About the Poetry Zines

I've written three poetry zines and released an abridged version of all three of them. They took over 4 years of on-and-off writing to complete! They're very much a passion project and it's what's gotten me into writing (slightly better) poetry now. Each zine stands on its own; feel free to read them in succession or just skip them and read the abridged version! There's a foreword and extra bonus content in the individual chapters, usually about the art, music, and writings that inspired the chapter.

Zines

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
The Abridged Version

Author's Notes

I know for some it's bad form to explain your poems, but I have a lot to talk about about most things so I'll be talking about everything that wasn't already covered in the forewords for the zines.

For one, my earlier works aren't as edited and polished as I'd like them to be right now. Hindsight is 20/20 but I've made edits in the abridged version where I can to make up for the amateurish vibe of my writing back then. The first chapter relied heavily on graphic design elements instead of the written word in and of itself, hence the color-heavy production. I dial this back drastically in the second chapter, where everything is monochrome and poems are merely accompanied by a pen doodle or sketch. By focusing more on form and rhyme I was getting a taste of writing poetry that I hadn't yet discovered. I also edited and polished them a bit more than my first attempt.

By the third and final zine, I felt a bit more confident in my writing to only include a fraction of poems compared to my earlier works. I padded out the runtime a bit with dream journals, because I love mixing mediums and genres like that. This third installment really is a love letter to mixed mediums. I had a blast drawing with physical mediums again and not worrying about perfection. Maybe that's the thesis of the final zine- It's not about writing the best most critically engaging poetry, it's about having fun in self-expression.

Nevertheless, I still tidied up some things for the final abridged release. I cut out some fluff and tried my best in crafting a coherent throughline. I'm not sure how well it worked, that's up to you, but suffice to say the final product is something that reflects my journey into poetry and a big part of who I am as a creative. The approaches I took in crafting it together informed my creative process further down the line and this journey was invaluable to me.

Since you've read this far, I'm currently trying to get published, which means lots of time spent on writing and workshopping poems! I'm enjoying delving into different forms, styles, and types of poetry and I can't wait to show you all what I've been working on!

Love, Catdya ♡