Don’t be shy we’re excited to read all your words!

Thank you for taking part in this lovely first month.Are you ready to deliver your pretty verses? Comment them under this post and let’s start this month’s exchange :)

Don’t be shy we’re excited to read all your words!

Thank you for taking part in this lovely first month.

Leave a comment

On our first ever featured Author of the month at The Poetry Club, I can speak of no other than Audre Lorde.

Though the work of the author has been butchered through time and turned into short-form, digestible Pinterest quotes, that obviously do resonate with actual Feminism and empowerment, I think there will be nothing more delectable in this life than delving into the entire body of work Audre Lorde put in this world. Audre, found clear power in defining herself, and did so as: "Black, lesbian, feminist, mother, warrior, poet" she made it a point that every woman should define herself. And although this feature could potentially lean into all her clear and firm work put into every side of those definitions, which is extensive and great, I will use this as an open opportunity for you to be curious and get to experience Audre Lorde in your own terms.

Now you might be thinking, what kind of a feature is that? And I would like to try something different for this article (we’ll see how it feels)

Some months ago, my friends sent me an event done at a local coffee shop, that was meant to be a lecture on Lorde’s work, I obviously cleared my schedule for the occasion and went there ready to listen to everything.

When I got there, a teacher and her student (both lesbians) were hosting, and their opening was very brief, they shared how they both had bonded over the author during their term together at university, and wanted to make an event to celebrate how Audre has a way of finding everyone, and every single one of them is remarkable and will stay with you forever. They wanted everyone to share their stories.

The teacher shared that her first girlfriend in the 90’s had dedicated the poem Woman to her, from The Black Unicorn, I suddenly started uncontrollably sobbing, upon hearing it I realized, I had gotten to know Audre through the same poem, and from my first girlfriend too (some 30 years later), I stood up and told my story immediately (like some sort of Lesbian confessionary with tears in my eyes) and I did realize, the way Audre finds everyone is extremely unique but also such a shared experience, more than 30 women shared their stories that same day, and every single one was magical.

Thus why I could lecture you today on all of Audre’s incredible work and her milestones for our community, but there will be immense beauty on you getting to do that for yourself, intuitively and let yourself be changed by it.

My timeline was the following (and it was perfect):

1st Poem I ever read:

Woman featured in Eye to Eye Portraits of Lesbians by Joan E. Biren

My first girlfriend (who I believe was unaware of the author like me at the time) lent me this book (a serious recommendation) when I was sick once, to get entertained, it features poems by lesbians alongside pictures of them by Joan E. Biren, I was struck by this poem and photograph, and thought about it for months to come, I put the book title in a note.

First book: The Black Unicorn, a collection of poems.

Almost intuitively the second my relationship ended, I went ahead and got this book, my relationship with Audre Lorde started then. This book was extremely hard for me to understand at first, poetry unlike anything i’d read before, and I tried incessantly to decipher it. The second I did a whole universe cracked open for me, these poems carry an amount of emotion that make me in awe anyone in the planet managed to coin and express it in words that are able to be read, understood and cherished.

Some of my all time favorite poems are in this book. One of my favorite masterpieces.

My favorite: Fog Report.

The perfect follow-up: Zami: A new spelling of my name by Audre Lorde.

It started a new genre that the author calls biomythography, which combines history, biography, and myth.

I think if I had read this book first I would’ve understood her poetry much better, but any order in which it finds you is perfect and you will make it work.

As the genre entails this book tells the story of Audre’s life and coming of age, as a black woman and a lesbian being raised in 1950s New York.

It especially relates the net of women that have shaped her, from friends to lovers to strangers.

As a lesbian going through my first breakup, swimming in the deepest pools of grief this book allowed me to breathe and to find clarity for the first time, it allowed me to shift from telling stories of my despair to stories of community, and how every lesbian in my life had shaped me, even painful lovers. It was infinitely changing.

I have forced every person in my immediate (and not so much) surroundings to read this book and everyone has found power in it.

I finished my year of Audre Lorde with these two intertwined reads:

The Master’s Tools will never dismantle the master’s house

This is a small book of essays, that not only do I carry in my bag everyday but I buy for every friend’s special occasion, to carry in theirs. (My friends may be sick of my literary inclinations)

Each essay occupies around 3-4 tiny pages, however they are filled with the most sensational deliberations, they all carry immense power, I could read them one thousand times, every time I get this out of my bag, I am changed.

One I read daily (almost as prayer is) Uses of the Erotic: the erotic as power.

“There are many kinds of power, used and unused, acknowledged or otherwise. The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling.”

Lastly: Your Silence Will not protect you.

“I was going to die, if not sooner than later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you.”

This book features all essays from the prior book, alongside many more, conversations with activists such as Adrienne Rich, poems and more of her lifelong work.

It is a great compilation of everything Audre Lorde fought for and stood by as an intersectional feminist and definitely a staple in everyone’s library.

And this is all I can recommend to you so far…however if Audre were to find you by any other medium, known or unknown, please delve into it.

The lessons I learned in a year of reading her work changed me profoundly, as a woman and a lesbian, more than anything I had come across in my life.

Some of her other amazing works are:

• Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984) (Essays)

• A Burst of Light (1988) (Essays)

• The Cancer Journals (1980) (Autobiography)

• The First Cities (1968) (Poetry)

• Cables to Rage (1970) (Poetry)

• From a Land Where Other People Live (1973) (Poetry)

• Coal (1976) (Poetry) which I just realized I had also read among friends!

I strongly aim you to let yourself be changed by this author, and make your own stories and developments, which you inevitably will.

I will make a separate post with my favorite poems.

All the love,

Eva.

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May is starting off a little late but we’ll take things easy on the first month of our beloved poetry club.

Yes it is spring and yes blooming is pretty obvious HOWEVER, blooming has always been my favorite word, I don’t know if it’s acceptable for adults to have a favorite word but this is mine.

I always said if I ever have a child she will be named Bloom, that word or action just carries so much hope for me, in times of darkness you can think of yourself as preparing to bloom, or in the midst of joy you can consider yourself bloomed, or blooming in the fire of a perfect sunny day.

A little nice anecdote of the word blooming, when I was 18 and working at a high end retail store, I was a bit hopeless at the time, but everyday I said to myself in my head, it’s okay im just blooming, I don’t know why I hyper fixated on that affirmation.

In the summer on one of our employee sales I got my first (and only to this day) designer bag, it was a Paco Rabanne bag, made of metal flowers interlinked with each other, I loved it so much I wore it everyday, even though it was not an everyday wear bag and heavier than a bag of bricks, one day digging through the history of the designer, I realized he named the bag Bloom, and suddenly I realized that I don’t know what path I was on but it was a good one.

Blooming will forever serve me as a beacon of hope, like spring, like the cycle of life, like flowers.

When writing, I would like for you all to think:

• What does blooming mean to you?

• Have you ever felt in a true state of blooming, how did it feel or what caused it?

• Would you say right now you feel blooming, or about to bloom, what events around you are marking this certainty?

• If you were a flower, how would it feel to be blooming after a long winter? What flower would you be? What peculiarities does this flower carry that relate to you as an individual?

I will be sharing with you before the end of the month more about my writing background and experience, and a dedicated post to my favorite author.

Talk to you all soon! Let’s get to writing 💐🌷🫂

Love,

Eva.

Hi! I am Eva, I have been running the brand Favorite Child Collective for the past 5 years and in our small commercial hiatus I am hoping to bring forth many many projects that can further connect us as a community, leaving all capitalistic efforts aside.

This is one that I HAD to make happen without a doubt, let me tell you some background story…

Poetry has always been part of my life, wether I was writing or reading it or imagining it, as i’ve gotten older my friendships have gravitated towards people with a more open heart sensitivity as me, and around 2024 I made friends who felt comfortable sharing their poems with me, it was so beautiful, and one day I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if this became our little activity?

I proposed to one of them if she would like to share a poem monthly with each other about a prompt we would choose, she really liked the idea and as people heard about it they all wanted to join our quest!

We would gather every month in someone’s living room and share these poems, hear them carefully and share how it made us feel.

Life is ever changing and this club was short-lived but those memories really stuck with me forever, I knew when I made it I wanted to make this in a larger digital form where everyone could participate, and just practice our writing in safe and inclusive spaces.

1. How it works

At the beginning of each month, a prompt will be released on our Substack here, and at the end of the month a submissions post will open where you can comment your work.

Please note we will rely on all of us interacting with each other, make sure you engage with somebody else’s work so they can do the same for you, but take the time to feel their process and poetry proposed.

Through the month we will open discussions around our favorite authors, poems, or techniques we want to share with each other.

2. Hosts

Every month our club will be hosted by a different literary artist, of any size or style, to generate prompts of ampler diversity and to share their work inspiration or techniques with us. This could be anyone so feel free to apply if you’d like to lead the club for the month!

3. Who is this club for

This club is open to everyone. At the same time, we are deeply committed to centering the voices of women and queer writers, whose contributions to poetry and literature have so often been overlooked, diminished, or pushed to the margins.

The authors, inspirations, and conversations we share here will naturally gravitate toward those perspectives. Our hope is to create a space that resists the idea of poetry as a traditionally male-dominated canon, and instead celebrates the richness, vulnerability, experimentation, and brilliance found beyond it.

And….we’re off!!!!

We are going to have so much fun, go to a coffee shop and find your special moment every month to write your poems.

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1ST PROMPT - MAY 12TH

ON BLOOMING, HOSTED BY EVA DEL CARMEN.

(To be explored in another post)