Michaela Kahn is Launching Her Blog!

Blog-launch …

First off I want to thank Miriam Sagan for inviting me to participate on her amazing blog, Miriam’s Well. Not only has it been a great chance to think about art, poetry, and literature but a great incentive to write every week. The blog itself, I think, is a unique phenomenon in that it feels more like a community (both local and global) than a “platform.” Miriam’s generosity, inclusiveness, and DIY sense of the importance of poetic community comes through in every post, and I am honored to have been a part of that.

And an additional thank you for letting me launch my own blog, here! It is inspired, in no small part, by Miriam’s Well! Here is the first post, and a link to the blog itself: http://michaelakahn.blogspot.com/.
New Blog: What is a fulcrum and a bear?

A bit of a strange name for a blog I suppose – when I first thought of the idea for a blog and was tossing around names, I kept coming back to a poem I wrote a few years ago – published in this year’s Santa Fe Literary Review (out now). The more I kept thinking about the poem, the more I thought that it holds within it the seeds of a philosophy – a way of looking at the world – that is what I would want for my blog.

To me the poem is about an urge toward change – not just political or economic change – but a shift of perception that touches on everything. In the world of my poem the fulcrum of this change is not from the world of technology, not made from the usual materials of our current age – it is something from the earth itself: a chthonic energy.

Chthonic comes from the Greek, khthon, one of the Greek words for earth – particularly in or under the earth. In psychology it is used as a term for the spirit of nature within the psyche. My own definition is a bit more complicated – the poem probably does a better job of heading toward defining it than I can here. And it is part of what I want to explore in this blog. So here’s the poem to launch the blog … where the main theme … in a really eclectic way…will be about the question of who are we as human beings on planet earth.

To read the poem and entire post, click here

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Editor’s Note. It’s been wonderful to have Michaela as a guest blogger. Now it is sort of like having a friend move to Portland, Oregon–glad she is going somewhere great, sorry to see her go, and realizing, hey, I can visit whenever I want! Make sure to follow her, and I’ll be linking to her work from time to time.

Richard Feldman Interviews Miriam Sagan About Her Blog Miriam’s Well: Part 1

My husband Rich has been brainstorming with my about this blog ever since it started. He said he had some questions, so I was thrilled to answer them. Part 2 coming later this week!

1.  How did the blog originally fit into your mission statement, and how has that changed?
I’m charmed that you even know I have a mission statement! I picked this up from my work with personal coaching.
MIRIAM SAGAN’S MISSION STATEMENT:

–To engage with as many people as possible in creative projects
–To put poetry in unexpected places where it will expand the viewer’s perceptions
–To use metaphor as a way to create connection, community, and a sense of relationship with the world
–To focus on the ephemeral, sustainable, and inexpensive

I think basically the blog still functions the way it was originally intended to. However, at the start there was a learning curve about web presence and presentation. But I do need to focus on that again and again, as in the re-design last autumn.

It also gives me a way to be creative and share writing every single day, no matter what else is going o in my life.

2.  Looking at your current list of categories, which one would you have found the most surprising when you started the blog?
I feel little out of touch with the categories. Baba Yaga and Patti Smith are the blog’s goddesses or guardians or totems, but those areas aren’t that active. Not exactly a category, but I was very surprised by the number of international contributors—that is in large part due to the ever increasingly active haiku community. So I’m surprised at how much the haiku and tanka section has grown.
3.  What do you think is the biggest current gap in the blog’s coverage?
Millennial writers. I need more voices that are different than mine. I’d love more younger perspectives. I’ve had several fantastic contributing bloggers—Bibi Deitz and Michaela Kahn to name just two—who have a lot of readers. But I’d love more from the even younger generation. You’ll note my millennial contributors are often family members—nieces, nephews, daughter—who I’ve begged material from.

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My greatest support comes from my on-going contributors and readers. I’ve been prpud to publish so many terrific writers, and enjoy their growth and careers.
Miriam’s Well is ALWAYS looking for poetry, short fiction, art, and musings, particularly as related to our categories and in the area of haiku and other forms derived from the Japanese. If you are interested in being a guest blogger at any time, write me at msagan1035@aol.
The Well also runs a series of interviews for poets who have published at least one book or chapbook. Contact me if you are interested in doing an interview.
Miriam’s Well welcomes announcements of art openings, poetry readings, and community evens. Do keep in touch, follow the blog, and best of all—comment!

1000 Posts

WordPress informs me that I’ve posted 1000 times on this blog! While I never had a specific goal in mind, this feels like a time to note!
Sometimes blogging has been easy and effortless–a bubble in the stream. Sometimes it has felt dull, or a chore…but rarely. I’ve been blogging now for over two years, and the bottom line is that it allows me to feel creative each and every day, no matter what else is going on.
THank you for reading!

Is This Blog Too Much of A Mishmash?

I’ve been thinking about this blog–well, I always think about it, but this is a specific question. I’ve been given some standard common sense advice to limit the focus. But I find I don’t really want to. That is, this isn’t just a poetry blog, it isn’t just a personal diary type blog, and despite its many valued contributors, not a magazine.
I can’t help but have goals, though. I want more traffic, more contributors…and by mid-autumn I hope to have a somewhat better look with a way to post each contributor’s byline simply.
But I like my mishmash. Every day I say–whatever happens today is the blog. It might be a poem sent from thousands of miles away. Or sneakers thrown over a telephone wire here on Santa Fe’s westside.
One suggestion is to create more than one blog. I keep hearing how the web is niched. Any opinions? I’d love to know what you think as readers, writers, and fellow bloggers. Tell me!