We are proud to welcome one of our own to the 3rd Tuesday featured poet spotlight. We are grateful for Anna’s commitment to this community and cannot wait for her performance.
About Anna
Anna Bonjour is a Fort Collins poet, classically-trained singer, and copywriter whose work finds wonder in the texture of everyday life and explores echoes of hope and faith in the world. In 2025, her poem “Weaving Peace” took first place in the Colorado State Fair Poetry Competition. This spring, Anna served as co-editor of GuloGulo’s most recent annual anthology, bringing her ear for language and her generous spirit to shaping GuloGulo’s collective voice.
Anna has also started a Substack, and she invites you to follow along! substack.com/@annabonjourcadenzapoetry
Q&A with Anna
GuloGulo: Your poetry finds beauty and wonder in everyday life. How do you train yourself to keep noticing, especially during busy or difficult seasons?
Anna: I’d like to say I have a consistent practice for this, but I really don’t. I’ve always been drawn to beauty, so I find it in the natural world, the way humans interact with it, and the things we make and how time and use change them…it’s all fascinating! The noticing definitely wanes a bit in busy seasons, but the hard times seem to make me notice even more. When I’m struggling or really mulling over a new idea, I start to look at everything through that lens, and it’s amazing how often what I see becomes a metaphor for my experience or how I’m learning to think about the world. I’m convinced some of these deeper meanings are built into our world on purpose, so it feels like a gift to discover them.
GuloGulo: “Weaving Peace” took first place at the Colorado State Fair last year. Without giving too much away, what was the seed of that poem, and what did it feel like to have it recognized in that way?
Anna: That poem literally came from going on a walk, deciding to sit by a stream and write, and then realizing there was this gorgeous spider maybe 12 inches from my face. It was just a description of that experience and how utterly peaceful it was. Watching her felt like permission to live freely in my own life, letting go of things beyond my control. It was such an honor to have that poem recognized, and the other poets who won (including our own, wonderful Becki Short!) had such lovely work. It was a joy to hear our words echoing in a space so full of art at the reading in Pueblo!
GuloGulo: You brought your editorial eye to this year’s GuloGulo anthology as co-editor. What did that experience teach you about the community’s voice as a whole, and did it change the way you think about your own work?
Anna: Co-editing was such a cool opportunity! My favorite thing about GuloGulo has consistently been learning from the other poets. That’s why second Tuesday editorial nights are some of my favorites; you really get to dig into what is making other poets unique, and I’m always inspired to try things I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. Editing the anthology felt a lot like that. I got to spend more focused time with each of the poems, and I walked away with so much pride in our community and the beautiful variety of what we do. I learned that we don’t really have a definable, collective voice, and I think that’s one of our greatest strengths. No one is being pushed into a box, we’re just learning to grow into our own voices and gaining tools along the way.
GuloGulo: You bring a background in classical singing to your creative life. How does that musical training influence the way you hear and write poetry?
Anna: Language and music have always felt like one category to me, and poetry is where they converge in a lot of ways. I think a lot about tempo, rhythm, and dynamics. Things like using alliteration to speed up or line breaks to slow down, choosing meter intentionally even if it isn’t strict, and having swells of emotional intensity rather than staying “forte” all the time. I find that my favorite poems to read and listen to often emphasize these elements too. Lately, I’ve been just swimming in poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins that lean into this musicality.
GuloGulo: What does it mean to you to perform your work for a live audience, and is there something specific you hope people carry home from your feature this June?
Anna: Performing is a joy because it is such a connecting experience for a room full of people to be moved together, even if they have vastly different reactions to something. I think we’re made to be creative, and this is one of the ways I try to live out how I’m made; for me, it’s like an act of worship. It’s also a chance to invite people into the complicated mix of beauty and ugliness and ultimately hope of the way I experience the world. It’s such a privilege to share and be given the space to be heard and understood, and GuloGulo is always a really kind and empathetic audience.
Join Us: June 16 at Wolverine Farm
Please join us for the workshop, open mic, and a featured set by Anna! 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 – Anna will lead a workshop inspired by her work. Come ready to write!
6 pm – Open Mic with Featured Middle Set by Anna – Hosted by Morgan!
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.
