https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/blog daily 0.75 2026-06-16 https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/blog/denver-poets-day-returns monthly 0.5 2026-05-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/b516c3a0-494d-4e4b-9877-03eb775f0c13/688505769_1467040358801611_851675967383993589_n.jpg Blog - Denver Poet's Day Returns, Honoring Poets of the Mile-High Underground - On May 31, 2026, Denver Poets Day, a perennial poetry event over the span of the last 50 years, brings together poets of all stripes to celebrate local literary heritage. The free and open to the public event runs from 10:30 AM - 6:30 PM at the Belmar Park Amphitheatre and features local poets Suzi Q Smith, SETH & Art Compost, Roseanna Frechette, Crisosto Apache, Ian Dougherty, Aerik Francis, Brian Dickson, Marissa Forbes, Amy Wray Irish, Maggie Saunders, Ashley Howell Bunn, Eli Whittington, Valerie Szarek, Aspen Everett, and many more. The gathering lands on Walt Whitman’s birthday, and pays homage to the “Mile High Underground,” a poetry legacy which is varied, long standing, and still vibrant and thriving. Poets Ted Vaca and Sean McAllister host. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/ffe9ca41-6013-4db6-b833-50bd3cdb203d/Colorado+Poetry+Calendar+%284%29.png Blog - Denver Poet's Day Returns, Honoring Poets of the Mile-High Underground - Have an article idea? Write with us! We are excited about poetry book and project announcements, events, people making poetry alone and together, poetry activism, Colorado poetry history, and much more. Help us shape this as a publication and resource for our shared communities. Reach out and pitch your ideas in the form below! https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/blog/laurensamblanetreinventingcreativeprocessworkshops monthly 0.5 2026-05-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/b2de6118-167e-4669-9112-c33f88c5c6cc/IMG-20250815-WA0002.jpg Blog - Lauren Samblanet ‘s Reinventing Creative Process + Five Books they wish we would read - I reached out to guest writer Lauren Samblanet to talk about Reinventing Creative Workshops which “focus on recreating and re-envisioning our creative processes so that they are more embodied, pleasurable and emotionally safe.” “Mindfulness, meditation, and somatic/emotional healing modalities are incorporated into my workshops, along with generative practices, collective exploration, collaborative experiments, and after-session guided exercises.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/ba5e32a9-ec0c-49d7-b849-55a395aab638/fall-2026-creating-with-our-bodies-2.png Blog - Lauren Samblanet ‘s Reinventing Creative Process + Five Books they wish we would read - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/68816236-5f9c-40dc-adbd-18dfa7e9d53c/book-cover-2.png Blog - Lauren Samblanet ‘s Reinventing Creative Process + Five Books they wish we would read - About like a dog from Punctum Books: Taking its cues from the New Narrative writing movement, like a dog considers how sexual identity is morphed, hidden, and denied by cultural forces like film, pornography, rape culture, and sexual semiotics. The speaker of like a dog writes about her sexuality, sexual trauma, and relationships in the epistolary form to explore how the personal becomes collective and how overt sexuality is necessary for questioning dominant ideologies. The intimacy (or perhaps voyeurism) that is opened through the epistolary form is balanced with commentary on the films of Lars von Trier, primarily Nymphomaniac, as a way to move away from the speaker’s experiences and into the larger social forces that seek to define us. Amidst these letters are images from a handwritten journal where blood, hair, vaginal fluids, and other bodily residues are used to direct the shape and content of the writing surrounding them. The tactility of the journal delivers the reader to the body, not as an intellectualized object, but as the physical, messy, oozing force that it is. Neither fiction nor nonfiction, and inhabiting a realm between gossip and scholarly film analysis, like a dog exists in a liminal zone that offers the speaker a site to rip away the layers of cultural conditioning surrounding sexuality and relationships, and to peek at what lies beneath. This interrogation of identity may not lead to answers but the speaker of like a dog is able to finally hear her own voice and to begin the work of rebuilding an identity that blooms from within. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/1778639451115-UHHOK3KR19Z25GZSWIZB/the-art-of-communicating-499x760.jpg Blog - Lauren Samblanet ‘s Reinventing Creative Process + Five Books they wish we would read - The Art of Communicating by Thich Nhat Hanh In this particular moment, The Art of Communicating by Thich Nhat Hanh, which starts with him calling us out on cell phone use in the middle of conversations. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us about how mindfulness and right speech can support us as we navigate conflict with family, partners, and community, offering us practical tips to aid our compassion and build our skill at communication. This is a gift we all need. Our world is in crisis. It's time for us to accept that discomfort is part of life and that the discomfort of working through conflict is worthy of our time. This book is supportive for those who want to learn these skills. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/1778639730056-8129UATL0BDZB994E04P/15811545.jpg Blog - Lauren Samblanet ‘s Reinventing Creative Process + Five Books they wish we would read - A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki I'm always thinking about Ruth Ozeki's novel A Tale for the Time Being. It's a profound interwoven story, linking humans across countries, oceans, dimensions. It's exploration of grief and connection moved me deeply. I read it in the aftermath of losing a loved one, and it was like going into the mud, into the wound, to be with that grief through being with the grief of the characters in the novel. I came out the other side feeling held, feeling hope, feeling the surreal interconnection of beings that extends through time and dimensions. It really changed me and I want others to experience it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/1778640056511-95AWWTK4WQDHI6FO1UDW/9780226777436.jpg Blog - Lauren Samblanet ‘s Reinventing Creative Process + Five Books they wish we would read - What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? edited by John Hausdoerffer, Brooke Parry Hecht, Melissa K. Nelson, and Katherine Kassouf Cummings I'm still reading this one, but I'd recommend the anthology What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? edited by John Hausdoerffer, Brooke Parry Hecht, Melissa K. Nelson, and Katherine Kassouf Cummings. I started reading this as research for the novel I'm writing which is at the intersections of grief-work, parts-work, climate collapse, and queer, disabled and Palestinian justice. This novel connects me to the history of humans, particularly for those of us living in the so-called United States on stolen land. It connects me to my family's history, to my chosen family's history, and to the potential of ancestral healing and grief-work. It connects me to my love of this earth, of animals and plants, of water and rocks and mountains. It reminds me that I have a choice in each moment about what kind of ancestor I want to be and that each action I take can benefit those who come after me. It also reminds me that I can chose to walk the same paths as my ancestors, honoring the ways they lived that were not harmful, and that I can choose new paths, turning away from the harms they chose. We are more powerful than we think and this anthology helps me hold onto that. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/1778640215425-XA8VPFPOQX7OXSNB2YK2/Untitled.png Blog - Lauren Samblanet ‘s Reinventing Creative Process + Five Books they wish we would read - Works & Days by Gina Myers Works & Days by Gina Myers. I recommend reading it on a quiet moment while clocked into work as an act of resistance. Gina writes about labor and capitalism in ways that link personal experience to the collective, illustrating the pain of losing our time to work. She writes about the impacts of capitalism on our lives, our art, our communities, tying in cultural references, history, and current news. I read it in one sitting and felt grief, solidarity, and kinship from it. It made me want to treat myself, my bodymind, and those I love like full-beings, and to unlearn the ways we're taught to view others as workers and laborers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/1778640353393-ZP5TDHKJALHB6NQELM81/59730328.jpg Blog - Lauren Samblanet ‘s Reinventing Creative Process + Five Books they wish we would read - The Clearing by Jerome Ellis In relation to the workshop, I recommend The Clearing by Jerome Ellis. This book is at the intersection of disability and race, working through disciplines (poetry, essay, visual art/poetry, with an accompanying album!), tracing embodiment through lineage and history into the present. Ellis writes into his experience with his glottal block stutter to consider how language and music can create space (a clearing) for Black and disabled folks to refuse of the erasure of stuttering and dysfluency. I focus on The Clearing in the workshop because this project is the embodiment of what the workshop is about - allowing the experiences of our bodyminds to come into our art, shifting both the form and the content, while also extending personal lived experience into collective experience through history. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/63a38bff-cff8-482d-ab41-e66bc278c53c/Colorado+Poetry+Calendar+%284%29.png Blog - Lauren Samblanet ‘s Reinventing Creative Process + Five Books they wish we would read - Write with us! Have an article idea? We are excited about poetry book and project announcements, events, people making poetry alone and together, and much more. Help us shape this as a publication and resource for our shared communities. Reach out and pitch us in the form below! https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/blog/ashleycornelius monthly 0.5 2026-05-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/588fb141-08c6-41f5-8ecf-949dc52146e0/679073162_1520422329742456_5197014487902753309_n.jpg Blog - Tilting Towards Joy: A Conversation with Colorado Springs Poet Laureate, Ashley Cornelius  - Welcome to Conversations With Poets at the Colorado Poetry Calendar. We continue our series in conversation with Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Ashley Cornelius. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/5cbe11ad-0ed4-42f9-a5e0-314f357a993c/679885452_957528533682731_1605321192644170290_n.jpg Blog - Tilting Towards Joy: A Conversation with Colorado Springs Poet Laureate, Ashley Cornelius  - Sometimes that is a very overt message and sometimes that’s in the subtext. Becoming a full-time artist allowed me more access to that Joy in my writing. After leaving my job at a hospital system and shifting away from direct Therapy, I deliberately named that I wanted to choose Joy over suffering, and that shift allowed me to explore and experience more joy in my life and in my writing. I also believe that Joy is not the absence of suffering or pain but is a reflection of our ability to get through it, and I consider myself a joyous Poet, even when I’m writing about depression, or critiquing the government, or addressing oppression. For me poetry is a conversation with yourself, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how joy and rest has become more present especially after becoming a full-time artist! I think it’s beautiful when people can embody their art and I feel like I am a walking advertisement of my Poetry and thus I hope to spread and inspire joy, rest and revolution in my work and as a community leader, friend, partner, and person. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/3b2d2afb-505a-4645-ae6d-6d945efde870/Untitled.png Blog - Tilting Towards Joy: A Conversation with Colorado Springs Poet Laureate, Ashley Cornelius  - It has been really incredible to see how much people need to rest and that collective dreaming is powerful. It has really shifted my writing more towards addressing rest and joy! And I want to infiltrate new unique spaces like doing the event in a car dealership, in a sports stadium, or places where people wouldn’t normally rest. Strong community partners and enthusiasm from community members has helped it evolve as well as honest feedback about how to make it even more supportive and nourishing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/81f78499-f2c4-4661-8580-dd79d1be25ee/677931561_979950864429682_1539428110082690815_n.jpg Blog - Tilting Towards Joy: A Conversation with Colorado Springs Poet Laureate, Ashley Cornelius  - My guidelines have always been to say what I need to say which is something my mother always taught me, and to not be afraid of my own voice and allowing what needs to come out to come out. There’s so much that happens in this world and Poetry is my first language and it’s the way that I’m able to metabolize and process all of it and that becomes a gift for myself and for my readers/audience. Whether it’s experiences of being a black queer woman growing up in Colorado Springs, my career as a therapist in healthcare, being a citizen of the United States, or being a daughter, a friend, a partner all of these experiences, provide such a rich tenor for my work and it’s all storytelling and record keeping which is such an important and sacred position. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/135ef70d-b973-434d-ae2e-fc6d014c1d04/71rGlScpfML._SL1360_.jpg Blog - Tilting Towards Joy: A Conversation with Colorado Springs Poet Laureate, Ashley Cornelius  - About Translations from the Soul by Ashley Cornelius Translations from the Soul is Ashley's much anticipated debut poetry collection. Poetry is Ashley's first language and the way she understands the world. Learn Ashley's unique dialect and dive into poems about revolutionary joy, the Black diaspora, mental health, body neutrality, and self-discovery. This book is an extension of her heart, and she hopes it finds those ready to be inspired, curious, and fall in love with words. It holds the duality of creating for the soul and the gift of creating for others. This book is divided into two sections, poems Ashley wrote for herself and poems she was commissioned to write. These pages hold space for revolution, resistance, pleasure, rage, and connection. Translations from the Soul is a full body experience dripping with passion. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/e306e3fa-e6c8-4de0-93a5-b82eabad8daa/533746D6-5E59-4B2D-8B3F-63AB05DB132D+%281%29.jpeg Blog - Tilting Towards Joy: A Conversation with Colorado Springs Poet Laureate, Ashley Cornelius  - About Meca’Ayo Meca'Ayo (Tameca L Coleman) is a multi-genre writer, itinerant nerd, sound maker, massage therapist, zine maker, and point and shoot art dabbler who currently lives in Denver, Colorado. Their writing and photography have been featured in literary magazines, art exhibits, newspapers, and other venues and publications on and offline. Some publications of art and writing include DARIA Art Magazine, Femme Salée, Denver Westword, East Window, Rigorous Magazine, The Colorado Independent, Heavy Feather Review, Lambda Literary, just femme & dandy magazine, Inverted Syntax, Full Stop Literary Reviews and Ottawa Design Club. Many of their works implement improvisation and collaboration. Collaborative projects include work with Cellists for Change, Adams County public arts events, and anthology zines and postcards featuring collaborative poetry. Meca’Ayo completed their MFA in poetry and fiction at Regis’ Mile-High MFA program in 2018. Their first book, an identity polyptych, debuted from The Elephants in 2021. They are a current artist resident at CAST 108 Arts Studios in Englewood, Colorado. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/63a38bff-cff8-482d-ab41-e66bc278c53c/Colorado+Poetry+Calendar+%284%29.png Blog - Tilting Towards Joy: A Conversation with Colorado Springs Poet Laureate, Ashley Cornelius  - Write with us! Have an article idea? We are excited about poetry book and project announcements, events, people making poetry alone and together, and much more. Reach out and pitch us in the form below! https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/blog/coloradopoetscentersponsorship monthly 0.5 2026-05-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/ab9a4a6c-72ad-46bf-9f24-09b7bb6e359b/IMG_2984.jpeg Blog - A Thank You to Our First Sponsor — and an Introduction to Colorado Poets Center  - Make it stand out Thank you Colorado Poet’s Center for Sponsoring Colorado Poetry Calendar! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/9ccc2c88-6f0f-443c-b0d1-648ed684eab1/Colorado+Poetry+Calendar+-+Image+Placeholders.png Blog - A Thank You to Our First Sponsor — and an Introduction to Colorado Poets Center  - If the Colorado Poets Center sounds like something you'd like to be part of, read below: Register as a Poet in the Directory: Poets who have published a poetry book, chapbook, or at least five poems in an edited print or online magazine can reach out to Beth Franklin at franklinbeth 1309 at gmail dot com to apply to be listed in the directory — there's no charge to be included. For readers, supporters, and poetry lovers who want to help keep this work going, you can make a donation at coloradogives.org. Every contribution helps, whatever number. For reference, a donation of $30 helps add a new poet to the Colorado Poets Center site, and $50 can fund a featured reader at one of CPC's monthly events. For more information about donations, visit ColoradopoetscenterColoradoGives.org https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/e306e3fa-e6c8-4de0-93a5-b82eabad8daa/533746D6-5E59-4B2D-8B3F-63AB05DB132D+%281%29.jpeg Blog - A Thank You to Our First Sponsor — and an Introduction to Colorado Poets Center  - About Meca’Ayo Meca'Ayo (Tameca L Coleman) is a multi-genre writer, itinerant nerd, sound maker, massage therapist, zine maker, and point and shoot art dabbler who currently lives in Denver, Colorado. Their writing and photography have been featured in literary magazines, art exhibits, newspapers, and other venues and publications on and offline. Some publications of art and writing include DARIA Art Magazine, Femme Salée, Denver Westword, East Window, Rigorous Magazine, The Colorado Independent, Heavy Feather Review, Lambda Literary, just femme & dandy magazine, Inverted Syntax, Full Stop Literary Reviews and Ottawa Design Club. Many of their works implement improvisation and collaboration. Collaborative projects include work with Cellists for Change, Adams County public arts events, and anthology zines and postcards featuring collaborative poetry. Meca’Ayo completed their MFA in poetry and fiction at Regis’ Mile-High MFA program in 2018. Their first book, an identity polyptych, debuted from The Elephants in 2021. They are a current artist resident at CAST 108 Arts Studios in Englewood, Colorado. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/63a38bff-cff8-482d-ab41-e66bc278c53c/Colorado+Poetry+Calendar+%284%29.png Blog - A Thank You to Our First Sponsor — and an Introduction to Colorado Poets Center  - Write with us! Have an article idea? We are excited about poetry book and project announcements, events, people making poetry alone and together, and much more. Reach out and pitch us in the form below! https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/home daily 1.0 2026-05-01 https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/contact daily 0.75 2026-05-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/1777620290537-Z1QTZ2T6VVI2SEXR44FH/unsplash-image-M2i7bo69hzc.jpg https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/donate daily 0.75 2026-03-17 https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/supportpage daily 0.75 2026-05-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/c8d2f5ee-cade-486b-ac79-6d05c7f9f772/Untitled.png Support Thank you Colorado Poet's Center for your support! https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/projects daily 0.75 2026-05-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/e6706fa0-6e69-416c-bca8-9e864272ce34/new+bibliomancies.png Projects https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/new-bibliomancies daily 0.75 2026-05-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69b838e6780e6203bec8d6d9/f506ed61-9a76-4ec7-92fc-bf3a0c071a9c/new+bibliomancies.png new bibliomancies - Divining with Books Welcome to New Bibliomancies You have found a poetry experiment. You are invited to open any book around you, find a passage, take a picture of it, or include your passage with an image of your choosing. The bibliomanced passages will appear in the webapp below. There will be a new bibliomancy when you visit again and/or reroll. https://www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/newsletter daily 0.75 2026-06-16