My poems can make a difference!

Poet Bio: Jennifer Schomburg Kanke, originally from Columbus, Ohio, now lives in Tallahassee, Florida where she teaches creative writing and critical theory as a visiting faculty member at Florida State University. Formerly the poetry editor for the Southeast Review and an editor for Quarter After Eight, she now serves as the reviews editor for Pleiades and a poetry reader for Emrys. Her poetry has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Fugue, Nimrod, and The Spoon River Poetry Review. Her fiction has recently been in Curbside Splendor, Gravel, and Pembroke, while her nonfiction has been in Connotation Press and Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment. She holds a PhD in English from Florida State University and an MA, MEd, and BSEd from Ohio University.

Author Statement: In 2010, I found Margery Wilson's charm guide The Woman You Want to Be in a used bookstore. A former silent film star, Wilson turned to giving diction lessons to actors who were making the transition to talkies and then parlayed those experiences into radio programs and books leading people through her whole personal charm school curriculum. The first version came out in the late 20s and the version I have is from during World War II. The book is, at heart, very forward thinking, though it's masked under the concept of "charm" and Wilson denied being a feminist even as late as 1983. I originally thought I'd use the book to help structure my dissertation, but got sidetracked by selkies and my granny. I'm hoping that the 30/30 Project will help kickstart me on my journey through writing poems that respond to or are inspired by Wilson's book.

The 30/30 Project is also a nice return to poetry for me. I typically write in the genre that I'm teaching at the time and the last two years I've been teaching fiction and nonfiction, so it's lovely to have thirty days immersed in poetry. I also tend to not show my work to anyone until it's had a bit of time to marinate, so this project will not only be an endurance test for me, but also an exercise in letting early drafts find their way into the world. And that's an important part of supporting the arts I think, not just supporting the golden, polished apples that might win the heart (or eye) of a goddess, but also those early ones that are just the seed of a seed of the poem they'll be someday.

Your support gives me vital inspiration as I write for thirty days this month.

As a special thank you (or incentive, however you want to look at it), for some donation levels, I'm willing to offer up the following:

If you donate between $15 and $29, I'll send you a signed, limited edition broadside of my poem "Sonnet of the Winter Sky" from Black Orchid Designs (You'll send me your address in a private message).

If you donate between $30 and $49, you can suggest something for me to work into a poem. Want me to write a poem that references Jennifer Lawrence, ultimate frisbee, or the name of your home town? I'm up for the challenge! (You can leave the request on the donations page or shoot me a private message if you'd rather). What will the poem be about? Who knows!

If you donate $50 to $99, you can request that I write a poem about a specific occasion, person, place, whatever. If more people donate at this level than I can accommodate during the 30/30 Project, I'll post the rest of the poems on my Facebook so everyone gets fair air time. (You can leave the request on the donations page or shoot me a private message if you'd rather).

If you donate $100 or more, I will dedicate a poem to you (you can request that it be on a certain topic either on the donations page or in a private messaage). Then your name will be on that poem forever and ever!

Any donations will receive a shout-out on Facebook, probably accompanied by a kitten meme.

Tupelo Press provides the canvas, I bring my words, accompanied by other fine poets, writing thirty poems in thirty days, all ours to edit and submit as we wish. 30/30 poems have been taken by over 90 journals and featured in over 40 published chapbooks, all so Tupelo Press can keep publishing exquisite and diverse voices that might never be heard otherwise.

Every dollar gives me confidence to write more, and helps the press place more poems in gorgeous books. Help me to help this distinguished press. Give today!