Welcome to the Poetry Kiln
A home for anyone who loves written & audio/podcast poems, photos, and marginalia.
🪴 🌱 🪶 🪐 🍁 🪵 🍄 🌾 🌵 🍂 🐾 🥾 🍄🟫
My name is Mikaela Brewer, and I’m a Canadian multi-disciplinary published poet, writer, speaker, and researcher. I played basketball for Team Canada and Stanford University where I studied human biology (brain, behaviour, and mental health), creative writing, and science communication. I write and speak about my experiences as both a multi-suicide-attempt and multi-suicide-loss survivor, and am currently preparing for a Ph.D. project that will braid suicide prevention with poetry, language, and storytelling. In the meantime, I’ll be writing some short fiction, poems, an album, and my second book.
My approach to poetry has always been reflecting how I absorb and digest the world around me—news, art, quotes, nature, myths, other poems, fiction, conversations, books, pain, experiences, travel, therapy, grief, and this list continues. I wanted to carve a cozy space to explore the fluidity of whatever happens to be on my heart each month. Chances are it’s circulating through your bloodstream, too.
With this, I wish to share the names of a few wonderful, wise people who inspire and guide both my writing work & life. There is always an ever-growing village & lineage lifting everything we do:
Pádraig Ó Tuama, Cassandra Lam, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Jedidiah Jenkins, Michael McRay, Kim Saira, Blair Imani Ali, Hitomi Mochizuki, Felicia Rose Chavez, Robert Moor, Joy Harjo, Dr. Jennifer Mullan, Tommy Rivers Puzy, Marie Beecham, Martin Shaw, Rupi Kaur, Madeline Miller, Anne Lamott, Khaled Hosseini, Lawrence Hill, Susanna Barkataki, Roxane Gay, Maria Popova, Toni Morrison, Bryan Stevenson, Tariq Luthun, Basman Derawi, Safia Elhillo, Schuyler Bailar, and many more.
I’m also grateful to be able to live and work on the land (colonially known as Barrie, Ontario) of the Anishinaabeg people, including the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Pottawatomi Nations (collectively known as the Three Fires Confederacy), as well as the Wendat Nation (Huron) who tended to these lands long before the mid-17th century. In the Barrie area, The Barrie Native Friendship Centre honours Indigenous history, culture, and life, by centring healing, health, and justice for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit. Please consider supporting their wonderful work.
Blog & Newsletter Details …
How often will this newsletter come out & what can I expect?
A letter from me will join your inbox on the second Friday of every month. This is for paid subscribers (except the first post) and will consist of a poem, accompanying photos from the wonderful Lida Pavlova (lidapavlova_magic) & Amy Crowder (@amyisgoingplaces), and handwritten behind-the-scenes commentary/notes/marginalia.
In addition, each Monday, there will be a free episode newsletter of the interactive Braving the Waves podcast, complete with the full written version of the featured poem—only available in this newsletter! Read more about the podcast & submit to it here.
☆ AND…NEW! ☆
Clouds, Attic & Hearth: A refurbished oldie from 2021, imagining evening conversations between the spirit, mind, and heart via whispered dialogue poems—perfect for bedtime. Free every other Thursday!
The Poetry Woodland: Celebrating poems in the public domain with my audio reading & close-read notes, thoughts, and analysis. Free every other Wednesday!
Notes: A living archive of words that are one-way doors. Message me to suggest words you love!
How can I support this work?
You’re more than welcome to donate or become a paid subscriber of this Substack. Paid subscribers receive the monthly poem, photos, and notes, along with the free weekly podcast episodes. This money supports my work (and school next year!), with Substack taking a small portion of subscription fees.
How can I be in touch?
Connect with me via email, at mikaela@weareunsinkable.com (for anything Braving the Waves Podcast) or mbrewer8@alumni.stanford.edu (for anything else)! You’re also welcome to message me here on Substack. :)
Thank you for being here—for sharing your time and energy with me. Take good care.
