Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?
What kindles your creativity? I’m a people watcher. I love observing us in all of our many forms and being curious about patterns of behavior. I think we have so much to learn from each other and simultaneously there is so much we misunderstand. I think being curious about those whys kindles my creativity. Showcasing what connects us and makes us feel less alone, through my art and self-expression I love to center this idea.
Tiny Spoon: Are there any artists/ heroines/ idols/ friends that you look up to?
Absolutely, there are so many. One of the people I idolize is Audre Lorde. Her essay uses of the erotic: the erotic as power has had a profound impact on my work. I do a yearly reading of this essay and every year it sparks new thoughts that I explore in my writing. I also find it super inspiring that not only was she a phenomenal essayist she was also a poet, a memoirist, and in general a genre-bending writer who explored many different forms. Another poet who has had a profound impact on me is Diane di Prima. Her book “Revolutionary Letters” is a life’s work- a collection of poems that spans from nearly 40 years of reflection on a changing world. I love the idea of a poet having a life’s work and being an archivist in this way.
Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?
Even though I don’t have any water placements in my birth chart, I often find myself writing by or about water. I’m extremely moved by water for its clarity, reflection, destruction, flow, pace, and shape-shifting nature. Many of my poems are written by bodies of water and I find myself getting a lot of creative energy from sitting in front of the ocean, streams, and rivers. I have one place here in the bay area where the stream turns into a river which lets out into the Pacific Ocean. I think it might be my favorite place on earth.
Tiny Spoon: We love insight into the creative process. Could you share what it is like for you?
My creative processes are currently adapting and taking on new shapes as I am a new mom. Some of the old habits I used to have, like staying up until 3am, just don’t work the same when you have a three-year-old. I’m also a visual poet so a lot of my practice is about designing experiences around my words which has led me to create large scale conceptual book work, installations, and immersive sound experiences. My creative process in addition to traditional writing practices is often thinking really big picture about the container for my work- if it doesn’t live on the page or the stage, in what other form can it live? I spend a lot of time in the studio tinkering with this question and experimenting with book binding, printmaking, and other tools that you might see more generally with visual artists.
Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?
My book, The Postcards I Never Sent is about to celebrate a year being out into the world. I’m super proud of this book, I wrote it the year I sold all my stuff and traveled full time. During that time, I was going through a lot, a separation, career change, and just observing the world sort of falling apart around me. All of the poems in the book are from a travel journal I kept along the way, thus the book itself is a poetic memoir that follows me along this transformative time in my life. Because I was going through so much at that time, I found myself in a deeply personal writing space. Now that the book is out in the world, it has been really interesting connecting with people around some of the themes of generational trauma, self-love, and personal revolutions.
Tiny Spoon: What book, artwork, music, etc., would you recommend to others?
In the Palm of Your Hand by Steve Kowit. I always recommend this book to other poets. Its been a huge source of inspiration throughout my creative process for the past year. It has little activities, and it does kind of feel like a poetry workshop in book form. If you’re interested in leading writing workshops it’s also good for thinking about learning activities and how to expand prompts to be really solid opportunities to practice the writing skills you’re teaching.
Tiny Spoon: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you, your creations, or beyond?
I would love for people to know that I have a podcast called Adult Happy Hour. Adult Happy Hour is a podcast which centers resources, learning, and conversation about pleasure. One thing that makes AHH special is that it was developed in community with our listeners. After hosting weekly content live on Instagram during the pandemic, participants said they wanted to hear and learn more. Thus the podcast version of AHH was born and continues to have a dedicated following that spreads mostly through word of mouth and grassroots marketing. We know that pleasure activism is a liberatory work, and we are honored to have an amazing audienceship for the work.
Tiny Spoon: Where can people learn more about what you do? (website, social media, etc., if you wish to share it)
The best place to keep up with me and my work is on Instagram. I treat Instagram as my live art portfolio so I’m always posting drafts or projects that are in progress. I really enjoy sharing my creative journey there. I also have a ton of resources on writing and Adult Happy Hour related topics.
Register for Lyn’s workshop the weekend of April 26 and 27th!