My mansion
soars, defying normal
laws of nature. Where my son builds, his
creativity knows
no limits.
Isn’t it beautiful, my soaring mansion, flying high in the sky, with a balcony as long as the house itself? My son built it. In Minecraft. He loves to build stuff, and digital tools and games give him the possibilities to express his creativity. This is the biggest house he has built so far. And it floats!
I like to build stuff, too, in a way. Like this newsletter I like to refer to as my inbox poetry magazine. When I started it, I was not really sure what it was, but I built it into this what you are now reading. Although I am quite happy with it, and very proud of the growing audience - this would be a good time to welcome all new subscribers: welcome dear new subscribers, thank you for taking time to read this - I am not done yet with building on this platform. The next steps are two quite big ones.
Fresh poetry & friends
Yes, that is the promise of this inbox poetry magazine. Fresh poetry. And friends. Well, the two big steps I am going to take to make this a magazine that delivers on that promise are going to be rolled out in the next few weeks. I am not quite ready for them yet. The first one is one I can do gradually, so I will do just that. I am going to invite other poets to publish here. If that works, I will open up a space in this magazine for submissions. But that is the next phase. I will soon announce when the first guest poet will come to this space. I will start with once a month.
The second big step is one that is going to be quite binary. I will soon switch on the option of paid subscriptions. I am very much against hiding content behind a paywall, so paying subscribers will not get any extra content. They will be rewarded, and they will be patrons of poets. I will reserve part of my earnings to pay for the poetry that is published here by others. As much as I believe in not hiding content behind a paywall, I also believe that content is not without worth. It brings value to the reader, viewer, listener. To keep the ball rolling, and help others grow, I will be looking for support.
Now, keep reading to find Something to listen to and Poetry elsewhere.
Something to listen to
I started te second season of my poetry podcast, because I wanted to tell the story of Jazz, a Dutch poet who uses the street as her canvas. Listen to the episode I made with her:
We just started a new month, and with that comes a new playlist. It will help you create you bubble, be cheerful, be inspired, annoyed, anything. Just hit play and enjoy 27 songs collected by hand especially for you.
Poetry elsewhere
I enjoy the American sonnets of James Maynard. And his interaction with other poets. Now, he has opened up his newsletter and gives room to others to publish there. As I said above, something that will happen here soon, too. Anyway, the first guest poem is certainly one you should read: In The Small Room by Dan Beachy-Quick.
Looking at stars, finding star signs, making up your own. Such a fun thing to do, especially with kids. And you can trust Amy to make wonderful poems from that. Lovely poetry is especially needed in the times she describes in the intro of this issue of her newsletter. Read Imagine.
It can be hard: finding the balance. Or the imbalance. I love to support and nurture the creativity of our children, but then there also is life. And sometimes, they are seemingly not compatible. Fortunately, they help by asking why. It always makes me think. Still, I wish I could do better for them. As Suzanne writes here, it is such a pitty when creativity gets squashed. Read: THE LEGACY OF YOUTH.
Please, also pay some of my poet friends a visit. You can find them here.