughout the country), it was significant for several reasons. Then eighty-three years old, Stone was finally receiving long overdue recognition, and the collection was published by Paris Press, a small, young press founded by Jan Freeman to present the work of neglected women writers.

Starting a press and publishing poetry are risky endeavors. Book production in the United States is the highest in the world, and the number of people who buy contemporary poetry is very small.

One way small presses are able to generate interest in poetry titles is by sponsoring community outreach programs. Story Line Press, for example, runs the Rural Readers Project, an educational outreach program that sends nationally recognized authors into rural Oregon schools to teach writing and talk about literature. Paris...