Our 3rd Tuesday Workshop and Open Mic features Jake Friedman who was recently named Co-poet Laureate for Fort Collins.
About Jake
Jake Friedman (he/him) is a writer, editor, and culture worker currently based in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he recently completed his MFA in Poetry from Colorado State University. Prior to that, he lived and worked in Phoenix for ten years or so, where he did a variety of artistic and literary things—founding and directing a small press called Four Chambers, serving in multiple positions at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University, a brief stint as the Community Engagement and Programs Manager for the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. In terms of writing, he’s received a few small but meaningful honors–a College and University Prize from the Academy of American Poets, a finalist for the Just Buffalo Literary Fellowship, a semi-finalist for the 92Y Discovery Contest, and scholarships from the Community of Writers. His current work is a collection of documentary poetry excavating the 19th-century American West. He has a job that provides him with money. He lives with his partner and two-and-a-half year old down the street from Wolverine.
Q&A with Jake
GuloGulo: How did you get interested in poetry?
Jake: I think the short answer is depression, lol. I think the longer answer is that, while I’ve always been invested in poetry, I was more of a hybrid writer before I decided to apply to MFA programs, which forced me to focus. I like poetry because it works in the language of figure and association, and it allows me to express things that would otherwise sound insane. I also like the structure and discipline of it, the rigor, the restriction. Like I’m an anxious dog with a weighted blanket, aesthetically speaking. And finally, I like that a poem can be anything it wants to be, which is also a nice way to relate to or treat people, or at least that’s the way I’d like it to be.
GuloGulo: How does your work in civic engagement and your literary art practice relate to each other?
Jake: Oof. Um, well, right now, I think, I feel a really sharp divide between my artistic and professional life, which hasn’t always been the case. They are both concerned, I think, with the nature of state. And I really do believe in organization and administration, in working to help people. But the work I am trying to do in my poetry, I think, is somewhat gloomier, apocalyptic, abolitionist. I am trying to work through some big feelings I am having about the United States right now, feelings that are synonymous with my own depression, which has been particularly active the last 12 months. Trying to figure out what I fear, what I mourn, where I fight. To prepare or rehearse, whenever it comes, for revolution. Which I believe will be happening within my lifetime maybe, most certainly for my children, soon. The way that I am doing that being, for some reason, to read a lot of texts from the 19th-century American West.
GuloGulo: You’ve described yourself as a “documentary poet.” What does that mean to you in practice, and how do you prefer to present this work to audiences who may be new to poetry?
Jake: Such a great question! In practice, concretely, this means that I do a lot of research, that all of the language in my poems is more or less borrowed, that it comes from other texts, which I then manipulate and arrange into something new,which I think most people tend to be relatively accepting of or open to, at least as much as anyone does for poetry. It’s a different approach than what most people are doing, which some people see as intriguing. It can make things a little weirder, which I like, aesthetically. But like, at the end of the day, nobody is ever going to cross-reference my sources. A poetry reading is such an ephemeral thing. And if somebody has even the faintest memory of it, some kind of catharsis or feeling, is even slightly entertained, then I would consider my job complete.
GuloGulo: The Poet Laureate role is inherently civic as well as artistic. How are you thinking about the relationship between poetry and public life in Fort Collins, and what do you hope to make possible during your tenure?
Jake: Poetry, perhaps at its best, has the ability to articulate some sort of feeling in the collective, to help us identify or recognize our community. Documentary poetry is particularly good too, I think, at being critical of power, of revealing or re-presenting certain forgotten or repressed histories. Fort Collins is a very particular place. One that is very different from where I spent most of my adult life. One that I am still getting to know. I am trying to listen. And so, I’d like to think that my goals are somewhat humble or modest here—to help build up the position, make it more official and visible, and get more opportunities and resources. In the same way, I’d also like to use this position to create more sustainable opportunities for writers–to foster spaces that complement our existing ecosystem here, where writers can be recognized as such, earn a little income, advance their work professionally. An open call for workshops. A conference next summer. That kind of thing. I think this work will start showing up soon.
GuloGulo: What draws you to share your work with us this July?
Jake: This is a longer and more personal conversation, but since graduating from my MFA program last year, it’s been difficult for me to get to live as a poet, to find community, which has a lot of different factors or variables, for sure. It was something I struggled with in my MFA program, to—the social aspect, the relationships, my whole life, really. But it’s always been easier for me, I think, when I have a platform to operate from—a structure, a reason. And so, I’m really just grateful to be invited, to get to be a poet for a few hours, to try to hang.
Join Us: July 21 at Wolverine Farm
Please join us for the workshop, open mic, and a featured set by Jake! The evening is part of GuloGulo’s signature program, the Journey of the Poem, our weekly rotation designed to move a writer’s work from initial spark to public performance. The third Tuesday is our Open Mic night, and it’s one of the most alive evenings in Fort Collins poetry.
Here’s how the night will unfold:
4 pm – Jake will lead a workshop inspired by his work. Learn more about what Jake has planned!
6 pm – Open Mic with Featured Middle Set by Jake – Hosted by Ben!
The open mic is free and open to all. Bring poems. Take the stage. Performances are limited to 5 minutes, and we ask that poets with sensitive content offer a brief content note before beginning.
Both events take place at Wolverine Farm Publick House (516 N. College Ave.) in downtown Fort Collins. Free and open to the public. Come for the poems. Stay for the community.
