Janus, the Two-Faced God
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Please check out our survey so we can make this 2020 of The Herd the best yet! This issue is stacked with inspiring poets, submission deadlines, and a new workshop set for this March.
Welcome (back) to The Herd.
INTENTIONS | 1.1.2020
Janus, the Two-Faced God
According to the 12-month Roman calendar that governs my time, January is dedicated to Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions. He may also have been based on a real person before society deemed him a deity.
Janus is “the god that looked both ways,” so writes Ancient History scholar, Donald L. Wasson. He “protected the start of all activities.” What is the activity you are starting this 2020? Do you have one? Do you purposefully not have one?
I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t stick to lofty New Year’s goals. But I do find comfort in a god who looks both ways—a god who explores the past because it is crucial to how we greet the present day.
For me, 2020 will bring surprises, disappointments, elation, and ennui. I will rely on the past to inform, challenge, and educate me. I will carve time to read. I will celebrate this community of artists, teachers, writers, farmers, and good people.
Since our first August Issue, I have heard from many of you. It’s been such a gift to correspond and interview even more of you. Whether you are looking back or forward as 2020 unravels, I hope you remember why you create, and who you share your creations with.
I’m beginning to think that’s what matters most.
For more on Janus, click here.
Did you see the giraffe in our featured photo? Take a closer look. Surprise.
Hey there.
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I’m also repping The Herd and our Creativity Crushes on Twitter now @RigbyAllie.
CREATIVITY CRUSH | 1.1.2020
Tara K. Shepersky finds words “that sparkle” in her latest Florilegia Project.
Tara is a tall person who walks like she knows exactly where she is going. Her writing carries the same qualities, where words float along the page with smooth confidence.
But like any writer, Tara is honest about how the “right words” do not come easily. That’s part of the reason why she embarked on this project, as a way to bring a playful and sacred practice back into her life.
Florilegia is an ancient practice used to glean further layers of meaning from religious text, especially the words that “sparkle” off the page. For Tara, the project is “a conversational art and poetry experiment.”
Continue below for images of her Florilegia project.
“Who I want to be or who I am becoming is a better question to me than ‘who I am.’ Our culture is distracting. We need to find the truth in our own bones."
-Tara K. Shepersky
There is comfort in Tara’s views on writing and the creative process. I like asking people “why they write.” Tara answered the question quickly as if she has pondered this before.
In her own words, “I write to companion, myself, as much as anything.” I ask her to explain, which she does with grace.
“That impulse to write a poem is an emptiness, a feeling, not necessarily in a bad way. Sometimes it’s beautiful, sometimes it’s urgent, sometimes it’s really sad, or mostly nostalgia for the place that you are. And you have to find a way to think about that in words.”
For more on Tara’s Florilegia Project, check out @TheFlorilegiaProject on Insta and @SparklingPhrase on Twitter.
Tara is @tkspdx on Instagram and @pdxpersky on Twitter. You can also sign up for Tara’s blog here.
Tara K. Shepersky looks for the words that sparkle and require further examination. Find more of her work @SparklingPhrase on Twitter and @TheFlorilegiaProject on Instagram.
WRITING PROMPT | 1.1.2020
Dare I say something trite about resolutions.
I want an intentional 2020 centered around words. What do you want?
This prompt is more logistical than creative.
I am asking Herders to spend 10-15 minutes creating ONE GOAL related to your creative life for this year. Please share it (or a part of it) in our comments below, or respond @RigbyAllie.
There is magic in sharing or verbalizing a goal.
HAPPENINGS | 1.1.2020
What’s Up in Submission World
Okay you all, let’s submit. January is a great time to send your work into the ether.
1. Waxwing Literary Journal has open submissions for the month of January. They accept poetry, fiction, essays, interviews, reviews, art, and music. Submit early because each month, they cap submissions at 300. Submission details here.
2. A-Minor Magazine has open submissions until January 2020. They want Flash Fiction, Poetry, Mixed-Genre, Art/Text and Artwork. “Tastes lean toward surreal, experimental, ambivalent, darkly lyrical and wildly imaginative.” Details here.
3. Matter Magazine is a monthly online magazine for “political poetry and commentary.” They accept essays and poems year-round. Submission details here.
Did you submit this month? Email me so I can give you a shout-out in our next issue.
Want more ideas or places to submit? Check out the Poets & Writers database here.
Year-round, there are always places accepting work.
Please fill out OUR SURVEY so we can make The Herd 2020 our best year yet. The survey should take 5-10 minutes.
New Workshop this March!
“How do the stories we tell inform and shape our personal narrative? Our world view? How do we heal ourselves in a world full of hurt?”
This March I am leading a two-day writing workshop that will use these questions as gateways for exploration into the healing effect that writing can offer. Maya Khosla, the Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, will conclude the special weekend for us with a reading of her work.
What: Writing to Heal - Words and Nature as Medicine for the Heart.
When: Saturday March 14th - Sunday March 15th
Where: Pepperwood Nature Preserve
Who: Anyone ages 18 and up who would like to gather for a weekend of writing
Proceeds from this event help support habitat restoration at Pepperwood Preserve.
That’s it for this Issue VI. Thanks for reading The Herd!
Feel free to email me your questions, musings, and writing assignments from our monthly prompt. I might be slow to reply, but I will respond.
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c. January 2020.