New York City in the mid-to-late 1900s was a great literary melting pot of creative talent in literature, poetry, and art. Sprouting from the mass of creativity present in New York City and aided by the ingenious mimeograph were widespread poetry magazines, formed by the tight-knit community of poets, artists, and whoever else had the mind to be published. First came the Poetry Project's collaborative mimeo-magazine, The World, spearheaded by Joel Sloman. The primary goal of The World was to prove an inclusive space for writers all over New York City to chip in and contribute their own poetry for the community to read. The World found significant success in its unique style of compilation through collaboration, but fell flat when it came to equal representation of sexes and it became hard for new fledgling poets to get included.

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Dissatisfied with the state of The World, poet Maureen Owen requested permission to use the same mimeograph machine as the Poetry Project to publish another collaborative mimeo-magazine titled Telephone. Owen's main goal in doing this was to create an even more inclusive environment in which all poets, regardless of sex, sexuality, race, or fame could be heard. As a result, Telephone sprouted from the mimeograph machine in St. Mark's church with issues being published from 1970 to 1983 with contributors a stunningly large ratio of female to male poets and a contributor list that betrays Owen's encouragement to all poets, regardless of their characteristics, to publish their works and be heard.