Category: writing life

Failing to flourish

All around me, life is flourishing. But my writing life feels like it is dying on the vine.

Here we are in the middle of April, and all around me in this part of the world I see dogwoods are in full bloom, the brilliant purple flowers of redbuds giving way to the new, tender sprouts of leaves, and the dreary, dirty browns of winter erased by lush greenery, from lawns to trees to fertile undergrowth. My unevenly green yard is bursting with the yellow flowers of dandelions, which contrast with the canvas of lawn like the radiant stars of Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night.

All around me, life is flourishing, as it should be in mid-April. But my writing life feels like it is dying on the vine.

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Friday Five: Q&A with multi-genre writer J.L. Moultrie

‘… writing should speak to the times and address what’s at stake for each of us in the present moment.’

The style and rhythms of hip-hop permeate much of J.L. Moultrie‘s poetry — such as “contra” and “doves,” both published last October by Hobart Pulp. But this multi-genre writer also draws inspiration from literary giants like Fyodor Dostoyevsky, James Baldwin, and Rainer Maria Rilke.

J.L. is a poet and fiction writer born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, where he continues to reside. He discovered his passion for writing as a form of self-expression and therapy over a decade ago. He describes himself as a “literary abstract artist of modernity,” crafting experiential and abstract works that explore the human condition. His poetry and prose have been widely published in journals such as Datura Literary Journal, Terror House Magazine, The Cabinet of Heed, and Neutral Spaces. Read on to learn more about this week’s featured National Poetry Month writer and his approach to writing, inspirations, and advice to other writers.

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