Dan Dissinger celebrates National Poetry Month with the West Hollywood Poet Laureate, Jen Cheng. They talk about Jen’s multi-hyphenate creative journey, her dedication to blending East-West influences in her writing and workshops, her role as the creator of the Palabras Literary Salon, and the importance of “artist dates.” Dan asks Jen to explain why she believes community is so significant in the creative process and or writers, and how writing a novel is different from writing poetry. Jen reads a tribute poem to West Hollywood for National Poetry Month and performs a persona poem inspired by the Bridgerton narrator. Jen leaves the listeners some practical advice for aspiring poets and writers.
Approximate Show Notes
00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:15 Jen Chang’s Background and Achievements
01:35 The Importance of Libraries and Artist Dates
06:23 Community Building and Poetry Scrabble
14:30 Personal Journey and Storytelling
21:53 Writing Process and Inspirations
25:23 Poem Recital and Musical Accompaniment
34:58 Reflecting on the Power of Music and Poetry
35:29 Ukulele Stories and Inspirations
37:33 Life in New York and San Francisco
41:18 Writing a Novel vs. Writing Poetry
44:42 The Creative Process and Inspirations
57:06 The Role of Poetry in Today’s World
01:03:36 Concluding Thoughts and Inspirations
Jen Cheng is the Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, author of a poetry collection Braided Spaces, a California Arts Council Fellow, and a Tin House Workshop alumna. She is a multidisciplinary artist who blends East-West influences as Feng Shui Poetry. Jen is the creator and facilitator of Palabras Literary Salon, a BIPOC-centered series. Her writing is found in The Cafe Review, Passengers Journal, and forthcoming in FlowerSong Press and Colossus Press. With stories for tween audiences, mystery detective fans, and queer love, Jen is a cross-pollinator and community curator. Connect with her on social media @JenCvoice or at www.JenCvoice.com
IG: @jencvoice
Tweet/Bluesky: @jenCvoice
You’re invited to attend these upcoming events
Support these authors on my Bookshop.org and join a book giveaway to youth poets
People, Texts & Podcasts Mentioned in the Episode
Braided Spaces by Jen Cheng
AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs)
Bridgerton (TV series)
“There’s so much to see at Art Galleries, another free resource, you get to breathe in other people's inspirations, you get to be stimulated by things you might not have created yourself, and you'll find out what you like and what you don't like and it's a way to get to know yourself.”
-Jen Cheng
“There are people out there who are scared of poetry, who think, [they’re] no good at this. It took me years to admit that I was a poet. It took me years to say my writing is worth taking seriously, and I think there's a lot of cultural baggage, family baggage that suppress us from really chasing our creativity, chasing our voices and so with the social justice values, and having been a survivor myself [...] amplifying underrepresented voices is important to me.”
-Jen Cheng
“Before I became Poet Laureate, I was a teen journalist who got in trouble, got censored and fell into learning what it is to be an activist and facilitator, and with that in mind the social justice values are that I really care about accessibility, and so for all my class descriptions that I post with the library I say no experience needed, bring your curiosity.”
-Jen Cheng
“That is how we build community, you share a moment where you can laugh or giggle or say that's curious.”
-Jen Cheng
“We artists have to find each other somehow. Mm-hmm. And instead of waiting for an invitation for a seat at a table that wasn't made for me, I've learned to create a table to invite others who may not have seats at a table.”
-Jen Cheng
“Maya Angelou [saying] does my sassiness scare you? Does my sassiness bother you? That's important for a girl to hear when we've been told keep quiet [...] And to have poets like Maya Angelou, Ada Limón, and singers like Billie Holiday take risks, those courageous people out there are what we poets writing poetry now are standing on their shoulders.”
-Jen Cheng
“Other days I need to turn on a meditation to say I believe in miracles, because part of writing is finding that miracle and magic and you're like, oh, that's the chemistry of the words that need to sizzle and spark.”
-Jen Cheng
“We poets write so that we can remember each other, that we can remember life, that we can remember humanity.”
-Jen Cheng
“We are archivists [...] We are writing the memories so that we don't forget, we don't lose our stories.”
-Jen Cheng
“What's the difference between joy and Queer joy? Joy is like the overarching [...] giant circle on the Venn diagram and Queer joy has a lot more [because] we survived in spite of, we are laughing in spite of, we are joy as resistance. And I think all of us allies and non-Queers can do joy as resistance.”
-Jen Cheng
