A Poet's Double Life

For poets working outside the literary world.

Category Archives: Performance Evaluation


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April in NOLA


Mural of the Harriet Tubman $20 bill
Beignets from Café du Monde
Gumbo and Bloody Mary
Boston skyline from airplane

Last weekend, I met the Margaret Bashaar, editor and founder of Hyacinth Girl Press the micro-press that published my chapbook. It was the first time we had met in person and she had heard me read the poems from the chapbook. Margaret submitted a proposal for a panel reading from various HGP titles at the New Orleans Poetry Festival. I told her if the panel got accepted, I would “make it work.” In actuality, it was harder to find a flight for a decent price and reserve accommodations than it was to take time off from work.

For the reading, I selected poems from the chapbook that I do not normally read— “Peaches and Pound Cake,” “Why I Stopped Mentoring White Women,” “There’s a Graveyard in My Belly,” and “Transit of Venus”—in addition to the one poem I love to read, “Twenty Questions for Black Professionals,” which was, thankfully, the poem my editor wanted to hear. I also read three new poems I’ve written in the past year that have received the polishing after they’ve been through the weekly critiques over Skype. Although I was on the ground less than 48 hours, I got a chance to meet and hear some great poets, take in the street art on St. Roch Avenue, eat beignets at Café du Monde, have a Bloody Mary & gumbo at Stanley, and visit Marie LaVeau’s House of Voodoo before heading back to the airport.

This week’s poems were a combination of poets I wanted to make sure I included and poems that jumped off the page (or the screen) when I was reading them.

Day 23: The Abandoned Valley by Jack Gilbert 

Day 24: The White Ones by Langston Hughes

Day 25: from Citizen, VI [My brothers are notorious] by Claudia Rankine

Day 26: Facing It by Yusef Komunyakaa

Day 27: The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Day 28: One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

Day 29: Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note by Amiri Baraka 

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Chapbook Party!

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On Friday, June 26th, I had the launch party for my chapbook, My Mother’s Child. Thanks to my tango-friend Mariana, I was able to have the party at Terra Nova Global Properties new office in downtown Durham. And my friend Janet provided the food, decorations, prosecco, and the real champagne glasses.

 

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After a fabulous introduction by fellow Living Poetry organizer, Bartholomew Barker, I read a four poems from the chapbook and a few others I had written over the last two years. Many in the crowd had followed my April and November poem-a-day challenges and a few had never heard me read before. I’m so thankful to everyone who came out to support me and buy books.

This gallery contains 15 photos


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Year in Review 2014


yearinreview2014

If I had to pick a word to describe this year it would be Cycle. In 2013, I spent a lot of time focused on writing and sending out publications, which culminated in 7 published poems. This year, I fell into a poetry funk after June and didn’t write much. What surprised me was that I wasn’t too worried about not writing. After finishing my MFA, I was so concerned about not writing at the same level I did when I was in graduate school. But I quickly realized that creating 4-5 poems a month was a ridiculous writing schedule and settled into a more reasonable writing rhythm. The thing with rhythm is that it can change. And it should change to make things interesting.

Even though my writing slowed down, I still managed to keep poetry a part of my life. Toward the end of the year, I made a conscious effort to go back to the basics—poetry events, workshops, and open mics—because I always get inspired when I am around other poets and hear their work.  This year’s highlights reveal much more poetry in my life than I thought had been there.

January: Returned to Puerto Rico for the 4th VCFA residency as the Graduate Coordinator. Living Poetry‘s 5th anniversary party. Interview with Ian Bodkin’s Written in Small Spaces.

February: Wrote more poems for 14 words of love. Guest Poetry Editor for When Women Waken’s Power Issue. Moderated the panel, “Uncovering Hip-Hop Poetry” at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) in Seattle.

March: First time I attended the Poet’s Café @ Gather in Cary.

April: Wrote 30 poems for the April 2014 Poem-a-Day Challenge. Coordinated three poetry events at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences during Earth Month, including a Poetry on Demand booth and poetry based on a Science Talk.

May: Organized the third Poetry Scope event featuring poetry about science. Wrote a commissioned poem for a birthday, Camellia. Three poems featured in Luna Luna Magazine.

June: Attended 19th Cave Canem retreat, my third and last time.  Wrote at the Poetry on Demand booth at the Chatham Farmer’s Market.

July: First poetry date with Kelly Lenox. Conducted a 10-minute poetry workshop to kick off the Summertime Reading Series at the Carrboro ArtsCenter. First time I attended the LIT 101 open mic at Francesca’s Dessert Café in Durham. Published in When Women Waken’s Knowing Issue.

August: Attended the informal tribute to Maya Angelou at the Carrboro ArtsCenter. Signed the contract with Hyacinth Girl Press to publish my chapbook, My Mother’s Child.

September: First poet to read at this year’s Spark After Dark during poetrySpark! Led a poetry workshop, Revision Toolbox. First time I attended Two Writers Walk Into a Bar, a reading series featuring poetry and prose writers.

October: Attended the NC Literary Hall of Fame induction and the West End Poetry Festival. Saw the Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco at NC State. Guest Poetry Editor for When Women Waken’s Delight Issue.

November: Emceed the tribute to Maya Angelou sponsored by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library, Friends of the Carrboro Public Library, the Friends of Chapel Hill Public Library, and the Friends of The ArtsCenter of Carrboro. Attended the North Carolina Writer’s Network conference in Charlotte.

December: Wrote a poem for friend’s graduation.


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Summer in Review


It’s been a jammed-packed 80 days since I last posted to the blog. It was only after this data guru did the numbers that I realized there was a balance between literary events and non-literary work that kept me busy the whole time.

June

  • Cave Canem Retreat (June 15-22). My third and final time at this retreat for African-American poetry. We had an awesome lineup of faculty: Chris Abani, Tim Siebles, Patricia Smith, and Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon joined the founders, Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady. Not to mention the coolest graduation party ever.
  • Selected Poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. I landed at the RDU airport and drove straight to the book club for this Russian poet.
  • Lead a poetry exercises as part of the Carrboro ArtsCenter Summer Reading kickoff event.

CC class of 2014

July

August

  • Picked up a few new books at a book swap.
  • LIT 101. A relatively new open mic at Francesca’s Dessert Café in Durham happens every Third Sunday.
  • Third Thursday Open Mic in Fuquay Varina. I’m only able to attend this event once or twice a year and couldn’t resist participating in the Red Dress contest.
  • Carrboro ArtsCenter sponsored a Maya Angelou tribute reading, where people shared their favorite poems in her memory.

summer books 2014

September

sparkafterdark 2013

Throughout the summer, I met four times for the poetry one-on-ones with Kelly, submitted to one poetry contest and one anthology, and signed the contract with Hyacinth Girl Press for my chapbook, My Mother’s Child, due in early 2015.

As a double-life poet, all poetic activity takes place on the backdrop of the non-literary career, which kept its own busy schedule:

  • 1 project that I led,
  • 1 project started in June,
  • 1 subcommittee started in September,
  • 19 days of working late,
  • 3 days working on the weekend, and
  • 1 report completed in September but that will be presented in October.

In the interest of transparency, most of the summer was filled with all kinds of activity on the personal side including:

  • 4 parties,
  • 3 weddings,
  • 3 houseguests,
  • 9 milongas,
  • 3 road trips, and
  • my first mammogram

charleston

And today, I give a workshop on revision, so I’ll have more to say about that soon!


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Over-Scheduled


photo-2I hate to look at my schedule for the next few weeks but I can’t help it. I carry around a calendar in my head.
This week is packed–coffee meet followed by tango on Monday, practice session for a art salon on Tuesday, last poetrySpark organizer meeting on Wednesday, lunch meet on Thursday, and flying to California for the Labor Day weekend on Friday. Full days at work are the unmentioned yet unavoidable backdrop to the landscape of the upcoming week. September is no better–VCFA alumni gathering, a practice session for the art salon, a wedding, poetry book club, softball double-header (watching), poetrySpark, and a milonga–all before the 15th! And did mention the work project I am leading will be in the report writing phase and having to fly out to a professional conference in Austin, TX the morning after the art salon? And I know what you’re going to say, Pam, when are you going to have time to write, revise, and submit poems? I have no clue. September I will take a break from tango classes, though I don’t know if work or poetry expand to fill that void. We’ll have to wait and see.


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March: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lion


march-lion1March was a busy time for me—this post is only the 4th one I had time to write this month. I did manage to blog about the most important things that happened in March: AWP and the six women writers that inspire my work.

But this month brought a lot of transition at work—moving into a new role where I lead projects and manage people. I am also spearheading a process to compile ideas for the next 15 projects we will complete over the next two years. I am no longer behind the scenes, but rather, have become a point-person to answer questions from my colleagues and do special projects for my boss, including being the staff support to the big bosses. We are also interviewing for four positions, so I spent a lot of time combing through 50+ applications packets to narrow down the few who might be my future colleagues.

I didn’t worry about writing in March because I knew I would need all that inspiration for April’s Poem-a-Day Challenge. But I did attend three open mics, including a new event at Matthew’s Chocolates in Hillsborough. With little emphasis on writing, I decided to focus on reading a novel—The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht was chockfull of imagery and rich language, and had an intricate story line. I was so enamored by this book, I posted quotes as my Facebook status and convinced five other people to read it. I finished up Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Selected Poems by Sharon Olds, and Final Poems by Rabindranath Tagore and checked out several from my favorite library:

Of course with all that reading material for inspiration, two poems found their way out, “Childless” and “Bicycle.” Today and tomorrow, I’ll be working to edit these and other poems for March 31st submission deadlines and preparing my manuscript, Black.Woman.Professional, for submission to the Cave Canem  first-book award contest.

And I got word that my science poem, “Transit of Venus,” won second place in the Carolina Woman Writing Contest! Suddenly, I’m feeling a little Helen Reddy: I am woman. Hear me roar!