Perhaps it could only happen in America: Gumball Poetry is a literary journal that publishes not only on the web, but also by putting poetry and art into gumball machines. Their site at http://gumballpoetry.com not only hosts the journal itself, but also describes the project, and tells you where their machines are. As a way of distributing poetry, this must be one of the most imaginative around.
I don't usually have many good words for usenet poetry newsgroups, but one that might be worth looking into if you're after workshop style comments and criticism is alt.arts.poetry.comments. The atmosphere is (mostly) friendly and constructive, though it's a busy group, so be prepared for several hundred messages a day if you sign up. Guidelines and more information are on the group's home page at http://www.go-get.co.uk/gopoems/aapc/
Sometimes it's easier to find the book you're after in a smaller, specialist shop than in a megastore. The Poetry Book Society's site at http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk is the cyber equivalent of a little poetry book shop, and has a good selection of titles. You can buy on-line, at discount prices if you're a member, or full price if you're not. They're planning to extend the range they stock, to include publishers' full backlists, rather than just the PBS's own selection.
If it's magazines rather than books you're after, try the guide to the UK's independent press at http://www.little-magazines.co.uk/ for its addresses and submission information. It seems fairly comprehensive, though the rather idiosyncratic layout may confuse and irritate some.
Finally, there's some good stuff going on at Steve Duffy's "debris" site at http://www.debris.demon.co.uk/1 where he has a variety of innovative dynamic and hypertext poetry, as well as some more conventional material. Some of it is browser-specific, though, and will only work with Internet Explorer. Don't miss The Thing - an interactive piece that allows the visitor to construct poems by selecting lines.
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Copyright © Peter Howard 1999-2004
1Debris is now at http://www.debris.org.uk/.