Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself
Some notes on the future of PopPoetry.
Hi y’all! Welcome back to PopPoetry: a newsletter for folks who have this reaction when they hear poetry in their favorite tv shows, movies, songs, and more.
Whether you’ve been reading from day one or are a brand-new subscriber, I’m so happy you’re here. You may know this site pretty well, but I want to take a moment to reintroduce myself, revisit my motivation for writing this newsletter, and share some exciting news.
Who Are You?
PopPoetry is written by me: Caitlin Cowan. I’m a poet, writer, and educator living on the west coast of Michigan. I serve as the Chair of Creative Writing at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, where I also manage the International Program and work in development. I’m very lucky that my full-time job and my writing life dovetail in this way because my passion for public-facing arts instruction informs everything I do.
When I transitioned into arts nonprofit management from academia in 2018, I wondered if writing and reading poetry would still have a place in my life as much as it did when I was earning my PhD and teaching at the university level. Guess what? It absolutely does. What’s more, I would argue that life outside academia has brought me closer to poetry than my time inside the ivory tower. And I’ve made it my mission to share my knowledge about the ways in which poetry can improve our creative minds, our writing, and our lives by using pop culture as a launchpad.
Since adolescence (LiveJournal, anyone?) I’ve been a sporadic blogger at best. More recently, I’d written a few posts on poetry and Call the Midwife and American Horror Story: Cult, and The Walking Dead as an extension of my personal website but hadn’t been writing regularly.
During the pandemic, I finally got around to chasing my passion for the intersection of pop culture and poetry in a real way. I started with those same three posts on Call the Midwife, AHS: Cult, and TWD, then took off running with a new post about Letterkenny. By the time I got around to writing a post about Jerry Saltz’s public art rapid infusion, I had found what really mattered to me: the need for a popular audience for poetry and for high-quality public-facing arts education.
Milestones
Since launching the site, I’ve written more than 50 articles on the intersection of pop culture and poetry, and have covered television, film, music, books, web videos, and more. I’ve featured both American and International poets, considered well-known and obscure poets, interviewed living poets and dissected dead poets, and covered both highly regarded poets and poets with a lot to learn.
I’ve also discussed the creative process, dissected popular stereotypes about poets and poetry, taught you how to watch TV like a writer, and reviewed books of poetry by famous folks who are known for their work in another artistic discipline.
Representation matters, but most western pop culture still prefers to highlight the work of the “canon,” which is largely white and male. To counteract this, I’ve committed to offering Pop Palate Cleansers—mini-features of women and BIPOC writers—when the topic of the main post concerns the work of a white, cishet male author (you can see one example at the end of this post).
Poetry can help you unleash your own creative power, no matter what kind of art you make (or don’t make).
PopPoetry democratizes writing, literature, and creativity by taking it out of the ivory tower of higher education and putting it in the hands of anyone who wants to learn about poetry, get more out of their pop culture addiction, or write creatively. In a time of increasing social isolation, skyrocketing higher education costs, and the failure of public institutions to support and care for us, we’re turning inward.
My goal is to carve out a little bit of your screen time to make a case for poetry: it’s out there, being written by living poets, and it’s absolutely, 100% for you. You can read it, write it, listen to it, and be inspired by it. It can help you unleash your own creative power, no matter what kind of art you make (or don’t make).
I’m proud of the work I’ve done and so grateful for all the support I’ve received so far.
The Big News: What’s Next
Maintaining this site takes a great deal of work, even though I love to do it. I write thousands of words each week, consume and critique pop culture, undertake research, and publicize my writing. I run PopPoetry on my own time outside of my full-time job.
I love doing this work, but in order to keep things going into the future, I’m going to ask for your support. Substack is all about flooding the world with good writing and connecting writers directly to readers who support them, which aligns perfectly with my mission of bringing public-facing arts education and writing about creativity directly to people who want to read and learn.
At the end of this month, I’m launching a subscription model here at PopPoetry. Here’s what you can expect:
Subscribers
You can continue to receive this newsletter weekly in addition to some awesome new perks by becoming a subscriber. For $7 per month or a discounted $70 annually* you’ll receive:
Full posts on Wednesdays
PopPoetry Postscripts on Fridays
Full access to the archive
Monthly subscriber-only writing prompts & discussion threads
Access to a curated, continually updated companion playlist
Founding Members
If you’re a big fan of the newsletter and have the means and desire to support my work in a big way, consider becoming a founding member. You can set your price at a higher amount than the annual subscription. You’ll receive all of the above perks plus:
A personal post request and shoutout
A one-on-one Zoom with me
Non-Paying Subscribers
If you can’t or don’t want to pay for a subscription, that’s ok. You’ll still continue to receive occasional free posts and can subscribe at any time.
*The Asterisk (It’s Good News)
I’m offering an early supporter discount until the official launch at the end of this month. If you subscribe to PopPoetry before January 28, you’ll receive a 20% discount on your subscription forever. That’s right: forever ever.
That’s just $5.60 per month or about 70 cents per twice-weekly post. What do you think? Ready to subscribe? I hope you’ll consider it.
What People Are Saying
Writer, educator, and editor Jenny Molberg thinks these posts are worth the cost and has this to say about PopPoetry:
For writers, creatives, and poetry lovers, PopPoetry is an absolutely delightful read. Blending humor, a keen sense of the present cultural atmosphere, and whip-smart close readings of poems ranging from contemporary to Renaissance, Caitlin Cowan teaches me to pay attention to the way our craft—sometimes overlooked, sometimes considered esoteric—finds its way into the everyday pop culture content we absorb.
PopPoetry is an invaluable tool in the classroom. As a professor of literature and creative writing, I centered PopPoetry in an introductory literature course and my students often made comments on the fun and accessible course content—they were able to see the way authors like Shakespeare, Dickinson, Whitman, Angelou, and many others filtered into some of their favorite films and TV shows, and Caitlin equipped them with both close reading skills and more general literary analysis skills—this was especially useful in an online course where personal connection and instruction can be difficult. I love PopPoetry and highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the intersections between literature and pop culture!
FAQ
When will this take place?
Everything on the site will remain free until the end of January. After that, things will start to be paywalled.
How do I become a paid subscriber?
You can use the button above or click here to become a paid subscriber or founding member. You can change your subscription settings at any time.
What if a paid subscription isn’t workable for me?
I absolutely understand that not everyone has the ability to pay right now. It’s important to me to offer some free content forever, which is exactly what I’m going to do: it’s part of my mission as a writer who wants to further democratize poetry and make it more accessible. As a free subscriber, you’ll still have access to one or more newsletters per month. If you change your mind later, you can always sign up then!
Thank You!
Thank you, sincerely, for all of your support so far. It’s been incredible to see this newsletter grow and to be able to share my passion for marrying so-called high and low culture to bring poetry out of the classroom and into your homes and hearts. I can’t wait to see what’s next, and I hope you’ll help me spread the word about this newsletter.
P.S.
Beginning next month, these sporadic P.S. sections will morph into Friday PopPoetry Postscripts: a link roundup of creative and literary miscellany to kick off your weekend. Here’s something to hold you over for now:
Stay tuned for extra posts this month as I celebrate PopPoetry’s paid launch! You can expect to see posts on the following topics:
This Is Us: Dudley Randall & Langston Hughes
K. Flay’s “You Felt Right”: What Poets Are, What Poets Aren’t
Poets Watching TV: HBO’s All That Glitters
Crossover: Caitlin Talks Dead Poets’ Society on MovieWise
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Rossetti’s “In the Bleak Midwinter”
And more!
Congratulations on this fabulous venture! I look forward to reading each installment!