Linda Carleton
asked
Jan Steckel:
Awake at 4am with the same leaden weight that's been pulling at my heart since November 9. Your poem Waking in Trump's America set something free- the grief, the outrage, the fury. It is helping to hold my torch this morning and I thank you. I wonder if you might start a site around the poem in which others share ways they have helped to hold the torch or been helped? It would be a beacon of hope in such darkness.
Jan Steckel
Dear Linda,
Thank you so much for reading the poem and for your response. I am grateful to you for sharing your grief, outrage and fury with me. To help with that leaden weight, I really like what actor Bradley Whitford from The West Wing said recently:
"Elections are commas, not periods. The people we love can't afford cynicism and apathy. Action is the antidote to despair. Re-engage. Now."
The poem's been solicited by several journals and is now out on at least four web sites and one hard-copy venue. I already curate my own website and several Facebook pages, in addition to other activism and my creative work. I don't really have the bandwidth, emotionally or physically, to start another site now.
Perhaps this is something you would like to take on? If you do, you are most welcome to use "Waking in Trump's America," as long as you mention that it first appeared in PoetsReadingTheNews.com. I would certainly mention your site on my own web pages.
For keeping your spirits up, http://www.poetsreadingthenews.com has a number of poems in response to the election, and I hope you can go over there to take a look at them. If you belong to Facebook, I'm finding that the Facebook group Pantsuit Nation at https://www.facebook.com/groups/pants... is giving me a lot of ideas for action to keep the torch aloft. I post a lot of actions on my own Facebook pages, too. It would be lovely to have you as a Facebook friend.
Thank you so much for reading the poem and for your response. I am grateful to you for sharing your grief, outrage and fury with me. To help with that leaden weight, I really like what actor Bradley Whitford from The West Wing said recently:
"Elections are commas, not periods. The people we love can't afford cynicism and apathy. Action is the antidote to despair. Re-engage. Now."
The poem's been solicited by several journals and is now out on at least four web sites and one hard-copy venue. I already curate my own website and several Facebook pages, in addition to other activism and my creative work. I don't really have the bandwidth, emotionally or physically, to start another site now.
Perhaps this is something you would like to take on? If you do, you are most welcome to use "Waking in Trump's America," as long as you mention that it first appeared in PoetsReadingTheNews.com. I would certainly mention your site on my own web pages.
For keeping your spirits up, http://www.poetsreadingthenews.com has a number of poems in response to the election, and I hope you can go over there to take a look at them. If you belong to Facebook, I'm finding that the Facebook group Pantsuit Nation at https://www.facebook.com/groups/pants... is giving me a lot of ideas for action to keep the torch aloft. I post a lot of actions on my own Facebook pages, too. It would be lovely to have you as a Facebook friend.
More Answered Questions
Paige
asked
Jan Steckel:
Wow. That poem really knocked the wind out of me. Not a question, I know. Looking forward to exploring more of your work. Do you find that being identified as a bisexual writer is a help in promoting your work? Since I haven't read anything (yet!) other than The Fall, I don't know how much it appears as a subject in your work.
Cyndy
asked
Jan Steckel:
Just read your poem Waking up in A Trump America. Funny thing, I felt the same way in 2008 and 2012. Grow up, snowflake. For 8 years there was a president who expressed his contempt for conservatives and Christians repeatedly. I never heard you voice concern. So did you care?
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