Carolee Bennett –> poet. artist. crankypants.
The new approach is like sensible shoes: not quite as sexy but less pain, more mileage. At least that’s the idea. And so far, so good! I’ve been keeping up with art and writing by doing at least one small thing each day, and it’s helping me reconstruct the idea of myself as a poet and artist.
I started publishing on TikTok to create and support literary community and have a little fun along the way. In that same spirit, I want to share some intel with you — what I’ve found there (so far) in terms of poetry community and how I personally use the platform.
Heavy and beautiful. That’s my 3-word review of the anthology. It’s a thick volume full of gorgeous work, including poetry, criticism, cross-disciplinary texts and visual art. But “heavy and beautiful” also works for the challenges and themes the book aims to tackle.
I’m going to focus on positivity and pleasure. I’m aiming for encouragement, support and satisfaction. I’m interested in building on what I’ve already learned about who I am and where I can imbue my process with possibility.
As an invitation for you to give them a chance — as a reader and/or writer — I thought I’d share examples of inventive poetry forms, along with some of what I’ve learned by digging into these wild, wonderful poems.
I’ve embraced productivity as a synonym for success for so long that it’s hard now to accept my desire for something else in its place.
It’s surprising, even to me, that I’ve spent 50 years (so far) on this planet and somehow missed Patti Smith fandom entirely. Until recently, in fact, I’ve known her only as the “Because the Night” singer and as someone frequently mentioned in the same sentence with “poet” and “punk.”