The Poetry Saloncast

Many poets are beguiled by the fundamental where did I come from question. Much of Lynne Thompson’s work traces the threads that influenced her sense of identity and how it interacts with politics and race. At the same time, the job of a poet is to find a new angle on how to address issues that may be “universal” or at the forefront of the zeitgeist. So, Thompson advises, “You need to get outside the frame and try on all the shoes in the story.” This is how you find your way through to something more unique. 

In this interview Lynne Thompson walks us through several poems around her adoption, what is known and what is not known, and what the imagination does with each. She talks about how to embrace the not knowing, and how poetry is really everywhere if you’re listening for it.

How do you find your voice? What about the voice of a poem or piece? In this interview Kim talks about her influences, and how they have helped her find her own voice. She also talks about getting past her own voice to find the voice of the poem itself, and how she helps support her students in doing the same. You'll also get bonus anecdotes about rhyming in the high desert, writing about a scorpion in an Italian Castle, having her poem printed in the New York City subway, and the really surprising journey she had to go on to get her book, Poet's Companion, published. (If you've never read this book, you can get it through Norton today : )

What can we learn from reading the Confessions of St. Augustin? In this interview Tresha asks Cameron Morse to discuss his latest book, Far Other, titled after a line from St. Augustin. Cameron discusses his interest in the Confessional Tradition, how it began around 300's BC, and what it can still teach us today about the value of an "ordinary" individual telling their personal story.
We discuss our evolving understanding of what it means to be born a human being, to search after something greater, to reflect on and tell our own stories. We also discuss the role that "play" has in poetry, and Cameron tells us how using words and finding the pleasure in words themselves helps him find a sense of freedom in writing his poetry. He'll share some samples of his writing, as well as his re-writing strategies that will help you find the play in your poetry too. 

How do you find the place in your poetry for your complete self - the sorrow and the joy, the eventful and the mundane, the gratitude and the grief? Is the balance found in a single poem or across multiple poems? In this interview award-winning poet Sonia Greenfield talks to us about her journey towards finding her voice, and how several teachers helped her along the way. Sonia also discusses her mission to help provide a platform for a diversity of  other voices in Rise Up Review, the political protest journal she started the day Trump was inaugurated. Finally, Sonia and our hosts make recommendations for new poets to read, including Torrin A. Greathouse, Etheridge Knight, and David Hernandez, Fatimah Asghar, Hanif Abdurraqib, and publications such as Best New Poets, Boat Journal, Muzzle, Adroit, The Rumpus, and Button Poetry. 

Do writers have a duty to share their work? In this interview Nancy Lynee Woo discusses what it’s like to come out of an Emerging Writers Fellowship, to wrestle with the pressure to become a “literary celebrity,” and the difference between trying to get published by a journal, vs. sharing art more freely on social media and personal platforms. She tells us how writing a mission statement for her life helped her get clear about her goals – what was important and what she could let go of, and when. Nancy also discusses her challenges writing a poem about a family member she never knew, and tells us how she approached the prospect of writing about the mystery of personal history, and the unknowable unknowns. Join us for a very full, enriching conversation.

Prolific writer, cartoonist and public speaker Jon Pearson talks to Tresha and Kelly about unleashing the inner genius of the imagination. Pearson talks fast, draws fast and writes fast, and his ideas about freeing the mind from our adult restrictions have inspired thousands of souls. Hear from him the benefits of not making sense, and allowing the creative child within to run wild. In addition to being a fount of thoughtful ideas and stirring anecdotes, he also happens to be the life-long mentor of The Poetry Salon’s own Tresha Faye Haefner who often claims, “It’s Jon’s fault I’m a writer.” Let it be Jon’s fault that YOU become a better writer, by listening to our interview with him here. 

Our second poets panel on surviving 2020 as a writer and poet is chock full of great suggestions and helpful life tips to staying creative and staying sane while keeping your distance from other people. Three amazing talents - Poetry Salon teacher Arthur Kayzakian, creativity coach Jennie Linthorst and cultural writer and critic Brian Sonia Wallace chime in, read some poetry and offer their wisdom on absorbing the news, staying connected and keeping your projects going.

This short segment is an excerpt from last week's interview where Julie Hartley, founder of the Centauri School of Writing and Tresha Faye Haefner talk about narrative types, truth in memoir and expanding that to the poetry field. It didn't fit in with the flow of the epsiode itself, but was too interesting to leave on the cutting room floor, so we're releasing it this week.

 Listen to this bonus episode to hear Julie Hartley talk about how she turned her love of writing into a career. Julie and her husband founded The Centauri School for Writing in Canada, plus a Costa Rica-based camp and retreat center that runs a whole slate of classes for both teens and adults. All genres and mediums are taught to free participants' creative spirits and find their true voices. We end with a beautiful reading from her middle-grade fiction book, The Finding Place. Julie continues to support writers during the Covid Pandemic. Find out more at www.centauriarts.com 

Bonus episode! This week, we gather three amazing poets - Brendan Constantine, Jeannine Hall Gailey and Nancy Lynee Woo - for the first of two panels on how these poets are coping with stay-at-home orders during a global pandemic. Are they reflecting the national scene in their writing? What habits are they forming? Are they able to connect with a writing community? Listen in as Tresha Faye Haefner hosts this fascinating conversation about artists coping with isolation.