Pierrots and Poems
Sunday, 15 September 2024
Hello friends new and old,
Welcome back! I missed you. Have you been eating well? I sure hope so.
This week has been feast and famine for me, personally. Some days, I was super productive and energetic, and other days I could hardly seem to do anything at all. Also, a bunch of vegetables in my fridge went moldy all at once, super quickly. I am a court jester and god is the king, poking me with a scepter (owie). Regardless of all that nonsense though, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished this week in regards to my writing projects, as well as the online storefronts! Buy some stickers so I can buy more broccoli.
I’m a Poet, Don’tcha Know It?
So, anyway. About last week… I got soooooo excited to send out the first installment of this silly little newsletter that I forgot to even mention what writing project I’ve actually been working on. Oopsie.
That doesn’t mean I’m not excited about it! I just got a little ahead of myself, but now I get to introduce some of you to the project for the first time! I’m currently writing a chapbook (small poetry collection, if you don’t know) with the working title Meat, Prey, Love – absolutely accepting criticism and suggestions on that. I’m crafting this one specifically with the intent of submitting it to Purple Ink Press’s chapbook contest (judged by Chen Chen(<3), one of my most beloved modern poets), so I unfortunately won’t be able to post more than a few of the poems here in order to stay within their guidelines. If I win, it’ll get published! Yippie! And if I lose, I’ll either refine it and submit again elsewhere, or I’ll just publish and distribute it myself.
The process has been interesting and shockingly difficult so far. I’ve read quite a few chapbooks and written waaaaaayyyy too many poems in my life, most of which should never see the light of day, but actually putting a collection together is more difficult than I thought. I knew I wanted it to have a coherent theme and sense of unity among the poems, because why else would they be placed together? But I didn’t realize how stand-alone my current style of writing was until I started trying to link my poems together. The theming is pretty broad, hence the title, and not all the poems contain references to each aspect. But I think there’s enough commonality in style, theme, and message to create something that feels whole. Of course, that’s for you all to judge, once I’m able to post the whole thing.
I think the whole point of a chapbook (or any collection of written works) is to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts — a book that’s better than any poem it contains, because the way the poems talk to and change each other creates a larger and more complex story than an individual piece ever could. I do not think I achieved that here. But I do think I’ve gained extremely valuable experience, and have been able to form a clear idea of what I’m aiming to accomplish. I’ll keep refining the whole thing until I submit it next month, but for now, here’s one of my favorites from the chapbook so far:
Poem - Cave Fish Feelings
Sorry it’s a jpeg, the formatting’s important and I can’t navigate this post editor particularly well yet :^/
Webbed Site Update
Have not yet managed to implement lazy loading on the portfolio website👍The website took a bit of a backseat this week, but as I’m wrapping up everything for Denver Zine Fest (*cough* September 21st *cough*) I’m sure I’ll have more time to figure that one out. Thank you for your continued patience😤
Otherwise online, there’s been a big ol’ update to the Etsy store! If you can’t make it to Denver Zine Fest, you can get anything I’ll be selling there (and more!) on my Etsy, including my zine Who Is Pierrot? and stickers of the cute little guys within. You can also get prints and digital copies of some of my other artwork, so give it a look if that strikes your fancy.
Oh, what’s that below? Me giving you a teeny, tender kiss (and we’re both clowns)? No, it can’t be…
(and it’s not. They’re not real, silly, just like bigfoot and bitcoin. You’re so gullible.)
What I Missed
I got all of that above stuff done - yay! That being said, I’ve made very little progress on the other zines I want to have ready for Denver Zine Fest, so this week is crunch time. You’ll see what I get done a day early if you meet me there, otherwise you’ll get another update next week!
ASHR’s Book Nook
Reading: Wandering Along the Way, the Stories of Chuang Tzu translated by Victor H. Mair
Status: Early (mostly through chapter 2)
I talked him up last week, and let me tell you folks, Mair did not disappoint. The stories of Chuang Tzu are a nice departure from the brief verses of the Tao Teh Ching. The chapters are split up into smaller stories, but they’re pretty dense so far. The book is additionally split into the “Inner Chapters” and “Outer Chapters” as well as some miscellaneous stories. As the names imply, the Inner Chapters are suspected to be from earlier and the Outer Chapters from later. The foreword and translation notes also implied that the writing quality and style would vary pretty widely throughout, due to the (likely) differing authorship, and I’ve already seen a bit of stylistic variation in just the first two chapters. The stories run between half a page to a page and a half, and quite a few of them end up taking on a humorous tone, which I’ve really enjoyed. One story was just a dude getting roasted, which was pretty cool.
As far as the philosophy and message of it all, I still need to chew on what I’ve read so far a bit more to really have anything of substance to say. But it’s pretty straightforward in some areas, despite the long winded metaphors I unfortunately do not have enough context for. So far, the first two chapters have touched on duality, categorization and perspective, and a lot of references to specific philosophers and known figures of the time – the stories focusing on that last one weren’t the densest, but were certainly the hardest to keep up with. Maybe I’ll reread those with wikipedia open so I can actually be in on the jokes (or like… profound statements. He does both).
Overall good read so far, it’s just as interesting as it is dense. I don’t know if I’ll have an update for you on this book next week, I might have to take breaks. But do not fear! I shall return with Something for this section next week regardless.
What’s Up Next
Denver Zine Fest - 21 Sept (SATURDAY!?)
Zines on the Etsy - After 21 Sept (TBD)
A candlelit dinner with your mom – Tonight, I’m picking her up at 8.
Thanks for checking in with me! I’ll see you next week<3