When I came across this internship opportunity online earlier this year, I realized that PSNY was the organization that started The Poetry Brothel, so I visited their website to see what else they were all about. Every event and program listed looked so fun and creative, and I fell in love from afar with The Poetry Society’s mission of bringing poetry to everyone through accessible, unconventional, and collaborative projects and events.
It’s difficult to narrow down everything this internship has given me, but my top three takeaways are as follows:
1. poets are the dream team
Putting together the New York City Poetry Festival on Governors Island was one of the most magical experiences I’ve ever had. PSNY staff, my fellow interns, all the volunteers, readers, stage hosts, literary orgs, and vendors were there purely because of their dedication to poetry, and it showed.
When it rained on the morning of the first festival day, this crew of poetry devotees rolled with the punches, tackling the moment with optimism and creativity. The sense of community and warmth was like none I have ever experienced before!
On the second day of the festival, as I was walking around saying hi to poets and vendors I’d met the previous day and introducing myself to new faces, I found myself dreading the sunset that would ring in the festival’s end. I was ready to put on a third day!
2. Event production is immensely rewarding
As an event production intern, I knew from the start that my tasks would mainly revolve around planning for the festival and making sure it ran smoothly. However, what that actually entailed was so variable and wide-ranging that I found myself building new skills that I never would have guessed could pertain to event production.
I built an interactive Google Map and a treasure hunt, two completely new skills, which were such fun and creative projects outside of my comfort zone. During the festival itself, I was constantly thinking on my feet and getting inventive with solutions for the unpredictable situations that arose, whether that was finding tents for vendors, rigging up signs with DIY materials between readings, or crafting myself a trash bag hat and poncho in the rain.
The dynamic and spontaneous nature of event production is what made the experience so enriching and bonding.
3.Stepping outside your comfort zone is always worth it.
At the beginning of the internship, I did not expect to have so many opportunities to share my writing as I did; and I could not have predicted the level of encouragement I received.
I shared my writing through research and construction of the Festival’s Treasure Hunt and I was thrilled, albeit nervous, to be able to read my own poems at the Festival. I didn’t have much experience reading my work aloud, and finding my spoken voice for my poetry was so different and so much more powerful than sharing the work digitally or on paper.
The PSNY team also gave me the chance to write articles, such as this one, for the How to Poet blog! My first article was a review of renowned poet Sophie Cabot Black’s new book, Geometry of the Restless Herd, and I was pleased and surprised to receive personal responses from her and Copper Canyon Press expressing their appreciation. I was honored that they thought my review captured the soul of the book so well. Taking the time to go in depth with someone’s work can be so valuable both to you and to them, and this was yet another way in which I was able to take part in creative community anew and branch out.
None of this would have been possible without PSNY!
Said makeshift Poncho.
Written by Lily Naifeh-Bajorek
Writer Bio: Lily Naifeh-Bajorek is a multidisciplinary writer, musician, and artist studying in the creative writing program at Oberlin College. Currently, she is interning at The Poetry Society of New York, where she is helping plan and put on the 13th Annual New York City Poetry Festival and working on the Summer 2024 edition of Milk Press. In her free time she makes zines and puts on shows to celebrate her friends’ music and art. She hopes to publish several books, release a million albums, and open a venue/art and poetry space someday. Follow her on Instagram @trashprincessdestroy