25th Nov...Poems For My People: Community, Volume 3

a.k.a. "the Yellow Book"

Nov 25, 2024

Article voiceover

1×

0:00

-5:41

It’s with great joy and relief that I’ve submitted my third collection of poetry to my printer…Poems For My People: Community, Volume 3 is ACTUALLY going to be published.

Since I put it on pre-order on my website back in September 2023, it’s been an unexpectedly long-time coming…

But, I’m pleased to say that it’s finally here (!!!) and available to purchase online via other online bookshops as ebook and hardcover on November 30, 2024.

Last week, I officially ordered my own personal copies, which feels thrilling. I cried when the order processed.

Here's a photo with my personal typewriter poet view whenever I’ve been out poetry busking at Yellow Bike Coffee in Duluth, Minnesota.

Visit them at:
4411 Venture Avenue (near the airport)
Duluth, MN 55811
U.S.A.

or

600 E Superior Street (in Fitger’s)
Duluth, MN 55802
U.S.A.

Find out more about Yellow Bike Coffee joy on their website here:
https://www.yellowbike.coffee/.

Oh, and if you weren’t sure why I call it “the yellow book” it’s because it’s the third in a series of Poems For My People. I’m creating a rainbow of a collection—because I thought it’d look amazing on your bookshelf!

As a celebration to share with you that Poems For My People: Community, Volume 3 is (wahoo!!) finally out…here’s a mini-essay, a “Coffee Chat…” Just pretend like we’re sat in a coffee shop together (like Yellow Bike in Duluth) and we’re having a chat about why I’m sat there with my typewriter.

Here’s… “Feeling Discerning.” Enjoy!

What do you leave out of poems?

Lots, probably! When I’m set up at my table, I am writing down all the notes I can while I’m listening to the person requesting the poem. There are some people who talk a lot in order to discover what they actually want their poem to be about, so there are some obvious omissions. Other times I have some (little) worrisome moments that I’ve not included something crucial. But usually it’s all worked out and it’s such a precious experience for the recipient that even if I had missed something, they still have a complete poem, a brimming experience full of connection and beauty.

It takes practice–a lot of creative discernment. And I’ve been at this typewriter poetry busking pursuit for a couple years and several hundred poems into the practice that I keep learning. I keep growing in confidence that often the poem will speak more clearly and loudly with fewer bits and pieces. But of course that’s not always the case. And what I’d say is true of all the poems I write–I leave out what my creative discernment, some might call it “intuition,” leads me to leave out. I also am firm to omit my own fears or shoulds or beliefs because this is not my own poem–it’s someone else’s. I have been asked to write a political poem–I declined because it wasn’t promoting Beauty. It was propaganda and jargon and I said no, thanks, and moved onto Beauty.

Yellow Bike Coffee has been hosting me as Typewriter-Poet-in-Residence for two years and has made space for the writing of poems in each of the red, orange, and now, yellow collections, Poems For My People: Community, Volumes 1, 2, and 3. I’ve written and shared a couple hundred poems with Duluthians and visitors alike who have strode through Yellow Bike Coffee’s doors.

The impression Shannon, her team, and their beans have left on me is deeper than a coffee stain, more beautiful than a perfectly poured cup of latte art, more invigorating than a shot of pure espresso…and, it is so much fun!

I hope and pray you experience some of this in the pages of Poems For My People: Community, Volume 3. It truly is a special collection.

An Invitation to Peace

Discussion about this post