Good morning, Brave Monday, I’m all wound up.

What I really want to say is: I dreamed last night that I was making Thanksgiving dinner and had forgotten to go grocery shopping, and that there was a baby scrambling around (that might have been a kitten?), and I was at the top of some stairs that I couldn’t get down from. And that dreams are super weird, but anyone can see that there’s some interpretation to be gleaned from that there pre-wakeup business.

What I really want to say is: this is about courage.

I put it out into the world. Yes, I did.

So you know about the Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival, yes? This is an effort in bravery, and I’m not afraid to say so!* I got up off the sofa at the end of January with my good idea tucked under my arm, and pushed it into action. Holy crap, it’s in action!

Since then I’ve been figuring things out – like making pretty web pages, getting logistics in order, shouting out news, learning to write a press release, chatting up people I don’t know, and sniffing around cool venues for the scent of amazing things in potentia.**

And now I’m asking for help – which, in case you were wondering, is terrifying. This morning I set up a Go Fund Me page  in order to make submissions to the Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival free, and now I’m buzzing all over and feeling weird and excited, and hopeful, and and and…

Look – here’s the scoop:
Right now the plan for this festival is to use money that I have been carefully socking away since the beginning of the year as prize money. And I was planning to use that and money from submissions to cover the cost of throwing the awards ceremony event, right? But the more I think about it, the more I think about how often money can be the one thing that keeps me personally from submitting my work. Money for poems in the mail or money for groceries, right?*** The groceries usually win out. And I thought about how people who make a lot of art don’t have a whole lot of disposable income†. Conclusion: I want to make submissions free.

And so here we go – the asking. Here’s why it’s scary: comparisons. I look around at the crowd source stuff that I’ve donated to, and it’s been primarily†† stuff like medical bills and moving expenses and tuition and school books. And it’s really easy to feel unworthy about asking. But the truth of this is that Rabbit Heart is worthy, and I do believe in it, and I am so freaking excited about what it’s going to be that I can’t stop talking about it – even to people I’ve just met! When I say it can be a game-changer, I mean it – I really think that this little homegrown competition can change the way we look at poetry and multimedia. There’s just so much room to create! And it’s going to happen here, in Worcester, where splashy stuff just doesn’t happen that often – how cool is that?

So, yeh – it’s worth screwing up my courage, yes?

It’s like the post that I put up a few months ago about having an idea, but never getting past the idea part. Or not planning an itinerary for my art and then feeling defeated because it’s not out in the world. This is new, and it’s nerve-rattling because of that newness, but it’s not nerve-rattling because it’s wrong. It’s just uncharted territory, and I’m in the thick of making a map. As an aside, it’s also super easy to confuse excitement with being freaked out, so it may be that I’m just misidentifying some of it.

So anyway! Here’s the link to the Go Fund Me page again – right here.  Please consider donating a bit to the festival – and thank you in advance!

***

*I’m not afraid to say so, because I’ve been busy screwing up my courage about everything else to do with this festival everything lately, so saying so is easy, right?
**Like an awards ceremony – with popcorn and flashing cameras!
***I live with a teenager – it’s almost always about groceries. Or clothes that he’s outgrown. This weekend it was sneakers. Size 13 (13!) sneakers. Holy carp!
†Because art supplies! And groceries.
†† And this little projector for your Instagram photos – so cool!