When I first heard about
American Athenaeum, I was really excited to submit something. They call themselves a museum of words, and this is often just the way I think of my poems. The journal takes its name from the first literary journal published in London in 1798 called
Athenaeum, and they note on the site that they "wanted to open a museum, the bricks-and-mortar type, a place where we could showcase community art and writing. We envisioned artists (musicians, poets, writers, painters, etc.,) coming together in an inviting haven to share their work right alongside the common person as well as the known. We pictured rooms filled with art and writing from the past, like a miniature Library of Alexandria, and as patrons, we would remember where we've been, what we've collectively experienced, and consider where we might go next; most importantly, we might begin to explore the possibility of a hopeful, compassionate future." I felt instantly as if I'd come home, and so I'm just thrilled to be featured in their most recent issue. It's also worth noting that this is the first print-journal that has accepted my work.
The piece they accepted, "Naturhistoriches," is one of a series of poems I've been writing about the space of the museum. This particular one was inspired by a visit to the
Natural History Museum in Vienna, a place that is absolutely magical. If you're interested in my prose poem about that museum, please do grab a copy of the Front Porch issue of
American Athenaeum, now out in
print and
e-book (and if you have a Kindle and you're an Amazon Prime member, it's free).
