Evening’s Kingdom: The Conversations. The Beautiful Dissolution - An Interview with Justen Ahren, Poet Laureate of Martha’s Vineyard.

Evenings Kingdom: the Conversations. Wide-ranging conversations with artists and thinkers on their work, their life; their adventures, processes and routines. Kind of an ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio’ meets ‘The Tim Ferriss Show,’ these Conversations will, no doubt, wend their ways into my writing. In stories from me in years to come, you may well recognize characters and ideas first discussed here. ​

Hello lovelies! I’m thrilled to present you with my conversation with Justen Ahren, the 2017-2019 poet laureate of Martha’s Vineyard.

Justen is a dear friend, poet, photographer, musician and teacher. He served as poet laureate of Martha’s Vineyard from 2017 to 2019, and is the founder of Devotion to Writing, helping people around the world cultivate their daily writing practice and awaken creative abundance.  

Justen has published two poetry collections, A Strange Catechism and A Machine for Remembering. His work has been exhibited at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, set to music by Grammy award-winning composers, commissioned by national dance theater groups and adapted and performed on stage. You can find him on Justenahren.com, and on Instagram and all socials as @justenahren.  

We take a moment to get going and have some audio misadventures, my fault - but our conversation catches fire, so please do stay with us! 

If you are an artist also, there is a great deal for you here, as we discuss: 

- The secret, parallel fantasy life that helped Justen survive a very tough childhood -

- Art as a coping mechanism, a lover, and, ultimately, a spiritual practice -

- Beauty witnessing us, just as we witness it -

-​ The magic of Intention, and how we may manifest our longings, for, as the ghost of the ancient shaman called Yaeel tells Ouma in EK: “That which you seek is also seeking you.”

- How stories choose us...

- And I reveal the wild, midnight ceremony which unexpectedly brought Ouma, and
the entirety of Evening's Kingdom, into me.

Thank you for listening. Please enjoy!