Merch table!

What a weekend.

The Austin Feminist Poetry Festival took place this weekend. After having a day to decompress, I am filled with so much gratitude.

I cannot express enough thanks to Katherine Oldmixon and the Huston-Tillotson University Department of English. Their generous donation of space (with such great acoustics, no less) was crucial to making this event happen.

Thanks to Susan Post of BookWoman for giving her weekend to selling books and helping support poets both local and distant. And much thanks to Debra Winegarten for helping to run the book table on Friday night. And thanks to everyone who bought books and helped support local artists and bookstores.

I had other help with logistics as well. Poet Barbara Gregg provided marvelous assistance with my Potluck Poetics workshop. Jon spent his day off making programs when our original volunteer fell through, as well as running errands and assisting with the BookWoman setup. Lisa Marie Estus sat down with me months ago and gave valuable advice that gave me the confidence to see this event through.

Thank you to all of our donors: Mom, Dad, Jennifer Karydas, Barbara Gregg, Paula Starche, and all those anonymous folks who left cash donations. Your support will help us move forward with a 501(c)3 application.

Thanks to ire’ne lara silva, Liza Wolff-Francis, Scott Wiggerman and David Meischen, and Beth Kropf for their engaging workshops. My only regret is that, because I was so busy with my hosting duties, I couldn’t attend every single minute. Thanks also to ire’ne and Liza for their amazing performances, in conjunction with Kelsey Erin Shipman and Faylita Hicks. Thank you for your hard work, your energy, your confidence. Thank you for being willing to be vulnerable. Thank you for being willing to ask questions about yourselves and your feminism, and be willing to do so publicly. Thank you for opening space for discussion.

Thank you to the parents, grandparents, and teachers who brought their teenage poets to this event. Next year, I plan to expand the program to include workshops aimed at younger feminists.

And most of all, thank you to everyone who came out for the workshops, who read at the open mics, and contributed to the discussion. Thank you for sharing your poems and your selves. I am grateful to everyone who came out and shared this experience, and can’t wait for next year.

From Miri: “Why You Shouldn’t Tell That Random Girl on the Street that She’s Hot“

Okay. Before I say what I’m going to say, here are some things I’m NOT saying:

Finding a random woman attractive makes you a Bad Person.

Wanting to tell her she’s attractive makes you a Bad Person.

Every time you compliment a random woman on her appearance, it makes her uncomfortable/scared.

Every time you compliment a random woman on her appearance, that is harassment.

Here’s what I AM going to say:

If you find yourself really invested in the idea of complimenting random women on the street, you should do some serious soul-searching and figure out why that idea appeals to you so much.

It may very well be possible to compliment a woman you don’t know on her appearance in an appropriate way.

But, if you choose to compliment a random woman on her appearance, you run a high risk of making her uncomfortable/scared, even if she doesn’t show any outward signs of it. Are you willing to take that chance?

If you choose to compliment a random woman on her appearance, you may be harassing her.

Meanwhile, Chuck Wendig’s advice for hitting on the ladies?

SPOILER WARNING: DON’T.

[...]

Gents, don’t hit on women.

I know, now you’re saying, “BUT THAT’S HOW I GET MY PENIS TOUCHED,” and maybe you think that’s true. I realize there’s a certain mode of dating advice that suggests men must show confidence and be clear and forthright with their attraction. But “confidence” is a whole lot different than “aggression,” and hitting on someone is a whole lot more like the latter than the former. Note that verb: hitting — itself the language of violence, like you’re walking up and just bashing her about the head and neck with your sexual desire, like you’re clubbing a seal.

[...]

Talk to them. Connect with them on a human level. They’re not a socket for your plug. You’re a person. They’re a person. Go form an emotional-social tether before you go clumsily trying to bed them. I’m not saying every encounter has to end in marriage. Hey, you wanna just hook-up and find other people who just wanna hook-up, well, dang, I hope you two crazy kids find a way to slap your parts together, whatever those parts might be. Just the same, the way we find those people is by connecting. And being human. And recognizing that they’re human too. And not just treating them like prey animals who owe you a pound of flesh for your hunting efforts.

And Ferrett Steinmetz talks first talks about free coffee as harassment, and then a follow up post about how to hit on women:

The overall reaction from men is a whiny, “But I’m being nice!” No, sir, you are not.  You’re buying a coffee to try to get in her pants. The whole “What a nice guy I am!” aspect makes it easier for you to approach an intimidating situation, but let’s not romanticize this moment.  You’re not paying a compliment to that old, unattractive woman, or sharing your love of Terry Pratchett books with that dude over there.  You’re trying to buy five minutes of a cute woman’s time via a combination of guilt and gift-giving.  Jeez, what a prince you are!

[...]

The odds are good that she’s not going to respond well. And if you keep bugging women just because they happen to be within eyesight, then you send the none-too-subtle message that “A woman showing up in public means that she’s fair game.”  Which means she’s not a person, but an antelope in a game preserve.

[...]

And even if you’re really nice about it, recognize that hundreds of men have done this before, and this may not go over well.  If she rejects you coldly, she is not a bitch.  That’s on you, chum.  You took a shot, knowing full well you might irritate her, and lo you got exactly what you deserved.  Don’t tell yourself the story that “I was just trying to buy her a present!” because you were not.  You were bothering a woman in a clear attempt to get something from her.

And not only does it make people uncomfortable, it can cost your business customers. A few months ago, I was filling up a low-pressure tire with air. A guy from the tire shop across the street was buying a soda inside, came out and offered unsolicited help (I do, in fact, know how to track tire pressure and fill a tire, thank you), and then proceeded to flirt so aggressively, including trying to get my number, that he put me off from ever patronizing the store where he works. When I purchased some new tires a few weeks later, I definitely did not go to the place nearby, because why would I want to spend my money at a business that had an employee that was going to make me uncomfortable?

Growing up, I encountered a lot of mixed messages. Heck, these mixed messages still come across my consciousness. They’re just easier to filter out now. But for adolescent girls, they’re especially confusing. And it doesn’t seem like it’s getting easier. So here is Kelli’s insightful take on the subject:

Dear Reader,

I confess I’m not thinking about writing or creativity today, but the mixed messages we send our girls.

Here’s something I don’t write about much because I like to keep my family life separate from from writing life, but I’m the mother of an incredible daughter who constantly amazes me in all she does.

Recently, she’s been having a lot of questions about being a girl, a middle-school girl, which honestly, maybe be one of the hardest times in a girl’s life because they’re at that “mid” point–not women, but not children either.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about the mixed messages our societies gives girls–of all ages, we so want them to grow up into smart, kind, strong women, but right now, as kids, we’re kind of messing with their heads.

We tell them to love themselves for who they are, while grown women complain about their thighs, wrinkles, tummy fat, or gray hairs.  Some women go out and get plastic surgery, botox. Some women diet constantly, skip dessert.

Then Dove comes out with a huge campaign about loving ourselves and our natural beauty, while selling us anti-aging cream on the side.

We tell our girls “don’t dress sexy,” then sell them padded bras and padded bikinis.

We say “it’s important to be smart,” then make a snide comment about another woman while browsing a tabloid magazine in the checkout line.

We tell them “be empowered and be yourself,” but if “yourself” includes something that doesn’t fit our definition of beauty, sometimes we freak out a bit.

We tell the girls not to “dress provocatively,” instead of telling boys not to rape.

We tell them not to be bossy, then tell them to stick up for themselves & be assertive (though we rarely tell the boys not to be bossy).

We say “it doesn’t matter what other people think,” then live a lifestyle above our means to fit in or impress people ourselves.

We make dress codes for the girls so they don’t “distract” the boys, instead of teaching boys that you respect a girl whether she’s in a scoop neck t-shirt & short skirt or a button-up polo shirt & long pants.

And we don’t do all of this all the time, but we do it enough that I can see in the faces of these girls, the what-the-heck-is-going-on? look, the who-are-we-supposed-to-be?

And I know, this middle-place is hard for girls, their bodies feel as if they are part of some sort of hormonal experiment, but their bodies are theirs, their styles are theirs, and really, our girls are trying to figure out who they are.

Just as each of us at times in life, re-evaluate our life and values.

So in this time of change and crazy hormones, ease up on the girls, especially the ones in the middle, they are just muddling through this time as did we.  And help them support other girls who are also just doing the best they can and making the best choices they know how to at this very moment.

Love them for their baggy t-shirts or skinny jeans.  Their long crazy-colored hair or their short, this-will-do cropped style.  Their raccoon-eye make-up or their struggle with forehead acne.  Love them for their good and bad choices, their mistakes and what they learn from them.

Thank them when do something kind, no matter how small.  Girlworld folds in on itself and it can be hard to realize life is going on throughout the world and not just on your corner of the universe.

Let them know that no, they aren’t crazy, our culture is giving them mixed messages constantly.

Remind them how much they are loved and valued for who they are not how they look.  And that we as grown women will continue to try to make the world a better place for them by what we do and say.  In certain ways, these girls are a compact mirror of our who we are and the struggles we still have as women, so we need to love them and love ourselves, while constantly trying to make things better for generations of both girls and boys to come.

Amen.

April 15th: “Stranger“

April 16th: “Break Free“

April 17th: “Open Window“

April 18th: “Ennui“

April 19th: “It’s not being sure that keeps him alive“

April 20th: “We are all trying to leave our bodies behind“

April 21st: “Kitchen“

April 22nd: “For one thing“

April 23rd: “Summertime, and the living is…“

April 24th: “Scene“

April 25th: “Summer, Ending“

April 26th: “On the subject of her martyrdom“

April 27th: “A Hot Thing“

April 28th: “Financial Times“

April 29th: “She couldn’t get over the city“

April 30th: “High Summer“

Shannon Hardwick has a beautiful chapbook out. It makes me jealous that I don’t live in the desert.

I’ve been enjoying the work of my fellow poets participating in Pulitzer Remix.

Salon has a cool article on contronyms.

The two big Pulitzer Remix rules are as follows:

Each poem you produce  should be created from words and phrases that appear in your Pulitzer Prize-winning source text. You can rearrange terms and make changes such as modifying verb tenses, adding plurals, inserting pronouns, etc. but should not deviate wildly from the original text to produce poems “inspired by” the novel, for example.

Poems you produce must alter the source text in some substantial way. You should apply one of the techniques suggested in the “strategies” section — or one of your own invention — to produce a poem whose language and meaning differ from that of the source text. This is in adherence to section 2 of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Poetry. Poets who incorporate long unaltered passages from their source texts into their poems risk being removed from the project.

The editors suggest the following strategies (though of course, we’re free to make up our own):

Select and rearrange. Choose interesting words and phrases from a section of your source text, then rearrange them into a poem.

Black / white-out.  Use a magic marker or white-out pen to erase consecutive sections of your text, leaving words and phrases behind that make up your poem.

Write a poem using only dialogue spoken by a specific character. For example, if The Great Gatsby was your source text, you could write a found poem from only the words spoken by Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Nick Carraway, etc. during the course of the novel.

Cut it up. Photocopy pages from the text, then cut the words and phrases into strips. Put them in a bag, shuffle them up, then draw them out randomly and rearrange them until you have a poem.

Get technical. Use online tools like the ones detailed below to help scramble and rearrange your text in interesting ways.

I’ve been using the black-out and “select and rearrange” (though I’ve been calling it cut-up….oops) methods so far this month.

For the black-out poems, I start by pulling a page out of a PDF. I scanned about 40 pages of text using an app on my phone, and if I want to work on some black-out poems, I pull out the document and print out the number of pages I need.  Usually, I start by blocking out the proper nouns, since I have yet been interested in writing a poem about a particular character (unless you consider the house itself a character, and then I wrote one last week). From then on, it’s a matter of reading the page over and over and over, penciling out bits at a time. I start small, with conjunctions or adverbs that strike me as irrelevant, moving from individual words to entire sentences. When the piece is done, I pull up the digital file and black everything out using Photoshop, which looks better than my pencil work. The black-out poems have been interesting because they remind me how difficult it is, still, to cut things from my poems. They also reinforce that sometimes, excision is the best route to completion.

For the cut-up poems, I have roughly 20 pages of typed-up sentences and paragraphs from Beloved that I thought might be useful in some way. When I sit down to work on a piece, I shuffle through the pages until I find something that resonates me either thematically or linguistically. I then keep rifling around and pulling lines that builds on the original idea, rearranging as I go. The final lines get taped into my notebook, and I type everything up.

So that’s the gist of it. Check out the poems below.

April 8th: “Lady of the Lake“

April 9th: “Return to Form“

April 10th: “Ignorance was bliss“

April 11th: “Victory of the Soul“

April 12th: “Empowerment“

April 13th: “Pleasure, Affirming“

April 14th: “Springtime Plea“

This weekend, between my birthday, a co-worker’s birthday, and probably having to put in some time at work, I’ll be enjoying the events of the Austin International Poetry Festival.

On Sunday the 21st, I’ll be opening for Julene Tripp Weaver at BookWoman. I’m honored to be starting off a great afternoon of poetry.

Finally, April 26th-28th I’ll be enjoying the inspiration and tranquility of Poetry at Round Top. This is one of my favorite poetry events, and I can’t wait.

The first five days, I created black-out poems. These pieces were all creative stretches for me; I have only created black-out pieces a handful of times. But I’m in a really busy period at work, and black-out poems are portable. I can carry pages around and work on them during breaks in my schedule. When I come home, I re-do the blackout in Photoshop.

I notice that, for the most part, these pieces are more abstract than my usual style. This is neither intention or unintentional; it’s simply what’s happening. I might try to return to more concrete pieces as I move on with the rest of the month. Or I might not.

What I do know is that writing in a voice that’s not my own is thrilling.

April 1st: “Antelope Visions“

April 2nd: “Voice of Light“

April 3rd: “Caught, Choking“

April 4th: “The Night of Living“

April 5th: “Will to Live“

April 6th: “124“

April 7th: “Yesterday, Tomorrow“

If you missed my Writing on the Air appearance, you can find a link to the show archive here.

I have a villanelle entitled “I hear the thunder” in an anthology entitled Journey to Crone. I’m excited to be placed within this group of amazing poets, and also thrilled to have a villanelle published. It’s a tricky form, and more often than not, mine don’t even make it out for submission.

In preparation for the Pulitzer Remix project, you can read more about my work and my relationship to my source text here.

I keep thinking that April is going to be a less-hectic month, because I’m not traveling, but in fact I’m attending Poetry at Round Top. It’s just that now that I live in Texas, any drive that takes less than 2 hours no longer counts as traveling. There’s also the Austin International Poetry Festival. And my birthday, and a friend’s birthday. And, of course, the Pulitzer Remix project.

(I’ve come to accept that I’m one of those people that just thrives on being busy.)