national poetry month Archives

Life during COVID-19 (4/13/20): Poetry for $ and more poems

April 13, 2020July 9, 2020 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

It’s almost been a month since the last day I worked (March 17th). It’s bizarre to think that time has passed so quickly and somehow so slowly at the same time. I feel like I’m utilizing my time well but I’m so frustrated I haven’t landed a job yet.

UNEMPLOYED AND JOB SEARCHING

I’ve done interviews and skills tests, I’ve written cover letter after cover letter and still nothing. Right after graduation I spent six months applying to jobs requiring a BA, specifically in English or related fields, nothing. I gave up. I needed a break, now I’m doing the same thing again. What does it mean to keep pushing, keep trying for a job that requires a BA? I don’t know. I hope it’s worth it. I don’t want to cave in and get a Customer Service Rep job for a call center. I don’t want to get another job that is the complete opposite of what I want to do with my life, my career, my writing. But it is so hard.

I am grateful for my unemployment checks. They are small but something and I’m hoping the extra $600/week from the Cares Act Stimulus bill that was passed last month kicks in soon.

RECEIVING $500 FROM THE TIP YOUR SERVER DONATION

By some weird stroke of luck, I ended up winning the lotto for the $500 from the Downtown Alliance’s Tip Your Server donation. I’ve decided I want to help my co-workers so I am building a list of all my friends that need the money right now that are unemployed and looking for jobs and really strapped for cash. I hope to shell out at least $100 each and spread the money out. Thanks to a $100 contribution from one of my friends, this will now be $600 that I can spread out among my friends.

MAKING $ FROM MY POETRY FOR $

I’ve also had quite a bit of luck with my POETRY for $, to date I’ve completed 14 poems for supporters. I accept any $ via Venmo then write a personalized handwritten poem with a little bit of my own stylized art. I send a digital copy (pdf) via email then the original through the mail.

I’ve done two poems barter/trade style. One poem I wrote for a friend who bought me Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (including her collection of poems). And another friend I wrote a poem for is brewing me my very own small batch of beer (he brews beer for Wasatch Brew Pub in Salt Lake City, Utah) I am so stoked for this!

20200322_175024 — Original poem I wrote/made for a $upporter

MAKING A ZINE

I also drafted up an outline of my upcoming digital zine in InDesign. It will have all the poetry I’ve written during the Pandemic/Stay at Home order. Pretty much since I was laid off. I am including copies of all the poems I’ve done for $upport as well as some art and photography. This is such a fun project and it will be free to the public when it is finished.

I feel so fortunate to have such caring friends and because of their generosity right now I’ve been able to pay a few bills and have extra money for groceries, saving anything extra for the future.

END OF NATASHA SAJE’S POETRY WORKSHOP

My Poetry Workshop at Westminster (online now) is coming to a close. There’s only a couple more assignments left and then it will be over. I am not looking forward to this since I’ve really enjoyed this workshop; reading other students poems, the poetry books, assigned reading, and pushing myself with the poetry assignments. I’m really going to miss it.

CANCELLING MY SUMMER CLASSES

I’m bummed out because this summer I was going to start pursuing an AAS in Music Recording Technology at Salt Lake Community College but since I was laid off, I can’t afford it so I had to drop the classes I already registered for. I just plan on taking free courses online, finding tutorial videos, and continue to make music and publish my songs on soundcloud.

OVERALL

It’s been a good experience thus far, I’ve kept to my daily routine, and I’ve made my daily quota for the number of jobs I apply to, and I write and read and write and read and write and read…

I just have to keep going.

TALK TO ME

How are you getting through the Pandemic? Have you been ordered to Stay at Home? How are you coping?

I would love to hear about your experiences during this time.

Please feel free to comment or message me.

Thank you for reading!

Stay safe and stay well out there!

-Alina
XOXO

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If you enjoyed this post, check out these:

Life During COVID-19 (4/21/2020): Poetry, Sylvia Plath and My Novel(Opens in a new browser tab)

Life During COVID-19 (5/13/2020): Freelancing, Patreon and New Toys(Opens in a new browser tab)

Life During COVID-19 (5/30/2020): Reflection on George Floyd, Protests Turned Riots and Growing Tensions in the U.S.(Opens in a new browser tab)

‘Poem to Read Aloud’ by Alina Happy Hansen (April 11th, 2020)

April 11, 2020August 15, 2020 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Decided to do something different, here is a video of me reading one of my poems, this one titled (for now) ‘Poem to Read Aloud’.

I wrote this poem as an assignment for the Poetry Workshop at Westminster that I’m in.

POEM TO READ ALOUD (working title)

I cut a glance

your direction, aflame you look back

linger. Craving gaze, a charmed doom for

me later. Flesh, veins,

flayed bones on bones desire, not now.

I smile, a fire.

Your glutted eyes hold me. Turn away, wait no

yes wait until

the sun goes down so the neighbors don’t see our shadows.

I hope you enjoy my poem! Any comments/feedback I would deeply appreciate.

Stay safe and stay well out there!

–Alina

Become a Subscriber! Get notified when new posts are published plus once a week I will send content just for you: poem, personal update, reading list, writing tips and more!

If you enjoyed this post, check out these:

My Stories on Medium: Poetry, Writing and Freelancing(Opens in a new browser tab)

Podcast Sesh #2 June 18, 2020: Writing, Freelancing and Coping with the George Floyd Protests(Opens in a new browser tab)

Life During COVID-19 (5/5/2020): Tutoring, Freelancing on Fiverr and Job Searching(Opens in a new browser tab)

Celebrating National Poetry Month 2020: Poems I Love and Poetry for $

April 1, 2020June 2, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

The month of April is National Poetry Month. A whole month dedicated to celebrating poetry and poets. While staying home, and looking for work, during this strange time with the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, it is vital to take some time and relax and what better way to do this than by reading a few great poems.

Picture of a poem written by Alina Happy Hansen on a piece of handcrafted painted cardstock. Poem reads "Dance with You, Sunshine dancing rays twisting, twirling warmth reflecting inner glow, Move, let your body beam shattering light illuminate the room, IGNITE, the fire dormant in my heart." — One of the personalized handwritten poems that I did for a $upporter

I am still offering POETRY FOR $ while I am unemployed and looking for a job. It has been a hard few weeks since I was laid off from my job as FOH employee at Squatters Pub Brewery in Downtown Salt Lake City. I have been applying to a minimum of 2-5 jobs a day and thankfully just received my first unemployment check yesterday (not a lot but something) which is helping me pay some of my bills right now.

I have celebrated NaPoMo on my blog quite a few times, here is one National Poetry Month

Some great resources/websites to check out during NaPoMo:

Poetry Foundation

poets.org

My Favorite Poems: William Carlos Williams and Marianne Moore

“Kora in Hell: Improvisations XI” bY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

Why pretend to remember the weather two years back? Why not? Listen close then repeat after others what they have just said and win a reputation for vivacity. Oh feed upon petals of edelweiss! one dew drop, if it be from the right flower, is five years’ drink!

_______________

Having once taken the plunge the situation that preceded it becomes obsolete which a moment before was alive with malignant rigidities.

When beldams dig clams their fat hams (it’s always beldams) balanced near Tellus’s hide, this rhinoceros pelt, these lumped stone—buffoonery of midges on a bull’s thigh—invoke,—what you will: birth’s glut, awe at God’s craft, youth’s poverty, evolution of a child’s caper, man’s poor inconsequence. Eclipse of all things; sun’s self turned hen’s rump.

Cross a knife and fork and listen to the church bells! It is the harvest moon’s made wine of our blood. Up over the dark factory into the blue glare start the young poplars. They whisper: It is Sunday! It is Sunday! But the laws of the country have been stripped bare of leaves. Out over the marshes flickers our laughter. A lewd anecdote’s the chase. On through the vapory heather! And there at banter’s edge the city looks at us sidelong with great eyes—lifts to its lips heavenly milk! Lucina, O Lucina! beneficent cow, how have we offended thee?

________________

Hilariously happy because of some obscure wine of the fancy which they have drunk four rollicking companions take delight in the thought that they have thus evaded the stringent laws of the county. Seeing the distant city bathed in moonlight and staring seriously at them they liken the moon to a cow and its light to milk.

Source: Imaginations (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1970)

Excerpt from poetryfoundation.org

“You Are Fire Eaters” by Marianne Moore – 1887-1972

       Not a mere blowing flame—
       A clinking ash, I feel—with shame,
          At malendeavor in your service.

But as Jehoshaphat said on that occasion in
              Old Testament history,

       "The battle is not mine,"
       And strategy laid down—in fine
          Surrender, may be conquest.

Excerpt from poets.org

I love National Poetry Month and it is something I can enjoy during this hard time. I hope that you can find some poems to enjoy, or better yet find a poet you haven’t read before who’s work you end up loving.

Thank you for reading and being a part of my journey! Stay safe and stay well out there!

Liked this blog post? Check out more post from this series!

Life During COVID-19 (3/28/2020): Personal Update, Rant and Unemployment

Life During COVID-19 (4/13/20): Poetry for $ and More Poems

Life During COVID-19: Reflecting on the Murder of Robert Fuller, Trump and A Personal Update

My First Novel: Moving, NaPoMo and Tidying-Up (4/18)

April 18, 2019October 21, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

This month has been crazy. With all the moving and changes happening I’ve been trying to keep up and finally feel like I got a foothold. Now that I’m more settled in my new place and I have a little bit more time on my hands, I can get back to business.

Working on “Part Two” draft of my book is difficult, there are so many places where I want to cut out whole chapters or rework certain aspects of characters but I’m holding myself back from completely tearing apart what I have. I miss my characters, in a weird way, it’s like I haven’t hung out with them in a while. I also need to get a quick refresh and reread my manuscript.

The Ending. I scratched about three to four different endings of my book a couple months ago before I finished revising the first draft. Now I’m left with an extremely rough outline of the ending I’m thinking of, still, it doesn’t feel exactly right. It seems like the ending won’t really be “the ending”, there could be a sequel which is scary.

It’s Na(tional)Po(oetry)Mo(nth) and I almost forgot, I admit it. I have a couple poetry books that I am trying to finish right now and I’m planning on focusing on those until the end of the month as a sort of mini-celebration.

William Carlos Williams Selected Poetry

Poetry Magazines April 2019 Edition

What else I’ve been reading:

Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem

I need to read more Didion, or at least I’m in the mood to now. I feel like after my Jane Austen binge I want to get back to reading more modern works. And I am holding myself back from rereading some of my favorite Patti Smith books right now. I have read a couple other Didion books and I love her style and approach to content. This one is no different and presents a very specific slice of time that I’m able to tap into as a reader all because of Didion’s writing.

Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying-Up

Curious about this popular trend, I got on the bandwagon about a month ago when I knew I was going to move. I didn’t follow Kondo’s method to the T but I managed to get rid of over half of the things I owned (and didn’t need). After watching the Netflix series I am now almost done with her book. It is has a simple format and it’s an easy read.

What I’m listening to:

Thanks for reading!

-Alina

INSTAGRAM

PATREON

Celebrating National Poetry Month for 2017!

April 2, 2017April 2, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet2 Comments

Hello Readers!

I wanted to announce my plans for my blog this month and what to expect with special consideration for National Poetry Month.

I plan on publishing mainly poetry pieces and book lists (emphasizing heavily on poetry) in celebration. I will also probably write up pieces on a few of my all time favorite poets (and why I love them so much).

I am so exited to read as much poetry as I can find on wordpress this month and look forward to reading your work (if I follow you or find you). If you’d like to leave a link to your poetry/writing blog below go for it. Or if you have any suggestions for topics/posts this month that you’d like me to consider please leave a comment.

Again, super excited about this month and can’t wait to give you all some fresh poetry!

Thank you for taking the time to read my writing and announcements. I hope you return in the future!

Thank you!

-Alina