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The Assembly Line Has Lost Its Teeth: 2024 Accomplishments & 2025 Plans
My office is clean, organized, and I just poured myself a cup of tea. That means its time to do what many others are currently doing: reflect on goals and aspirations for 2025. I remain steadfast in my avoidance of labeling them “resolutions,” as to me, they create a lot of pressure with minimal flexiblity. Instead, I prefer to refer to these goals and aspirations.
To begin, I’d be remiss if I didn’t reflect on 2024. Technically, as a writer, I have not put out a full body of work since my chapbook of poems, Casting Seeds (Alien Buddha Press, 2022) three years ago. It feels like a lifetime and throughout most of 2023, I felt immense guilt for not churning out more work after three back-to-back releases since 2020. I needed some rest and 2024 became my year of resoluteness: I discovered I measured my output based on the other writers in my life, which aggravated that guilt I was feeling. I learned to embrace taking downtime between projects because what we do in the liminal spaces of output matters. With much discomfort at first, I began to celebrate the small accomplishments bit-by-bit, then, discovered that I was actually accomplishing pretty notable things that I was downplaying. After all, western society always convinces us to downplay our own momentum, does it not? So, I’d like to celebrate some of my 2024 accomplishments on both writing and media fronts:
AN EXTENDED PLAY OF MUSIC & POETRY – URGENT FIRE (WITH BROTHERWELL)
As a poet (and former musician), I never dreamed I’d have the opportunity to combine my poetry with music. I’m grateful the universe coaxed Brotherwell and I to cross paths. The past few years, we worked together on songs here and there, but to have the chance to work on an entire album with a concept, I never believed it’d happen until this past year. Back in January 2024, we released Urgent Fire, an extended play of four spoken word songs examining current events, mental health, and so much more. There’s much more from us to come! (Will discuss later)
WORK ON THE GODZILLA: 70th ANNIVERSARY ANTHOLOGY
Similar to my thrill about my work on music, having the chance to write for an official Godzilla comic story was not on my bingo-card. I’ve discussed it at length in interviews and on my podcast Growing Up With Godzilla; however, when my friend Matt Frank approached me to write poetry for a character in his story, “In the Shadow of a God,” I eagerly accepted. Not only did it help me learn about the comicbook writing world but it built a friendship with someone I respect considerably. Fast-forward throughout the year, it led to me having the opportunity to speak at G-FEST 2024 on the Kaiju Writer’s Panel, a co-signing session, and led to a number of guest appearance opportunities on some podcasts, including but not limited to: United Kaiju Podcast, Kaiju Conversation LIVE, Collect All Monsters, Tomes of Evil, and SKREEONK! As a writer and lifelong Godzilla fan, 2024 marked a major milestone for me in this regard.
CONCLUDING OUR PODCAST “RESTITCHING THE TAPESTRY“
A major part of my life since 2020 was our podcast Restitching the Tapestry. Ari Whipple, my friend of 20 years, joined forces with me to discuss current events, pop culture, social justic, and art regularly on Thursday evenings. After 5 seasons and 180 episodes, we decided to conclude the show. It was an emotional end; however, looking back on all we’ve accomplished, I’m incredibly proud. We covered a lot of ground, had revelations, shared poetry, cried together, laughted together… and so much more. If anything, I’m most grateful for the friendship I’ve cultivated with Ari, and I’m happy viewers will always be able to watch (or listen) to our massive project. If you’d like to listen to Restitching the Tapestry on YouTube, click the image above. Otherwise, it can be found on streaming services.
COMPLETING SEASON 3 OF MY PODCAST “GROWING UP WITH GODZILLA“
I’d be remiss to not mention the completion of season 3 of my Godzilla podcast, Growing Up With Godzilla! The show has started to take off, to the extent where attendees at G-FEST 2024 ACKNOWLEDGED it. 2025 will mark the show’s 4th season starting in February.
MAJOR POETRY READINGS: THE QUEER CONFESSIONAL & CASTING SEEDS
I had two major poetry readings throughout 2024: THE QUEER CONFESSIONAL during Pride Month and CASTING SEEDS in late summer. Both of them were a huge success. Special thank you to Lolobees Lounge in Bay City, MI and the Roethke Museum in Saginaw, MI for hosting. If you’d like to watch either reading, you can find them on my poetry YouTube channel via the links above.
Here are some other accomplishments I’d like to list:
- Getting 11 poems published
- My poem “The Symphony of Sullen Warnings” placing first runner-up in Wingless Dreamer’s Petals and Pines 2024 poetry contest
- My book Feats of Alchemy was listed as a Favorite Book of 2024 on Walden’s Poetry
- Starting and sustaining a successful newsletter for PFLAG Great Lakes Bay Region, a local LGBTQ+ organization
- Becoming a board member on Friends of Roethke, a local organization charged with protecting the legacy of Theodore Roethke
- Facilitating a partnership with Friends of Roethke, distributing my Oct/POEM/ber Poetry Challenge to a wider audience
- Guest appearing on a local podcast, Saginaw Valley Spoken Word Podcast, to discuss my career as a queer poet
- Being invited as a guest speaker at Delta College for an Author’s Spotlight
- Guest appearing for 3 episodes on the Star Trek podcast, IDIC – Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
- Helping launch a literary magazine for Delta College called 1961
- Resumed the podcast series “Universal Journeys” with my dear friend Brenda Bates.
- Participated in an author’s reception facilitated by Bookmarks in Midland, MI
- Guest appeared at Great Lakes Bay Pride with Leopard Print Books
Looking back on this list accomplishments in 2024, my immediate insecurity is: how will I catch lightning in a bottle again? One of my major goals this year is to ignore that voice – because it creates a pressure and fear of failure. Instead, I’m trying to affirm myself by saying: our accomplishments vary and take different shapes depending on where we are in life. In 2025, I may accomplish one thing as opposed to a dozen and ultimately, that’s completely okay. This capitalistic assembly line we’re on inbeds this deep conditioning that we must constantly need to churn out content and accomplishments. I’ve found that when I fall prey to that, fear-based ambition short-circuits actual output. 2025 will be about continuing to unlearn that conditioning and replacing these fear-based habits with grace-granting ones.
Despite my TedTalk in the prior paragraph, I don’t want my being cognizant of fear-based ambition to negate my excitement for what’s to come. As always, a new year brings new goals and aspirations. Here is my 2025 list:
- GET MARRIED: I’m getting married this year in November! I’m pretty stoked about this! Anyway, I’d be ridiculous not to list this first!
- READ MORE: Since working as a teacher involves a lot of reading, I find myself depleted when it comes to liesurely reading after coming home from work. In 2025, I’d like to carve out more time for casual reading. In fact, my friend Ari (who I mentioned before) has been sharing some thoughtful tricks about low-stress reading that have empowered me. I plan to start a reading journal, read at least 1 book a month, and actually use my Kindle to improve my access to reading material.
- FINALIZE AND SEND OUT MY CHAPBOOK: Yes, I’m nearly done writing a chapbook of poems! I don’t want to share too many details, but I’m finishing up some final poems and organizing. I’ll be sending it to my editors some time in the next month or two. Then, it’s going out to publishers!
- FINISH MY NEXT FULL-LENGTH POEM COLLECTION: I’m about 75% through completing my next full-length book of poems. I doubt it will be released this year but that’s progress, right?
- BEGIN WORK ON A FICTION SHORT-STORY COLLECTION: This is probably an unexpected one, but yes, I am slowly getting back into writing fiction. In fact, I’m hoping this short-story collection will lead to a full-length novel series. It’s ambitious (oh the irony considering my ambition tirade earlier); however, we writers dream big don’t we?
- FINISH ANOTHER EP WITH BROTHERWELL: We are beginning work on the next segment of what will be a full-length album of poetry and music.
- SUBMIT (AND HOPEFULLY GET ACCEPTED) A GODZILLA COMIC BOOK PITCH: Throughout late 2024, I’ve worked on sending out Godzilla comic pitches to IDW Publishing. I haven’t had any bites yet, but I’m not giving up. I have a lot of stories in me, so, one of my goals is to score my own Godzilla story in comic book form. I don’t care if it is a limited series or one-off, I’m just excited to stretch myself to other genres outside of poetry.
- WRITE A BLOG POST PER MONTH: I honestly should use my website blog more!
- WORK ON PROMOTING WORK MORE: Marketing is always this writer’s worst enemy – it is quite time consuming!
I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to accomplish this list throughout 2025; however, I’m excited to forge forward and do my very best. As we navigate this year, I wish both writers and readers love and creative energy. Let’s keep doing what we love because we owe ourselves this enrichment. Happy New Year!
XoXo
Donny Winter
Oct/POEM/ber 2024 – A Poem Writing Challenge
VIDEO OVERVIEW:
It’s that time of year again; it’s officially OCT/POEM/BER! Throughout the month of October, I challenge willing participants to write one poem per day for 31 days! What’s even more exciting is that this year, I’m partnering with the Friends of Roethke Foundation to promote this challenge!
What is Oct/POEM/ber: Back in 2019, I grew envious of artists and fiction writers because they got to enjoy monthly challenges like Inktober and NANOWRIMO. So, I decided to create a monthly writing challenge for poets and thus, Oct/POEM/ber was born. Throughout the month of October each year, I challenge myself to write one poem per day not only for the fun of it, but to also expand on my content and improve my craft.
How to Participate: Open up a word document or notebook and just start writing! To make it easier for participants, I’ve designed 2 tracks for completing Oct/POEM/ber. The first track provides you a daily prompt to follow. The second track is self-guided and expects you to write a poem per day without the assist of prompts. Some writers benefit from having guidelines, whereas others benefit from not having any! So, there’s a track for both schools of thought! (those are listed below)
Submit Your Work: Your poem has a chance to be PUBLISHED! After the challenge, submit your work to [insert form link or email], which will remain open throughout November 2024, to allow participants revision time. The Friends of Roethke Foundation will review poems submitted by participants and select a number for publication on their website. If your work is selected, you’ll receive an email from [insert email] with further details. If your work is not accepted, you’ll receive an email thank you for your participation and interest!
TRACK #1 – DAILY PROMPTS
Oct. 1: Haiku
Write a haiku about an object in your immediate vicinity. (These are 3-line poems with 5-7-5 syllable line lengths).
Oct. 2: Poetic Letters
Write a poem to a person who’s no longer in your life.
Oct. 3: Food Frenzy (NEW)
Write a poem about food. Experiment to your heart’s content – write it as a recipe, write it as a love poem to cooking with someone you care about. Not even the kitchen sink is the limit!
Oct. 4: Paradise (NEW)
Write a poem about your vision of paradise. Is it paradise of religious or spiritual proportions? Or perhaps paradise in the day-to-day mundane?
Oct. 5: Tanka
Write a tanka about life and death. (These are 5-line poems with 5-7-5-7-7 syllable line lengths).
Oct. 6: The Gothic (NEW)
Write a poem inspired by the gothic containing dark and/or haunting imagery.
Oct. 7: Boundaries
Write a poem about a boundary. This can be a geological boundary, mental boundary, human-made boundary, or a social boundary set in a relationship/friendship.
Oct. 8: STATIONERY CHAOS (NEW)
Write a poem on a piece of stationery you’re not accustomed to using – a napkin, piece of tissue, old birch bark on the forest floor. For an extra challenge, write with a utensil you’re not accustomed to using – crayon, marker, eye liner pencil – the sky’s the limit!
Oct. 9: Sonder
Write a short poem (10 lines or less) about the concept of sonder, which defined as “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own” https://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/post/23536922667/sonder
Oct. 10: Journal Journeys (NEW)
Find an old diary or journal, then write a poem inspired by an entry you wrote.
Oct. 11: Artistic Ekphrasis
Find a piece of art and write a poem about it. Allow your poem to engage in conversation with the art piece, expand on what the art piece is already saying, or change the meaning you think the art piece conveys. (Example: “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by Keats).
Oct. 12: Musical Ekphrasis
Listen to your favorite song and write a poem about how it impacts you.
Oct. 13: Acrostic
Write a poem in which the first letter in each line spells out a word.
Oct. 14: Object Permanence (NEW)
Find an object in the room you’re in that connects to a person you care about. Write a 5-10-line poem about said object – describe it using sensory details and use the inspiration it creates to help readers develop an understanding of the person it’s connected to.
Oct. 15: Fictional Fugue
Create a fictional character whose identity has been lost and write a poem about their journey toward self-discovery.
Oct. 16: Sisyphean Synergy
Write a poem about a characteristic, aspiration, or struggle you have that’s always been difficult for you to resolve or reach.
Oct. 17: Dystopia
Write a poem about a dystopian world, a poem that includes dystopian imagery, or a poem about any dystopian qualities you see taking place in our world.
Oct. 18: Persona Play
Write a poem with a persona speaking (or narrating) separate from your voice. Oftentimes, these poems are written in second (you) or third person (he, she, them, they) points of view. These poems sometimes have dialogue in them. (Example: your present-self visits your past-self but it’s narrated in third person point of view, so the audience doesn’t know who’s doing the speaking).
Oct. 19: Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)
Write a poem about artificial intelligence. You could write a poem about the vastness of AI, the fear/excitement surrounding it. Perhaps you may want to write a poem featuring some sort of alien AI from a different planet!
Oct. 20: Socio-Political
Pick an issue or event happening in the world currently and write a poem about how it makes you feel.
Oct. 21: Sonnet
Write a sonnet (follow link for sonnet structure directions). (Example: Shakespearean Sonnet).
Oct. 22: Sublime
Think about a feature in nature that fills you with curiosity and fear, then write a poem about your reactions if you were to be in the presence of such feature.
Oct. 23: Thresholds
Write a poem about reaching or crossing a threshold in your life. What does “crossing thresholds” mean to you? Are they good or bad? Neutral?
Oct. 24: Recipe (NEW)
Write a poem in the form of a recipe or about a recipe that’s important/personal to you.
Oct. 25: Pantoum
Write a pantoum (follow link for pantoum structure instructions).
Oct. 26: Erasure Poetry
Research, then copy and paste an article into a word document, then use the strikethrough (or dark high-lighting feature) to blot out the words until the remaining words create a poem.
Oct. 27: Entropy (NEW)
Write a poem about lack of order, randomness, and/or chaos.
Oct. 28: Historic
Write a poem about a historic event you’ve been present for. How was it significant or insignificant to you?
Oct. 29: Alternate Reality
Imagine yourself thriving in an alternate reality and write a poem about what your life would be like in that universe.
Oct. 30: Out of Body
Write a poem about experiencing an out-of-body experience. This doesn’t have to be about near-death experiences; it could be a subtle moment where you felt this sensation in day-to-day life.
Oct. 31: Horror
Using grotesque imagery, write a poem about something that induces fear.
TRACK #2: INDEPENDENT/SELF-GUIDED
Recommendations, Helpful Hints, & TidBits
- Select whichever writing medium you are most comfortable with: electronic or handwritten.
- Most of the poems, aside from the form-focused ones (tanka, pantoum, haiku, and sonnet) are all free-verse or free of particular form. Your poems need not rhyme or be structured in a particular way if you don’t want them to!
- Do your best to set aside designated time every day to write – create a routine!
- If you fall behind, you can always catch up!
- If there is a prompt that you get stuck on or don’t like, switch to the Independent Track that particular day.
- Sharing your poems across social media is not required but encouraged. The world deserves to see your work!
Content Discretion
When writing about personal topics, always consider your own well-being above all else. Regardless what prompt you follow or self-guided poem you write, only write about what you’re comfortable writing about. If you need to skip a daily prompt, feel free to do a self-guided/independent poem on that respective day.
Sharing
If you share your poems across social media (which I encourage), please use the hashtags: #octpoember and/or #octpoemberchallenge .
Walden’s Poetry Reviews “Carbon Footprint”
Major thank you to Walden’s Poetry for the wholesome review of my first poem collection, Carbon Footprint (2020 – Alien Buddha Press). Go check it out!
New Poem: “Hell and Havoc”
Yesterday was Godzilla’s 69th anniversary, and to celebrate this character’s pop cultural significance, I decided to write a poem commemorating its legacy. Check out my poem, “Hell and Havoc” on Kaiju United.
Watch a live performance of the poem below:
WNEM-TV 5 Interview: Storytelling & LGBTQ+ Experiences
I had the honor of being invited onto WNEM TV-5 today to discuss storytelling, my writing, the significance of Pride, and the organization PFLAG (Parents of Lesbians, Gays, and Transgender Persons). It’s the first time my books have been discussed on any major media platform, so, this was a huge full-circle moment for me. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
SPOTLIGHT: Casting Seeds by Donny Winter
Check out the preview of my book, “Casting Seeds.”
Seedlings in the Window
The milk cartons bow
on the sun-soaked windowsill.
As seeds peak from soil
the plastic wrap greenhouse lifts
and leaves finally breathe anew.
Sprout
I began: a sprout
on a warm spring afternoon
and while the sun sank
far beyond the western field,
she sat; a sunhat—her shield.
The Invitation
Clods of dirt cascade
atop the wilted weed pile
and she waves at me,
invites me to the garden
to plant my roots in the soil.
“Come Along with Me and We’ll Plant a Tree”
every spring she’d sing,
citing some forgotten song
from her younger days
while I, with a child wonder,
planted seed to memory.
Microburst
A spring storm has left
the hollyhocks heavy, bowed
by microburst force.
As the wind switches again,
their faces lift toward the sun.
SPOTLIGHT: Feats of Alchemy by Donny Winter
Queer Confession #2
I always dreamed of simple things
because the reality of them
seemed too far away, spaced by distance,
years in wait, and a thirst to belong
like a rogue planet lost between
solar systems.
I always dreamed of simple things
and the reality of them seems near
since the universe projected me
forward to now, as he lays next to me
falling asleep still clutching his book,
glasses crooked on his face.
I always dreamed of simple things
and now they’re here, tangibly present,
even as I smile, remove his glasses, and
turn off the lamp, I know we burn
like binary stars in elliptical consistency,
so, as I go to bed next to you,
I draw the lines between our eyes
to connect the dots we make in
this constellation, now refined.
Queer Confession #3
What is happiness
when it fits too tight for me
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A Year of Poetry (Here’s to Many More)
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly a year since my first collection, Carbon Footprint, was released by Alien Buddha Press. During this busy summer, I’ve reflectively flipped through old dusty journals I’ve kept since being a teenager. Often, my angsty past-self wrote swaths of entries pining over the thought of finally having a collection accepted and published. Unfortunately, my own self-doubts combined with frequent rejections discouraged me from putting my work out into the world for the first 15 years of my life.
Now, 15 years later, that distant dream has become a reality. In fact, this is a reality that I’m still processing. Part of the difficulty processing any success as a writer involves overcoming this subliminal conditioning many of us have ingrained within. We writers often spend much of our lives navigating spaces and conversations where we’re shamed for loving our craft and scoffed at for our hope of success. We trudge through a thick field of muck steaming with statements like: “there’s no money in writing” or “make time for more important things.” Unfortunately, I’ve allowed these statements and a smattering of rejections to extinguish my desire to write and put my work out into the world for a long time.
Recently, my therapist encouraged me to celebrate my successes because the words and bits of discouragement over the years have always made me want to reduce myself gracefully, because that’s what was always expected. The Donny of the past always believed that there was an inherent selfishness in acknowledging personal successes. If I could go back in time and tell that sad, hopeless writer that he’d have a top selling LGBTQ+ poem collection, have over 40 individual poems published, and have a poem nominated for the Pushcart Prize, I would. As miserable as 2020-2021 has been for the entire world (myself included), I’m at least grateful the standstill has given me the opportunity to break down that conditioning, re-forge myself as a writer, and use this process in my own conversations as an educator working with aspiring writers.
No more shame. No more silence. No more hesitation. This past year has been a successful one for me on the writing front and may it be the first of many. In the future, it won’t take a global pandemic to teach me how to celebrate my work. After all: celebrating our work celebrates our identities and histories.
Stay tuned for my second collection, Feats of Alchemy, scheduled for release in October. Thank you all for the endless love and support.
xoxo
Donny
VOICES FROM THE FIRE: Donny Winter
Huge thank you to Dumpster Fire Press for publishing my poems “The White Flag is Willingly Taciturn”, “Chemical Transfiguration”, and “Cyborg Butterflies.” All three of these poems will also be in my upcoming second collection, “Feats of Alchemy.”
The White Flag is Willingly Taciturn
The over-weaponized army marches
as gun-shells spill from open mouths
still wide from the war four years ago,
while the “torchbearers” rev
by a new fuel, untapped, standing by.
We, with the phantom-shrapnel pain
in our chests, watch from our balconies
as they burn the parchment-paper dream
only to cradle our conscience safely
because this is a war we never signed up for,
and thus, “not our battle” so, the white flag
we raise waves in smoke-brindle winds,
a hush, taciturn, when our voices
wielded properly, could be javelins.
Chemical Transfiguration
The extended-release capsule sinks inside
and dives through these intestines like Smaug
relishing his treasure-horde.
As the clock strikes two,
this placid lava-body melts into laminate floor,
threatens to heave with each serotonin-sear.
This planet-body’s core spins, then tumbles
until its innards begin to quake,
until synapses spark thunderstorms above.
Every night this…
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Donny Winter 