For Love of Poetry: This Choice, podcast hosted by Ren Powell

Here's the tiny pencil sharpener typewriter my father gave me once upon a time with Emily Dickinson's 1263, "There is no Frigate like a Book," sitting in the carriage on my desk next to the framed tiny feather and butterfly wing I wrote about in one of my first posts for Feral Mom, Feral Writer, The Desk, back in 2007 when I was still nursing an infant and "November Butterfly" was just a poem I had written and miraculously placed in 2005 in The Dickens along with "God's in the Butter" (co-winner of the Eugene Ruggles Prize for Poetry). 

Just days shy of my due date for my third child, I had to be coaxed out that night by a warm and loving email from the editors urging me to attend the award ceremony (without of course tipping off that I'd won). We drove through a heavy downpour, Braxton Hicks contractions coming and going, my children falling asleep to steady sweep of the windshield wipers. My husband stayed with the kids and I went on in alone to read the poem to a room full of lovers of poetry, grateful for the interlude, grateful that my father and his wife met me inside.

Photo by Robyn Beattie

Ren Powell generously gave me the chance to read "God's in the Butter" again here in her podcast, This Choice, as well as the chance to answer her artful questions about poetry's grip on my psyche and the manner in which exposure to world religions on a childhood commune, my subsequent experience of motherhood, and my latest Tarot devotions shape my relationship to my body, mind, and the poems I can't seem to stop writing. 

(Also included in the podcast is a reading of Dickinson's poem.)

You can listen here to the full podcast: 

This Choice, Tania Pryputniewicz

And also check out the first interview in the series:

This Choice, Kelli Russell Agodon (Agodon is the founder of Two Sylvias Press, and co-creator of the Poet Tarot deck).

Photo by Robyn Beattie

Related Links:

Ren Powell: Poet and Teaching Artist

Wheel of Archetypal Selves: The Many Faces of Change, my next Tarot Writing class, begins April 11 and runs for 9 weeks. Major Arcana under study: Chariot, Wheel of Fortune, Devil, Hermit, Strength, Tower, Death and Fool Cards. No prior experience of the Tarot cards necessary.

To learn about my approach to Tarot Writing, visit Tarot Tuesdays at Wheel of Archetypal Selves on Facebook where I post a Tarot writing exercise every Tuesday or visit Tarot for Two where writer Mary Allen and I consider a card, one per month, and the role the card played in our month.

Photos by Robyn Beattie (with exception of typewriter photo).

December 20 Submission Workshop for San Diego Writers

Salvage Your December with Tania Pryputniewicz at San Diego Writers, Ink

I'm looking for a few more students to come out this coming Sunday, December 20^th  for three hours to join me for my Submission Blitz workshop. We will bring work, work in progress, and lists of places to potentially submit. We will match work with targets so that January 1 you are ready to come out of holiday haze ahead of the game and eager to submit to new venues.

Remember to bring your own list of targets to share and any hard copy zines you want to let us peruse as well as at least one in-process poem or short story or project you are revising. I’ve printed out a copy of Tweetspeak Poetry's Submission Map for us to flag state by state to indicate where we’ve published as a class. Bring a friend…you’ll keep one another accountable to your goals!

All the details here: Salvage Your December with Tania Pryputniewicz.

Interview Live at r.k.v.r.y. Quarterly Literary Journal with Tina Pocha

Suffering was incredibly grounding. It brought everything into perspective--what was important, what was painful, what was undoing. It returned me to love—Tina Pocha

I had the honor of interviewing poet Tina Pocha this week for r.k.v.r.y. Quarterly. You’ll find a link to her poetry and her reflections on the gift of disclosure and other musings on addiction, the role of labels such as “addict” or “poet,” and the ways Pocha’s childhood in India weaves itself into her approach to valuing the process of writing poetry:

In Indian tradition, the marriage of Shiva and Parvati is thought to be symbolic of the ultimate integration of the soul, the achieving of enlightenment where we bring together all the (seemingly) disparate parts of our selves into one whole. I’m tired of living divided—head from heart, strength from tenderness—and poetry helps me to bring it all together.

We’d love it if you have a moment to read her poem and interview and drop a comment if so inspired.

Quest 2016

I’ve committed to blogging in response to prompts offered by Tracking Wonder’s December line up of visionaries. (Yes, you can still join us if you want to play in public across platform of your choice and/or in private Facebook Forum. To join, visit Tracking Wonder's Quest 2016 page; from that page, you can also view my short video about the work last year's Quest helped me develop with Tarot and Writing as well as videos by my stellar Quest mates and their projects). This year, I’m using the lens of the Tarot and blogging in response to what I see as well as creating a synthesis image of the cards in colored pencil. Most recent posts address:

The Star Card as Daydreaming Self…(Barry Kaufman’s Daydreaming Prompt)

Re-visioning the Aeon Card Through Lens of Birth…(Seth Godin’s Miss Me Prompt)

Heart Lighthouse on the Horizon…(Jeffrey Davis, an extra Horizon Exercise Prompt)