Tag: poetry (Page 3 of 3)

Sweet Connections: Amanda Chiado

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Amanda Chiado
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “Angels in the Bathtub” and “Fire Breathing Darlings
Issues: 4.2

Author photo

Find Her:
Twitter

You can find her in Cali, in the rural town of Hollister where she is the Director of Arts Education for the San Benito County Arts Council. She is usually in a poetic state of mind, but the current health crisis has infused her creativity with more anxiety than usual. She continues to write, submit work, and advocate for the arts in any capacity she can. You are ahead of the rest of us, Amanda!

Check out her website for more.

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

I published the chapbook Vitiligod: The Ascension of Michael Jackson with Dancing Girl Press, participated in the Visible Poetry Project, attended a Highlights Foundation Children’s Writer’s Workshop, and was nominated for the Pushcart and Best of the Net, and published various pieces short fiction. My daugher Isabella was three years old when I was published, and she will be twelve soon and now I have a son, named Gianluca who will soon be seven years old. 

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

A current project I am excited about is based on Sierra Mulder’s virtual workshop that I am currently taking which focuses on creating a themed collection. An ongoing project that sticks in me is ekphrastic poetry and fiction. I love how language and image speak to one another. I am always thrilled by the surreal and magical. I am also still interested in a lingering project that focuses on “landscapes” where I weave human experiences such as grief/love with land/nature with themes of cultural and personal history.

Who is your favorite author?

Sylvia Plath, and James Tate

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

Song by Brigit Pegeen Kelly

What inspires you to write?

Questions, observations, nature and the strangeness of people and complex familial relationships inspire me to write. I imagine myself as a tinkering scientist trying to invent language machines that punch you in the guts, make you fly or bury you. I am deeply inspired by writers, art, music, film and dance, with ekphrastic poems being some of my most favorite to read and write. There is true magic in the act of writing and making something from nothing which always brings me back to the blank page. I want to create stories that vibrate and live on their own. 

Some poetic inspiration from Amanda:

What are you reading right now?

Partial Genius by Mary Biddinger

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

My favorite sweet is a fruit tart, but I also like a simpler sweet- toast with marscapone, sugar and chocolate chips.

Photo courtesy of Preppy Kitchen

Love it! The best part of summer is the fruit, so this is perfect!

Thank you, Amanda, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

Sweet Connections: Susan Rich

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Susan Rich
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “Not Monet’s Giverny
Issues: 7.3

Find Her:
Facebook
Twitter

Susan lives in Seattle and teaches at Highline College where she runs the reading series, Highline Listens: Writers Read Their Work.

Check out her website for more.

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

I just accepted a 4Culture grant to investigate intergenerational hauntings through poems.

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

I’ve two new books coming: Blue Atlas (Red Hen Press) and Gallery of Postcards and Maps: New and Selected (Salmon Press).

Who is your favorite author?

Too many to fit here!

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

Deaf Republic, Geography III, When My Body was a Cinched Fist, Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, Human Hours, Chord, Dialogue with Rising Tides

What inspires you to write?

Everything–on a good day!

What are you reading right now?

The Poet and the Princess: Memories of Rainier Maria Rilke by Princess Marie Von Thurn

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

Ice cream!

ice cream image
Photo courtesy of kirin_photo

We love ice cream, too!

Thank you, Susan, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

Sweet Connections: Ashley Inguanta updated

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Ashley Inguanta
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet: “Dedication: To the One I Will Marry,” “Seven Ways of Unfolding,” “Peaks
Issues: 5.3, 6.2, 8.2

Find Her:
Instagram

You can typically find Ashley drinking coffee and watching wild doves. Check out her website for more.

What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

I wrote a chapbook of poems, a pocket companion. It’s called The Island, The Mountain, & The Nightblooming Field, and I released it on June 1st. I wrote these poems to honor and celebrate a human connection to the natural world.

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

I am really excited about my chapbook, Island. It is such a simple book, a simple landscape of a book. I’m inviting each reader to plant their own seeds into it, to grow something from these pages. I hope that this book can spark visual art, music, more poetry, installation work; I hope this book brings the spirit of joining to readers, giving them a starting point to explore all landscape, in their own way–landscapes as big as the everglades and as small as a bird’s wing.

Who is your favorite author?

I’ve been appreciating so much writing lately, I can no longer choose one favorite author.

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

I do not have one favorite, but the novel Orlando by Virginia Woolf will always mean a lot to me.

What inspires you to write?

Over these past few weeks, I’ve been inspired by cold, cold climates. Ptarmigans. The idea of building an ocean. The Mojave Phonebooth. All the wild birds of Florida. 

What are you reading right now?

The latest issue of Image 

What is your favorite sweet? We would love for you to share a recipe or link to place that serves it. Pictures are great, too!

Right now, frozen raspberries in a blender with dairy-free chocolate milk 🙂 

Sounds perfect for a hot, summer day.

Thank you, Ashley, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

Sweet Connections: Phyllis Klein

Each week we will be connecting with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future.

Name: Phyllis Klein
Title of Pieces Published in Sweet:  “Snow Drifts Through the Living Room” & “Hardware
Issues: 10.1 & 11.1

Phyllis Klein author photo

Find Her:

Phyllis has been busy sheltering in place, writing poetry, working online, and getting her first book of poetry published. We can’t wait to see it!

She is also getting her website, phyllispoetry.com ready to launch. We will be on the look out to see it first!

 
What are some major accomplishments you have had since your Sweet publication?

The main event is my book, The Full Moon Herald, published by Grayson Books. It’s a newspaper of poetry with chapters corresponding to the sections in a newspaper, such as International News, National News, Health, Book Review, Obituary, and more. Since I love writing about the news, the book gives me a chance to compile some of the “articles” and chronicles my inner and outer journey of recent and past events.

I was also lucky enough to be Fourth finalist in the Fischer Prize, part of the Telluride Poetry Festival, 2019. I wasn’t able to go to the festival, but did get to visit Telluride last September, such a treat, albeit the altitude does make its presence known.

Phyllis was also recently interviewed by Michael Anthony Ingram for Quintessential Listening: Poetry Online Radio. You can listen to the interview here.

Can you tell us about a current/ongoing project that you’re excited about?

I’m in the process of publicizing my book, working on a poetry website for myself, and looking for the new writing projects. In the meantime, I’m keeping up with writing about the news, as depressing as it can be at times, there is power in writing about the difficult things, and then I love the good news when it shows up also. I’m going to take a class and attend an online workshop this summer. And it’s a good time to read poetry to others through an online platform, and I hope to attend some out of town readings while we are still all meeting on Zoom.

Who is your favorite author?

That changes daily. Right now I’d say Ellen Bass, but yesterday it was Naomi Shihab Nye.

What is your favorite poem/essay/book?

Today’s answer: Indigo. Yesterday, California Fire and Water. Tomorrow, infinite possibilities!

What inspires you to write?

I need to tell the truth to myself, and poetry helps me do that in a way that might be surprising to me. I need to chronicle my world, to do something in the face of helplessness or fear. Writing is my tool, the vehicle I drive that puts me on the road towards empowerment.

What are you reading right now?

Indigo by Ellen Bass, Nightingale by Paisley Rekdal, St. Peter and the Goldfinch by Jack Ridl, Dancing on the Edge, The McRedeye Poems by Art Goodtimes.

What is your favorite sweet?

Sweet potatoes. I don’t eat much sugar, but these guys really help with that.

Photo from delish.com

We love sweet potatoes, too.  For dessert or side, you can’t go wrong.  You can find how to make the perfect sweet potato here

Thank you, Phyllis, for taking the time to reconnect with us. We look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

Are you a contributor who wants to be a part of Sweet Connections?  Come fill out our form!

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