🫶 Thinking about reframing what love is outside of romantic/sexual contexts like,
I love collective note-taking and a lesbian break up poem
Hello lovers, and more importantly, FRIENDS!!
Larissa and I have, yet again, been talking about how we can hold collective grief and collective healing with equal weight in both hands as we’ve been watching the devastation that’s been unfolding in Rafah this week.
We keep asking ourselves - How do we slow down and mourn all of the loss that has been happening, without spinning into isolation? How do we still gather the energy to show up in our communities when all we want to do is stay home and cry?
I think I can speak for Larissa, L, and myself that we’ve all found it difficult to keep up “business as usual” at PTK this week (posting on instagram, organizing open calls & workshops, writing grant proposals, responding to emails…). But we also know that these are the administrative means to the end of bringing us together in the community of hot poets that will grieve and heal together with us. These small acts of intimacy (in all of its valid forms) are what we need right now.
So, as Larissa posted on instagram last night, this is what we’re going to keep doing:
As she explained, we have continued to post and write and share because PTK in its very essence, is a project that was born from one moment of deep trauma, disconnection, fear, grief, pain, and anxiety. It is a project which is not a product, it is a process. We have been incredibly lucky to have found a role within and through this community, we hope you continue to be a part of this process.
Anyway, this is my response to L’s first poem with us (and we promise, hot poet rhinestoned booty shorts are definitely on the dream PTK merch list!!)
xx K
🫶 Thinking about reframing what love is outside of romantic/sexual contexts like,
I love collective note-taking and a lesbian break up poem and I love smuggling possibilities across state lines and stealing words but not in like a colonial way in like a bop it twist it smell it spin it use it to have an actual conversation with someone way like people used to really know each other!!! I love flipping the social order on its head and having a house party where I make handprints on the ceiling from dancing on my own couch I love feigning ignorance to my landlord later when trying to get the deposit back suggesting perhaps it was the dirty-handed demon who crawled on the ceiling instead I love Carly Rae Jepsen and interrupting things and being polysatured but in like a platonic way I love choreography and I love a script like I love the thrill of memorizing a performance and breaking it as if time was just a bad actor in an amateur improv set where she wasn't “yes and-ing” me enough and I love taking January to catch up on things and screeching every time I get out of the shower and I love how you said you loved my singing as I got ready in the mornings and how I called myself “a poet” at book club the other week and I love how you brought me that pink gluten-free cookie just because you thought I’d get hungry and I love how we stayed up all night talking about our need for community and how you taught me how to make oatmeal in the morning although “taught” is a bit of a stretch because I kind of just watched as you masterfully navigated my broken stovetop adding chia seeds and peanut butter to the gooey dish I love asking questions like when is it important to call something art and when is it actually exclusive to do so what does it mean when the stuff in a space can only be seen but not touched heard but not listened to tasted but not eaten I love the excitement of drawing demarcation lines together and how insatiable I am and I love leaning into things like I love how that woman next to me at yoga the other day said she was grateful for the elasticity of human nature and how the instructor always gives us a whiff of that eucalyptus spray at the end of class to fully relax us before we’ve gotta hit the pavement again I love jumping onto my own train of thought and ironically reading my old journal entries I love an ever-growing archive and measuring my weight in eyes on me I love giving attention and taking institutional legitimacy away I love an intimate distance and a sophomore album I love quantitative qualitativeness and avoiding a box to check I love a Scorpio moon and pretending like I don’t know my past selves I love showing the work but never the answers and my god, do I love a dog that rules the universe!!!
💘💘POETRY WORKSHOP, THIS WEEKEND: FALLING IN LOVE WITH L SCULLY💘💘
In this two-hour generative poetry workshop, we will discuss and create ~love poems~ in all of their forms. L will lead us in roundtable-style writing exercises, shares, and guided writing time with prompts to help you fall back in love with writing (and yourself). No requirements or preparation necessary, just come ready to create and make friends!
Date: Saturday, February 17th
Time: 6-8 pm CET (12-2 pm EST)
Location: THE INTERNET (Zoom link to follow)
Cost: Donation Based (suggested donation: $10-$20 pp)
Sign Up: Sign up is first-come, first-serve. We will have spots available for 12ish people. If we fill up, we will create a waitlist and notify you if a spot opens up!
Accessibility: During the workshop, there will be a reading, writing-prompts, and time to share your work. Please reach out to us if you have any accessibility-related hopes or needs and we will do our best to make the accommodations necessary!
Our Silly Little Outfits Interview!!🎀👗👡🕶️👛💄
Afkasfjdkjh!!! We were interviewed by one of our favorite hot poets, Jenna Jaco, for her “Silly Little Outfits” column!!! In this article we talk about our * fashion evolutions * navigating the corporate and art worlds respectively, the genesis of PTK, and our hot poet/healing girl summer. Hop on over to Jenna’s substack for the full tea. 🍵
🔥Hot News: PTK Will Be Opening for Submissions on March 1st!🔥
📣 Calling all hot poets!!! 📣 Start organizing your Trapper Keepers because PTK is opening for submissions on March 1st! We’ve updated our submissions page with all the information you’ll need to start preparing. Keep an eye out on your inboxes for the official announcement and link to submit on March 1st!
✅ What Can I Submit?
One poem
In English
That is less than 3 pages long
Aside from that, there is no specific formatting criteria
Collaborative work is cool, just let us know if it's from more than one person
Submissions can be simultaneous or previously published (just let us know if we need to credit the original publisher)
Phew, that’s all we’ve got for you for now! Watch out for L’s next piece, dropping later this week. 💌💌💌