I barely ever post here anymore, but I wanted to pop in to say hi and share something big.
Back in February I started a poetry publishing company. On August 15 we released our very first book. Since then it has sold nearly 200 copies and found a home in five indie bookstores.
I owe so much of the courage to chase this dream to Tumblr, to the poetry community here, and to @writteninjoy2 . Growing up, even through college, poetry was dismissed as frivolous, self-indulgent, meaningless. I internalized that and felt ashamed to call myself a poet, let alone dream about building something around poetry.
When I began sharing my work here, it was the first place I felt truly seen. The first time Joy featured one of my poems, back when I was @differentpunctuation-blog , I could not believe my words resonated with so many people. Over the years, the incredible voices on this platform healed me, shaped me, and showed me that poetry people are out there, I just hadn't been looking in the right places.
I wanted to start a press for over a decade. For years I told myself it would be a useless endeavor bound to fail. But the feeling that this is what I am meant to do never left. Eventually I realized, if not now then when? I made peace with the idea it might crash and burn, but I could not make peace with the regret I would carry if I never tried.
So Arcana Poetry Press was born.
I'm proud to say Arcana pays our authors. We host free community events. We are committed to uplifting underrepresented voices. Our first book, ROOTS AND RUINS, brings together 62 poets holding space for grief without surrendering to it, and celebrates the contradictions of belonging and exile, absence and love. This collection shares a diverse range of experiences, and through them it builds a bridge back to our shared humanity. Through poetry, we heal.
If you would like to join us, Arcana is most active on Instagram (@arcanapoetrypress). ROOTS AND RUINS is available everywhere books are sold, including our website arcanapoetrypress.com.
If you read all this, thank you. Not just for reading, but for being part of the Tumblr poetry community that started it all. That made me believe in my own worth. That helped me find my way home to myself. And thank you Joy, for always championing voices so loudly and teaching me to do the same.
