5 Ocean-Laced Poems (and Goodbye, for now . . .)

Bowing out of Substack for my mental health and other reasons.

Photo by Umay Karataş via Pexels

Before I share a few ocean-themed poems for your reading pleasure, I wanted to share that this will be my last post on Substack. This also includes my newsletter (kind of).

I initially moved to Substack so that I could give my newsletters a permanent place to live while also sharing poems and whatnot throughout the month.

But it just hasn’t clicked for me. What I hoped would be a place where I could connect with others the way I connected with poets in the IG poetry community (when it was still young, small, and not dictated by the algorithm) ended up being another place where I’m bombarded by insights and feel pressured to produce content I’m not interested in writing. And to monetize.

(While I have connected with a few people here, there was just something more intimate and personal about emailing with readers who replied to my newsletters.)

It’s just not my thing, though I have certainly been swept into the rip tide of its siren pull. So much so, I almost forgot what this is really all about: writing poetry.

I want to return to the craft, focusing on writing, revising, publishing poetry collections, submitting to journals, making poetry collages, taking writing classes, someday (maybe, PLEASE) getting accepted to a residency.

I still want to share resources, too, especially open calls and upcoming classes, but I want to be more intentional and less intense about it. Ya girl burned herself out!

I will still send emails to my subscribers for new poetry collections, big announcements, etc. But they will be much more irregular.

So here’s what I’m focusing on in terms of sharing my work and resources:

Patreon: This is currently the best place to get regular content and resources from me (and I have both free and paid tiers!). It’s a place where those who want and are able to support me can do so, and I get to share poems, prompts, spoken videos, and other stuff I love making and sharing.

My Website: I’m re-building my website so that it can become a home for my (selected) work and resources. This is where a lot of the content you find in my newsletter will move to (prompts, open call and upcoming workshop resources, poems of mine, publication updates, and digital collages and mood boards). I do plan to have a monthly newsletter option for those who want new content/resources straight to their inbox (which will be automated vs. manually designed every month).

Digital Content: My self-guided workshops will still be available for purchase but will move to Gumroad once my new website is up. My hope is to create more in the future!

Poetry Manuscript Copyediting/Proofreading: I will continue offering my copyediting and proofreading services through Fiverr (with the hope to move off of Fiverr someday, or at least not rely solely on it).

And now for poems . . .

First published in Last Leaves Magazine, Issue 4: Ancestors, Spring 2022. Artwork: “The Sleeping Mermaid” by John Reinhard Weguelin (1911)

First published in A Time for Winter (2019). Artwork: “Miranda” by John William Waterhouse (1916) OR “The Mermaid Pl 5” by Edmund Dulac (1911)

First published in Poems of August (2021). Artwork: “The Kiss of the Siren” by Gustav Wertheimer (1882)

Artwork: “The Siren” by Edward John Poynter (1864)

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Thank you so much for reading! You can support my work (should you feel moved to) by:

• Joining my Patreon

• Ordering my books and/or self-guided workshops