Jo Mariner
CA Conrad has successfully used (Soma)tic Poetry Rituals to overcome depression after the murder of his boyfriend Earth (aka Mark Holmes). The rituals help us see the creative viability in everything around us by creating an “extreme present” where being anything but present is next to impossible. Conrad will also discuss how poetry and rituals help us end our alienation from our planet and from one another. Creative people are survivors and Conrad will examine the important role of artists for the future health and happiness of our species.
CA Conrad’s childhood included selling cut flowers along the highway for his mother and helping her shoplift. The author of 9 books of poetry and essays, the latest is titled While Standing In Line For Death and is forthcoming from Wave Books (September 2017). He is a Pew Fellow and has also received fellowships from Lannan Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Headlands Center for the Arts, Banff, RADAR, Flying Object, and Ucross. For his books, essays, and details on the documentary The Book of Conrad (Delinquent Films 2016), please visit his blog.