Today we’d like to introduce you to Jalynn Harris.
Hi Jalynn, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I am a poet, book designer, and educator from Woodlawn, MD. By the time I was 7, I had long decided I was a storyteller. And, ever since, I’ve been doing a longitudinal study on stories & their tellers by filling books with my thoughts.
My mother, a retired librarian, is the reason I am a writer. Working evenings, she homeschooled us during the days. Mostly that meant we– my two older brothers and I– sat dangling our legs off of wooden chairs in the quiet room with a book between our eyes and forever. I read everything and wrote as much.
I like the sounds of words as much as I like the meanings so when I was 18, I went to university and studied linguistics. By the time I suffered enough to earn a degree, I was exhausted with deconstructing sounds & longed to put words together again.
After receiving the inaugural Micheal F. Klein Social Justice Fellowship, I came home to attend the University of Baltimore’s MFA in Creative Writing & Design Program. That was cool bc I started playing in the paint of my words again. Plus, I got to teach for the first time and discovered that being at the front of the classroom suited me much more than the back.
I graduated from my MFA with a book I wrote & designed called, “Exit Thru the Afro”. “Exit” is a love child of photography I’ve taken around the African continent paired with historical queer personae poems in verse. Check out this WYPR interview about my book. By earning an MFA, I learned how much I loved book designing so I decided I’d keep making books! I run a smallsmall indy press called SoftSavagePress.
Two degrees later, I’m steadily making my life as a writer, cat-mom & certified nerd. I teach creative writing during the day at my old high school and at night, I croon about longing to my pen.
It’s cool bc I get to be myself– which is why I started telling stories in the first place.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road, and its house by the side, are both jagged. Struggles in the classroom include but are not limited to: the classroom. Struggles outside the classroom include, but are not limited to: being outside. The panini doesn’t help.
Still, I’m lucky because I am a poet. My life is longing. I subsist on the money I make & insist I make more with each word I put down.
Identifying with a term [re:”poet”] helps me frame my day-to-day. I see possibility in every new and old action. Reading a book is as much work as picking ear wax at the computer. Teaching kids is paid action with paid reward. Between pay, play, and picking, I am able to listen, and eventually write, as I walk this uneven road.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Because poetry is stuffy, I write to let the air in. I think this is what sets me apart. My playfulness with the line & my simple observations makes my work accessible. I believe poetry is for everyone because it is the perfect rodeo for ordinary things.
Professionally, I am a poet, educator, and book designer. I am proud to say I was featured on the Academy of American Poets’ “Poem-A-Day” series in August of 2021. It’s an honor to have my work in the world stage of poetry.
That same year, I was also nominated for Best-of Baltimore’s “Best Poet” category and was nominated as a runner-up.
I won the Enoch Pratt Free Library poetry contest in 2019. I have been published internationally (GALA online “Queer realness” archive) and domestically (Little Patuxent Review, Feminist Studies, Texas Borderlands Review, etc…).
And this year, my work will also be published in The Best American Poetry 2022. The premiere American poetry anthology that has featured US poet laureates, National Books Award winners, and Pulitzer Prize winners since 1988.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
It’s interesting to me that I have no formal understanding of biology, botany, or any science as a whole, but I love growing anything that must. This includes fungi, trees, flowers, and other edible foods. Growing makes coming home a ritual of constant nurturing.
Pricing:
- Exit Thru the Afro $20
- Canary $7
Contact Info:
- Email: softsavagepress@gmail.com
- Website: www.jalynnharris.com
- Instagram: Jalynn_Poet
- Twitter: @Jalynn_DaLorde
Image Credits
Janice Brooks
Godfrey DeSylva
Jalen Boston
