Note: Creators, would you like to be interviewed for one of my Burning House Press blog posts? See the details at the end of this post.
Columbia River Railroad Bridge in Vancouver, Washington Photo: ANB
In my experience, poetry is both storm and refuge. Poetry is for weavers of secret nests. Poetry is for troubled thrill seekers seeking troubling thrills. Poetry is for portal longers and sun starers and sphinx moths stalking crepuscular realms. Poetry is a catalyst. Poetry stills and stirs the self, reaching down through the star-haunted shallows and into the midnight depths below.
Keller Fountain Park in Portland, Oregon Photo: ANB
Poetry isn’t safe, if by safe you mean you won’t be eaten.
In my experience, poetry is for bluebirds who crumble in grief, crawling through the pit of the earth. Poetry is for upturned umbrellas who bobble and snag upon the surge, their faces becoming water. Poetry is for demented flowers who unfurl in spring with the upwelling gutters, for flying fish who tumble ragged in the stratosphere and below the waves, for war-weary crows who remake themselves in sap and dust and gleaming leaves.
Railroad Bridge at Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon Photo: ANB
Poetry is a sky burial, the devouring flocks called to find the final smile.
Poetry burns the brain inside out. Poetry is the proper food for children.
In my experience, poetry is the mingling of beauty with fear, a dart across a suspension bridge while alive to the gorge below. Poetry is for those who dare to summon the thunder. Poetry is a grandmother calling her children home. Poetry is standing underneath a train and looking up
into the roar zone.
Skidmore Fountain in Portland, Oregon Photo: ANB
* * * * *
Open Call: Creative folks, if this post resonated with you, I invite you to email me. I’d love to read about your creative experiences and possibly interview you for one of my blog posts here on Burning House Press. Put “Art as Experience” in the subject line. Tell me a bit about yourself and your art, and link your website or Twitter account if you have one. If you’re hesitant about traditional interviews but would like to participate in some other way, I’m also interested in taking a multimedia approach to dialogue, e.g. communicating though poetry or a series of images.
If all goes as planned, the call will be open from now through 31 August 2017, and may be extended. I aim to respond to all respondents within four weeks.
I’ll update the information on this post as necessary, so feel free to bookmark it and check back later.
Update 27 October 2017: The call is now closed.
Amee Nassrene Broumand – a self-taught poet with a B.A. in Philosophy and English – is a blogger for Burning House Press. Her poems can be found in Word Riot, Sundog Lit, A-Minor Magazine, Rivet, Modern Haiku, and elsewhere. Born in the Los Angeles area (aka “Tehrangeles”) to an Iranian-immigrant father and a Norwegian-American mother, she grew up in Vancouver, Washington, lived in San Francisco for 13 years, and currently resides in Portland, Oregon. She dabbles in photography. Follow her on Twitter @AmeeBroumand.
BURNING HOUSE PRESS 
Poetry as Experience
by Amee Nassrene Broumand
Note: Creators, would you like to be interviewed for one of my Burning House Press blog posts? See the details at the end of this post.
In my experience, poetry is both storm and refuge. Poetry is for weavers of secret nests. Poetry is for troubled thrill seekers seeking troubling thrills. Poetry is for portal longers and sun starers and sphinx moths stalking crepuscular realms. Poetry is a catalyst. Poetry stills and stirs the self, reaching down through the star-haunted shallows and into the midnight depths below.
Poetry isn’t safe, if by safe you mean you won’t be eaten.
In my experience, poetry is for bluebirds who crumble in grief, crawling through the pit of the earth. Poetry is for upturned umbrellas who bobble and snag upon the surge, their faces becoming water. Poetry is for demented flowers who unfurl in spring with the upwelling gutters, for flying fish who tumble ragged in the stratosphere and below the waves, for war-weary crows who remake themselves in sap and dust and gleaming leaves.
Poetry is a sky burial, the devouring flocks called to find the final smile.
Poetry burns the brain inside out. Poetry is the proper food for children.
In my experience, poetry is the mingling of beauty with fear, a dart across a suspension bridge while alive to the gorge below. Poetry is for those who dare to summon the thunder. Poetry is a grandmother calling her children home. Poetry is standing underneath a train and looking up
into the roar zone.
* * * * *
Open Call: Creative folks, if this post resonated with you, I invite you to email me. I’d love to read about your creative experiences and possibly interview you for one of my blog posts here on Burning House Press. Put “Art as Experience” in the subject line. Tell me a bit about yourself and your art, and link your website or Twitter account if you have one. If you’re hesitant about traditional interviews but would like to participate in some other way, I’m also interested in taking a multimedia approach to dialogue, e.g. communicating though poetry or a series of images.
If all goes as planned, the call will be open from now through 31 August 2017, and may be extended. I aim to respond to all respondents within four weeks.
I’ll update the information on this post as necessary, so feel free to bookmark it and check back later.
Update 27 October 2017: The call is now closed.
Amee Nassrene Broumand – a self-taught poet with a B.A. in Philosophy and English – is a blogger for Burning House Press. Her poems can be found in Word Riot, Sundog Lit, A-Minor Magazine, Rivet, Modern Haiku, and elsewhere. Born in the Los Angeles area (aka “Tehrangeles”) to an Iranian-immigrant father and a Norwegian-American mother, she grew up in Vancouver, Washington, lived in San Francisco for 13 years, and currently resides in Portland, Oregon. She dabbles in photography. Follow her on Twitter @AmeeBroumand.
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Amee Nassrene Broumand
Writer & Photographer
Personal, Photography, Poetry, Submissions
Amee Nassrene Broumand, Art, Commentary, Creativity, Photography, Poetry, Writers, Writing