Meet Shawnte Orion

We recently connected with Shawnte Orion and have shared our conversation below.

Shawnte, we’ve been so fortunate to work with so many incredible folks and one common thread we have seen is that those who have built amazing lives for themselves are also often the folks who are most generous. Where do you think your generosity comes from?

It almost feels like carrying on a tradition. From my earliest days of trying to become a writer, some of my favorite poets were unnecessarily kind and supportive to me. People like David Chorlton, Kelli Russell Agodon, and Denise Duhamel had no reason and nothing to gain by giving me the time of day, but they did. I’ll never forget it, so whenever I encounter younger or emerging writers who have any interest in my projects, I take pride in making time for them. It’s my secret way of honoring everyone who helped me along the way.
Another aspect of the personal ethos I’ve developed over time is that whenever some sort of blessing comes my way, I try to diffract it to some of the people around me. Often that currency is just recognition or exposure, but occasionally it can be monetary. In recent years, I was fortunate to receive some grant support from the Arizona Commission On The Arts and I tried to create some projects that involve other artists and organizations (like Related Records, for example) that are important to the community I love.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a poet and small press editor. My first book of poems The Existentialist Cookbook was published by NYQBooks and my new book Gravity & Spectacle is a collaboration with photographer Jia Oak Baker (involving my poems and a strange art piece sculpture by JJ Horner). I also recorded several poems for the flipside of a 7inch vinyl record with two songs from San Francisco band Sweat Lodge on the other (for Related Records).
I love doing live readings and sometimes use a projector to integrate images from the book into those performances. I have performed in bookstores, bars, hair salons, museums, and laundromats. I enjoy getting to read in new cities under any circumstances, especially for audiences who weren’t there to hear poems (like between bands or on a passenger train) so you have to win them over.
I am also an editor for an underground indie zine publisher called rinky dink press. I love getting to work with other writers and trying to bring their vision to life.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I try to keep my expectations pragmatic. Maybe it’s different for fiction writers, where you can indulge the dream that your story or novel might get optioned for a film or Netflix series etc. But as a poet, I will always have to work a boring dayjob. There’s some nihilistic freedom that none of this will ever amount to much (monetarily, at least). Anything I manage to create in the face of that, is its own subversive triumph. So my only concern is the work and whether or not it can hold up in my own eyes.
Keep following your genuine curiosity and you’ll eventually end up somewhere worthwhile.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

Since writing is a solitary endeavor, it’s easy to become rigid and micro-manage yourself into your own echo chamber. Mostly that can be great, but I was able to do some recent collaborative projects, like working with a photographer for the new book and some musicians for that record. It was exciting to make room for other ideas and allow things to go in new directions that ended up in places I could have never found on my own.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://batteredhive.blogspot.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawnteorion/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shawnte.orion/
• Twitter: https://x.com/ShawnteOrion
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShawnteOrion

Image Credits

Jia Oak Baker