What is "the Yellow Book"?
it's finally here...
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.
As a celebration to share with you that it’s out…here’s my “Letter to the Reader” introduction.
Enjoy!
Monday 28th October 2024
Dear Lovely Reader,
I am writing to you from a cushy blue-grey sofa, facing the Yorkshire countryside in northern England, inside my in-laws’ home. It is so far away from Lake Superior and so far away from where all of these poems originated as I wrote them—about 3,750 miles (6,035 kilometers), as the crow flies.
Yet, writing to you, makes me feel closer. As I revisit each of these 109 poems I wrote inside the Yellow Bike Coffee shop—these thousands of miles feel much less. I am right back in Duluth, being held in the curved metal of the yellow chair, hearing the buzz of the espresso grinder, squinting at the light radiating through the garage door windows, smelling the freshly baked quiches and scones and coffee beans roasting on site…
And here I am: set up with my pale blue and tan Smith Corona Classic 12, trusty typewriter, with my observant smile and welcoming sign, “Want a poem? Pick a topic. I’ll write while you wait.”
It is with mountains of fragrant and caffeinated gratitude that this book has come to be—and there is truly so much of it that I owe to Shannon Cornelius, Yellow Bike Coffee’s owner in Duluth, Minnesota, and all of her barista staff over the last two years.
Having a space to share poetry with all the folks who came through the doors for a coffee, but left with the nostalgic sound of a typewriter and the healing echo of a poem served alongside their cup of caffeine…it pretty much blows my mind. What a privileged experience for me to create and share poems with hundreds and hundreds of people because of Yellow Bike and Shannon.
I am honored and so thankful.
The clock ticks afternoon seconds now, while I write this, but I know that Yellow Bike Coffee is just unlocking their doors first thing in the morning and brewing their caffeine gold for Duluthians to sip awake on this Monday, starting the week off right.
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 that follow. It truly is a special collection.
Unique characteristics of this collection include:
Forming collaborative community (if you’re reading this, whether or not I’ve written you a personalized poem, you are my people)
Embodying beauty in the imperfect moment by simply being present—even if it’s the moment for a sip of coffee and a glance around the room before getting back to work, or creating a poem in the space of a quarter of an hour, or so
Holding space in vulnerable admissions and prayerful silence, feeling human-sized in each prayer poem and each individual poem requested
Observing poetically about inhabiting a place and beholding the willingness to take up space—just in the here and now
Creating teachable moments as I bridge the gap between “Poet” with a capital “p” and the experience of creating, articulating, and expressing words on a page with the emotions contained safely within a poem
Isolating a study of place and location, capturing over 100 moments—over 100 word pictures—through poems and individual interactions
It is my intention to create and share this collection, “the yellow book,” Poems for My People: Community, Volume 3, and to allow each poem, thought, and experience to live its own life, connecting freely, organically, imperfectly with you, the reader.
Thank you for letting me share these poetic ponderings with you…I am so glad that I get to be myself on the page and that you bear witness to it.
Thank you for being my people: these poems are for you!
With lots of poetry love,
I wish you very happy reading!
Molly
P.S. Here I am posing with an autumnal beverage and my trusty typewriter in Yellow Bike Coffee. Stay tuned for more creativity avalanche and poetry joy.