TalichaJ.

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What I Did This Week

In preparation for this blog post, I made a list of the things I’ve done this week, and I surprised myself by how much I got done! I am usually a couch potato. I love to lay around and watch my shows, scroll TikTok, and scream about BTS on Twitter (I refuse to call it x). I like to read and keep up with my favorite YouTubers. Things like that. But I’m trying to be better, to find what brings joy while requiring my brain to work and my body to move. So I figured I’d get some hobbies this year, and boy did I! I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I’m having fun. Let’s get into this week!

Fellowship Interview

I interviewed for a Fellowship opportunity with an online poetry center on Tuesday! I thought I would be nervous since this was something I wanted, but I was super calm. I think the vibes were just right, and it was easy to talk about the thing I adore so much these days: writing in community spaces. I can go on and on about the power of collaboration, the art of the body double, the appeal of a co-writing space, and the healing of a workshop. If you aren’t in community spaces, friend, what are you doing? Need to find some? I got you, check out the Upcoming Events calendar for a list virtual spaces happening soon!

As part of the application, I had to link them to a CV. Luckily for me, I had started a Google doc called Talicha’s Poetry CV Dump earlier this year. It was a space where I’d started to organize all the publications, readings, workshops I’d facilitated, etcetera. I was able to clean it up quickly and toss it onto my website. Feel free to check it out here.

Watercolor Painting

A friend of mine got me into watercolor this year, and I love it! I have always said that I’m not a visually artistic person, and that’s true. But I’m learning how to make my hands do what I sort of want them to do. I find watercolor soothing and low stakes because there are times when the image is enhanced when the paint runs a bit or there’s a smudge. The imperfections make it so much better. I won’t lie though, I felt frustrated after I’d painted my glowy Jack O’lantern because it didn’t come out exactly as planned. Someone mentioned it looked really good though when I posted it on my insta story, so I looked at it through new eyes. And you know what? It wasn’t half bad. I felt pretty proud.

The imperfections make it so much better.

Burlesque Class

That’s right, your girl is getting her sensual on with a new burlesque progressive course. It’s called Sex Magick, and it’s already amazing. I can tell it will kick my butt! And I haven’t even seen the choreo yet! In the initial class, we got to know the instructor and each other with some exercises. Then we did some strength training because this sexy number we will learn is going to be about slow movements, which means we need control. And where do we get control from? Those muscles we didn’t use all summer, whoops!

I was amazed that my body was able to do as much of the conditioning as it did. I was recovering from being sick, so I wore a mask (covid-free friends, don’t worry!). Oh, did my muscles tremble! But I did every move except for the downward dog, which needs to be renamed the downward devil because what the hel-. I digress. I’m excited to learn the moves and to grow more confident in my body over the next month!

Being a Semi-Responsible Adult

You know how you’re supposed to get your car registration renewed by your birthday every year? Well, you see what had happened was…I goofed. I figured I’d do it the Monday after my birthday; however, I got sick and was unable to do so. I was also nervous because I was sure my car would fail emissions testing because I was overdue for my oil change. Listen, I know I know. You would think I would never ever let my registration expire after that one time I spent eight hours in jail for this very reason in college. Alas, we live, but we don’t always learn. I’ll do better next year! A whole two and a half weeks later, I took care of business. We passed emissions with flying colors!

Community Writing Spaces

We come full circle. I mentioned above that I could go on and on about these spaces, so here goes! I kicked the week off with Co-writing with Priscilla! It’s such a dope space. I always come away from it having been super productive or extremely sated from the conversations we all have. Seriously one of my favorite spaces online!

I’m currently enrolled in a six-week course called Crossroads: Honoring the In-Between. It happens on Monday nights hosted by Tristan Richards and Carson Elliot. I missed last week's session since I was sick, so it felt really good to return to this particular group. We explored the things that we wanted and the idea of trusting our inner voices. I wrote about the alternate way my life could have turned out if I’d made the choice to stay instead of trusting my inner voice that said to go.

On Friday, I attended Undercurrent facilitated by Desireé Dallagiacomo. This is a weekly space that I’ve come to really crave. We usually read two poems, and then the discussion time is so robust. This is a space with people who know how to talk about what the poem made them feel, which is great because I need to learn that skill! I love hearing the different perspectives and takes; it is helping to shape my own thought process.

Honorable mention to my own space, Poem-odoro Sprints! It happens every Tuesday and obviously, I attended. Enrollment has been pretty low, but I’m not even mad at it. Whether there’s one person that shows up, or four, we always have the greatest conversations!

Poems I read this week

Here are some poems I read! I didn’t post them all, as some are being considered for next month’s workshop, but know that there were more!

During Crossroads

During Undercurrent

On My Own

I am hoping to keep busy and I’ll update here on how things turn out! Thanks for sticking around to see what I got into this week. Until next time, happy writing and living friends! Please be sure to like this post, and leave a comment 💜

Talicha JohnsonComment