Beside going to college to study film-making and creative writing, my greatest period of literary development was the early 1990s. I was living in Boston and had met several artists of all disciplines. You would have to have been blind NOT to meet musicians or painters or writers. The city has always been a magnet for such types.

I was fortunate to land in a spot with a burgeoning poetry scene, mostly centered around poetry slams. My interests in poetry revolved around traditional forms: sonnets, sestinas. Villanelles, etc. I read about metrics, beats, and accents. The thought I had while writing was of the lyrical nature of poetry and how it came closer to music than most other written forms.

I attended readings all over the city as often as I could. I entered poetry slams largely out of bravado and personality than out an intention to win. And I met and became friends with many others who reveled in this literary form. The running joke was that some poets could only afford a cup of coffee; the ones with jobs could a loaf of bread. But only if it was then end of the day markdown!

Given our financial limitations, this was as close as I got to the salon experiences of Europe in the 1920s. Perhaps each generation has their own version. Anytime artists gather and openly discuss without fear of being dressed down regarding their work or ideas, you find yourself in an emboldened environment. This is not to say the repartee did not seem close to the Algonquin Round Table. But, at the very least, you didn’t feel alone with your thoughts.

So many things have happened over the last decade to alter even those social time periods. Blogs became the new tool to disseminate ideas and accept feedback and discussion. What I find invigorating these days is my involvement as co-host of a podcast, Tikiman and The Viking. Brian Johnson and I have known each other for a couple of decades and have periodically gotten together for one literary reason or another. Attendance at the same writer’s conference. A critique group. An informal gathering of local writers for brief social outings.

We started talking seriously about doing a podcast about two years. After various discussions, our podcast launched in July 2023. Our first episodes were almost like a two-person salon. We discussed: worldbuilding, the hero’s journey, editing, etc. It was when we finally did our first interview that it felt expanded. It wasn’t just two writers, two friends, sharing their feelings about craft. Now, it was hearing what other writers did and felt about theirs.

Now, while I would very much wish we were back in Boston in the 1990s, I know the passage of time brings us greater opportunities to be part of the artistic experience in perhaps a broader sense than every possible before. The only requirement is a willingness to follow the course.

That being said, the forthcoming year promises to expand on what we started. More interviews, whether local or via Zoom. Roundtable discussions. A live broadcast (place and circumstances still to be decided). Despite working in vastly different genres, we have found that most creatives share stories of inspiration, process, and exhibition/publishing. While the classic salons or even my experiences from 30 + years was contained, we are using the technology available to promote others as well as ourselves and invite feedback and engagement.

I can’t tell if this is the same Me with newer technology or a more developed Me…with newer technology. In either case, the bottom line of the Art of Creation is still a fascinating subject.