Creative Discipline in the Land of No Seasons with Jacqueline Suskin, Poet, Author & Educator LET IT OUT

This week’s guest, Jacqueline Suskin, is a poet, educator, and the author of eight books, with work featured in publications including the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the Los Angeles Times. Her newest book, A Year in Practice, is a practical guide for using the natural seasons to inform creative rhythms, and how our rhythms are drawn from those of the earth. She now lives in Detroit where she works as a teaching artist with InsideOut Literary Arts, bringing nature poetry into classrooms with her Poem Forest curriculum. She spent many years living in Los Angeles where she began an ongoing project called Poem Store where she composed over forty thousand improvisational poems. In this conversation, we spoke about her transition from living in a place with very slight seasonal difference to a climate where the seasons are clear; how she protects her creative practice by experimenting with what works for her and developing deep discipline to maintain it; the power of saying no; hingeing on the brink of success; committing to finding sources of energy that feel consistent and fulfilling, rather than draining; the intensity of spring; seasonal transitions and more. She even reads a poem.