Everything you need to know about The 13th Annual New York City Poetry Festival on Governors Island, July 13th and 14th. This covers: Transportation, Ticketing, Readers and the many sundried features of the Festival.
Book Review of Geometry of the Restless Herd by Sophie Cabot Black
Sophie Cabot Black is one of our readers at the New York City Poetry Festival this year. Catch her reading at 5:30pm with Copper Canyon Press on July 14th at the Brinkley Stage. Read on for a review of her latest poetry collection.
I did not have one specific idea of what to expect when I delved into Sophie Cabot Black’s new book of poems, Geometry of the Restless Herd, but I must say I was not expecting a book of pastoral poems centered around sheep herding to be so scathing, fiery, and politically eloquent.
Every poem in this collection unfolds upwards from a strong and direct foundation of candid truth and observation into a soaring call to examine oneself, one’s surroundings, and one’s daily endeavors. Cabot Black weaves threads of connection between the layered, convoluted systems that make up our everyday contemporary reality, and measures how deep they go in an exploration of human relationships with work, nature, animals, and each other.
The first section of the collection starts off with “And So,” an ode to wildness about running off “Beyond and into our own summer” and leaving behind one’s home. This first section is preceded by the standalone poem “Coyotes,” addressing “the in between/ of where it was/ and where it might/have been,” a question which comes up throughout the collection.
In the poems which immediately follow these two, Cabot Black delves into a comparison of agriculture–specifically sheep herding, human-animal relationships, and human-land relationships–to contemporary post-industrial capitalism.
Poems like “Democracy Until,” “To Burn Through Where You are Not Yet,” and “Sanctuary” address the illusory nature of individualism, ownership, and freedom, particularly how systems of power determine and assign value to people and animals based on what service they can provide or how much work they can do, to the detriment of everything but profit. Herds of sheep being taken to a pasture which they don’t realize is confined from the world outside loom in similarity to people being funneled through cities, buildings, paperwork, and systems. The following section from “Democracy Until” particularly struck me:
My barn, your barn; we were never ready
To know the herd. Each coming from somewhere else
Fills in until whatever might be missing
Does not easily fit. And so the field
Becomes the shape the market requires,
And to set fire just before heading on
Is also to say it does not matter
Which part is played
But that it gets played… (Cabot Black 8).
Throughout the collection, Cabot Black explores what it means to play a part, especially as a worker. “To Burn Through Where You are not Yet,” “Silo,” “Bringing in the Stray,” “Handbook of Risk,” and “Of Use,” among others, highlight the mournful futility at the end of a day, or lifetime, of work for someone else. The speakers in several poems are distinct characters who have their own perspectives on and approaches to work, and include what I read as multiple herders both narrating and being addressed, foremen, agents, borrowers, and children.
The pastoral landscape that Cabot Black paints is at times desolate, lonely, and harsh, and the recurring speaker repeatedly voices regrets about the dreams and freedoms they have sacrificed in the name of work for someone else’s profit as well as marriage in a few poems. However, a strong hopeful and sweet note comes through simultaneously, in the cyclicality of nature and the creatures who inhabit the world of the poetry.
As Cabot Black questions the meaning of ownership over land and the meaning of being part of a family and a community when people are pitted against each other for profit, she simultaneously depicts the sweetness, intimacy, and stillness of being with others, whether human or animal. A strong connection and indebtedness to the land shines up out of these poems as an answer towards the question of meaning and strength. Connection, community, and storytelling are the tools of remembrance and resistance at play in these poems, and at our disposal as Cabot Black emphatically reminds us.
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
#PoFest 2024 Headliners: PSNY's Poetry Picks
How to Care for Your Poet
Book Review: Copper Canyon Press Releases Nikki Wallschlaeger’s Fourth Collection, Hold Your Own
Hold Your Own wastes no time. From the imperative affirmation of its title, to the George Carlin epigraph and the opening poem How to Write a War Poem, Wallschlaeger outlines the state of affairs. It’s one in which feelings of helplessness, fury and desperation are as homeostatic as war, racial inequality and violent sexism. She’s clear, these “forces of evil” are fixtures in our world. But, the potent assertion being made is, so are we. We are not going anywhere.
PSNY's Places to Write #4
As much as there’s plentiful opportunity to be inspired in darling NYC, often quiet times to write are harder to come by. We’re launching this series on First Mondays as a monthly reminder to take some time out for the poet in you. Carve out some you-time and head down to this month’s PTW spot & give this Prompt a free write.
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
Elevated above DUMBO and behind stunning Brooklyn Heights brownstones is a Promenade that unveils one of the most striking vistas of the Manhattan skyline. Governor’s Island peers from the left and Jersey peeks over from the distance. Bridges both Brooklyn & Manhattan frame the centerpiece.
Directions:
Navigate to Borough Hall station in Brooklyn, which will allow you to emerge right by Montague Street. Begin your walk all the way down it , past Arthur Miller’s residence at number 62 on the left, until you reach the intersection of Montague Terrace & Pierrepont Place.
Writing Prompt:
It’s the perfect place for people-watching, sitting here it’s impossible to be uninspired. There’s no elaborate prompt needed today. Just watch and record the life surrounding you. Be curious. Look, but don’t just look. Close your eyes. Feel all the energies that you’re sharing this space and this moment with. Pick up your pen. Write… Oh & if you see a poet, ask them for a poem!
Hashtag #PSNYPlacestoWrite when you visit our PTW Location 4.
Share what you write with us @poetrysocietyny on Instagram or TikTok so we can repost it!
Series by F.M Papaz
F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian creative and writer who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Wild Roof Journal, Five South & Mantissa Poetry Review amongst others. She does Editorial work for Milk Press and Tabula Rasa Review as well as being a Marketing Associate for PSNY. Connect @fmpapaz on Instagram & TikTok and visit fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life and to find her chapbook, ‘Distance Makes the Heart Grow.’
Reading Poetry as a Non-Poet
How To Write a Love Poem: Theory, Steps and Template
Cucumbers, Pornography and Formula 1: Three Ways to Define Poetry
PSNY's Places to Write #3
As much as there’s plentiful opportunity to be inspired in darling NYC, often quiet times to write are harder to come by. We’re launching this series on First Mondays as a monthly reminder to take some time out for the poet in you. Carve out some you-time and head down to this month’s PTW spot & give this Prompt a free write.
Greenacre Park
Directions: Find your way to Midtown on 51st Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave. There you will discover a beautiful hidden gem nestled in the middle of the city.
Writing Prompt:
The eye-catching centerpiece of the park will drown out the usual sounds of the city with rushes of water.
Water has so many functions and properties. It can cleanse, drown, lift up, restore and calm us.
Focus on the soundtrack of this place & ask yourself: What does your body need from the water today?
Do you need the trickling streams to carry something away? Or the force of its waterfall to wash you clean?
Hashtag #PSNYPlacestoWrite when you visit our PTW Location 3.
Feel free to share what you write, we’ll repost it @poetrysocietyny.
Series by F.M Papaz
F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian creative and writer who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Wild Roof Journal, Five South & Mantissa Poetry Review amongst others. She does Editorial work for Milk Press and Tabula Rasa Review as well as being a Marketing Associate for PSNY. Connect @fmpapaz on Instagram & TikTok and visit fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life and to find her chapbook, ‘Distance Makes the Heart Grow.’
Fools (and Foolishness) in Poetry - By Joshua John Smithe
PSNY's Places to Write #2
As much as there’s plentiful opportunity to be inspired in darling NYC, often quiet times to write are harder to come by. We’re launching this series on First Mondays as a monthly reminder to take some time out for the poet in you.
Carve out some you-time and head down to this month’s PTW spot & give this Prompt a free write.
Aye Simon Reading Room
Directions: On the corner of 5th & E 89th, you’ll find the entry of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Grab a $30 ticket and head inside to the iconic atrium designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. As you travel up the Level 1 ramp, halfway up you will find a semi-circle opening on your right that leads to the Aye Simon Reading Room.
Writing Prompt: You have the option within the room, to peruse the many art and poetry books for inspiration. In 2023, Ama Codjoe was the Poet-in-Residence of the Museum. There are materials within the Reading Room that she created. A screen with headphones to the back of the room, will offer you options to listen to poems Ama has written as well Writing Prompts she created during her residency.
Alternatively, take a walk around the museum and take in the artworks, paying special attention to shape.
Shape makes this museum everything that it is.
Artworks you’ll find also reflect their nature, in the form the artists have chosen to present them in.
Create a poem whose form reflects its nature.
Hashtag #PSNYPlacestoWrite when you visit our PTW Location 2.
Feel free to share what you write, we’ll repost it @poetrysocietyny.
Series by F.M Papaz
F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian creative and writer who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Wild Roof Journal, Five South & Mantissa Poetry Review amongst others. She does Editorial work for Milk Press and Tabula Rasa Review as well as being a Marketing Associate for PSNY. Connect @fmpapaz on Instagram & TikTok and visit fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life and to find her chapbook, ‘Distance Makes the Heart Grow.’
Poetry is Magic: My First Intensive Poetry Class by F.M Papaz
Up until then, how I conducted myself in poetry had come from an intuitive place within me that was difficult to regale. The amazing part of getting into Theory was the discovery and affirmation that the craft of poetry does have this spiritual origin and operation to it that lives within and is executed by the Poet.
Poetry Opens Up the World, Like Spring
Feeling Like a Poet
PSNY's Place to Write #1
Black History Always (Not Just a Month) - Written by Faith-Marie McHenry
Why We Need More Love Poems This Valentine’s Day (And Every Day!)
AI & Poetry: Nemeses to Lovers?
Image Credit: Possessed Photography
Written by Fi / F.M Papaz (@fmpapaz)
If you’re a technology-challenged poet like me, whose browser activities don’t elevate past Google Suite, I can probably guess your feelings on the use of Artificial Intelligence in poetry and literature. We have many reasons to fear the murky territory of AI, especially in regards to the ethical concerns around privacy, intellectual property and plagiarism.
But should we be so quick to toss out the tube-grown baby with the bathwater?
I pushed my discomfort aside and asked the biddable bot itself – Chat GPT.
Fi: Do you think you should be used for writing poems?
ChatGPT: Certainly! I can be a helpful tool for generating ideas, providing inspiration, or even assisting in the drafting process when it comes to writing poems. Whether you're looking for creative prompts, exploring different styles, or seeking assistance with specific elements of your poem, I'm here to help.
However, it's important to note that while I can generate content, the true depth and personal touch in poetry often come from the unique voice and experiences of the poet. So, consider using me as a tool to complement your creative process rather than replace it entirely.
Wow, that’s very intellectually honest of you Chat-bae.
This was my first time using the tech, so I spent a couple minutes poking around to test its capabilities before I got bored. Hilariously, both Chat-bae and Google’s Bard, could not produce for me a poem without an AABB rhyme scheme, no matter how many times I asked it to rewrite it. But I digress.
Last year, in an effort to diversify my poetry arsenal, I sought out various workshops online and stumbled upon, ‘If, Then: Technology & Poetics.’ They are a working group and monthly workshop series that “bring together writers, coders, and scholars investigating the relationships between humans and machines and the works of art, literature, and visual knowledge they produce together.”
It is their founder Carly Schnitzler’s belief that, “writing itself is a technology—creative computational practices bring this truth into sharp and productively defamiliarizing relief.” She started ‘If, Then’ in the Fall of 2020 “as a way to connect with others invested in creative computation and to create an accessible, friendly, and generative space for folks, of all backgrounds and interests, to explore creative computational methods in their writing and art-making practices.” Their archives are available for free online and all their workshops are free, virtual and open to everyone.
Via the ‘If, Then’ community, I have discovered many creatives doing mind-boggling things with Tech. In one of the first workshops I attended, Amira Hanifa presented their digital work CreaTures Glossary.
Amira is interested in “language as material,” and the way that our use of words to categorize, has a by-product of the “particularities [being] blurred in the naming.” Her project, which you can find at this website address, desires to provide a space for nonviolent language; pushing back on our human tendency to assign categorization that will inevitably fall short of sufficiently capturing phenomena or beings.
Amira encourages free play and contributions to the definitions of the words provided on the website, a living, digital dictionary that reflects the evolutionary reality of language. My favorite function is the ‘Interview with a Word’ function which you can find by:
> Start by defining a word
> Select one of the terms on the left, E.g. “regeneration”
> Scroll to beneath the second text box.
> Read but also contribute answers to questions asked and answered as if you were that word’s persona.
Another poet and smarty-pants programmer I was introduced to from ‘If, Then’ is Natalie Jane Edson. On her website - https://nataliejaneedson.com/poetry-tool/ - she has some very intuitive, very fun poetry tools that go by the following names: Cut Up Machine, Erasure, Homolinguistic Translator, Marshmallow Experiment 1 and Mirror Poems. I promise you endless awe and the unblocking of any stuck poem if you play around with these tools! Please credit Natalie if you use her free tools.
Natalie and Amira are just two examples of brilliant, creative minds dispelling myths around the compatibility of technology and poetics.
I asked Natalie to provide me further insight into her philosophy around the use of AI in poetry. She said, and I conclude (emphatic, exclamation mark implied) with her response:
“The idea that current AI language models can only make poetry worse reeks of the same cynicism that makes people ask: is it even possible to write anything new? Hasn’t it already all been said before?
The answer is of course not, because we’ve never had a world like this. We’ve never had the same people here. I am a different artist than I was yesterday, and I’m also a different artist than anyone else I have ever met. If you give a room of poets a prompt or a set of words from which to write a poem, it is inconceivable that any two poets would come up with identical works.
So there is always an element of curation in artmaking, which people are ignoring in this conversation about emergent technologies. The things that you pick up as inspiration rely on your personality, your memories, your geography, etc.
When people are working with AI, for example, the generated parts that get shared or pulled into a final work depend on the artist’s perspective and interests. It’s not as if they are not present. The artist’s hand is in whatever they do, every miniscule choice they make. I believe in the uniqueness of the lens. As long as we have humanity and individuality there will be artistry.
Furthermore, art always expands itself according to the technology that is available. When photography came around, people believed that it would be the death of painting. The average person in 1900 could not possibly have conceived of the work of video artists like Nam June Paik. I don’t think people realize that the first computer generated poems were written in the 1950s, that as long as we have had the ability to code we have been using it to create literature.
I personally think that it would be a shame for us to abandon our curiosity and desire to experiment because of a media frenzy about what we’re calling “AI”, which in reality is a set of technologies that doesn’t even come close to having the capabilities described in science fiction. Existing mediums are not diminished by the creation of new ones.
As for my own work, I see both my digital poems and my poetry tools as part of the legacy of early 20th century surrealist movements. I have a tool called the “Cut-up Machine” that mimics the methods of Burroughs and the Dadaists. I am interested in randomness, sense and nonsense.
And I am doing things that would be impossible to do without the use of code and the internet.”
*Mic Drop*
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Other freebies to check out:
Cliche-finder: Avoid cliches in your poetry by pasting your draft into this handy-dandy tool, it’ll highlight overused words and phrases.
“[Political] prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house. -George Orwell, Politics and the English Language”Hemingway Editor: Highlights passive voice, complex sentences and adverbs in your writing.
PoetrySoup: A more communal tool, you can post on PoetrySoup and receive free constructive criticism from other poets, while offering your insights to others too.
Article Contributors:
Natalie Jane Edson is a queer poet and programmer based in Portland, Oregon. Her work focuses on the mind, the body, the mundane, and the practice of being alive. You can find out more about her work at nataliejaneedson.com.
Dr. Carly Schnitzler is the founder and co-director of If, Then and a lecturer in the University Writing Program at Johns Hopkins. Her teaching and research center on digital rhetoric, creative computation, and the public humanities. Drop her a line at cschnit1 [at] jh [dot] edu!
Amira Hanafi is a Poet and Artist. See more of Amira’s work at https://amirahanafi.com
F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian creative and writer who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared in Mantissa Poetry Review, Literary Revelation’s Poetry Anthology ‘Hidden in Childhood’ and The Victorian Writer. In 2023, she joined Tabula Rasa Review as an Editorial Assistant & in 2024, she became a Marketing Intern at PSNY. Connect @fmpapaz or fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life.
Best Valentine’s Day Gifts for Each Love Language Accompanied by a Rant on Redefining Love
The season of love is on the way!!! While we should show love and gratitude for our loved ones all year long, it sure is sweet to have a day dedicated to it. I know Valentine’s Day can be difficult for those who feel that constant dread of being/dying alone. (Definitely can’t relate…) BUT I’ve found that V-Day can still be sweet and special when you branch out of the idea that romantic love is the most important type of love. You have friends! And pets! And parents or parental figures! Redefining your concept of love will help with feeling less alone, especially on Valentine’s Day. It’s important to give a gift that makes them feel special, heard and understood. I have compiled for you a list of the gifts that I think each love language would appreciate most. And remember, anyone can be a lover!!!
Receiving Gifts:
It may seem obvious to gift jewelry, but here is the thing: you need to specifically gift it in the color that your loved one wears. Massive mistake of gifting jewelry is getting a gold girlie something silver. They will say a very sweet thank you and then only wear it when around you. You’ve gotta respect the aesthetic baby. If jewelry is not your or their thing, us gift receiving lovers love trinkets. Those who feel special by receiving gifts are truly not expecting something expensive. It’s not about the money. Receiving a gift says to us: Even when I’m alone I think of you.
Words of Affirmation:
Shamelessly and in my personal opinion, the perfect gift is to get them one of our personalized typewriter poems! From my side of things, I see your google searches. “How to write a love poem.” “Poem for girlfriend.” “Love poem for girlfriend.” “Valentine’s Day poem example.” My darlings, we are here to help you. We have loads of poets at your service to write something specific to and for your lover(s) that is also incredibly aesthetic and cute. Give it a try!
Acts of Service:
There is no one on this earth who does not have a list of projects that they are so totally going to do some day at some time. I cannot be the only one who has a trunk full of items I have collected over the years because one day I will need it for an art project. Help your lover get started on their project! Go to the store to get the extra things needed. Bring them snacks and water to bite and sip while they work on it. Do the chores that are keeping them from having the time to do said project. For our acts of service lovers, it really is the little things that count.
Quality Time:
If you haven’t made a reservation for dinner yet, you probably will not get one at the place that you want. We all mistakes and that is so fine! If your honey or bestie enjoys quality time and trying new things together, it’s your lucky day to be reading this article. Our NYC Poetry Brothel is on Valentine’s Day this year and I promise you it is an experience that you and they will not forget. For those who do not know, it is an immersive literary cabaret that fuses poetry, activism, vaudeville, burlesque & magic with 1-on-1 poetry readings. Picture this: you walk down the stairs to the venue, as you walk in the door you are greeted by our lovely poetry whores ready to seduce you into exchanging a token to get brought into a private space and have poetry read directly to you. I can truly tell you that is not an experience you will get anywhere else.
Physical Touch:
I have never been good at this one. Take a nap together??? Try to imitate those pictures of the cats that look like little hearts with your bodies! Kiss them on the face! (This includes your friends! There is literally nothing stopping you from giving your friend a little forehead kiss.) Hold hands walking through the park and play along when people mention how cute of a couple you and your friend are. Lie through your teeth about how you just got engaged but the ring is at the shop for sizing. Run your fingers through their hair. Intimacy is not just for romantic lovers!!!
The bottom line is that true love comes from understanding them fully. Try this year to show everyone in your life that you love that you love them. We all need a little treat to get us through the day. Cheers! <3