Poetry Zines! Adding More Flavor to My Portfolio of Written Words

Author Renee Coloman announces two new dark poetry zines.

Zines have always captured my attention and curiosity. I'm fascinated and awed by the creative freedom, raw expressionism, visual elements, and unbound play with words, form, and structure that creative minds unleash on simple scraps of paper.

There are no rules to constructing a zine; nothing to hold you back from expressing who you are, what the world means to you, and where you want to go, taking your readers along for the ride.

It's the perfect medium for exploring new ways of free-form expressionism.

A zine can represent any style of writing and art: fiction, nonfiction, a splash of words, a full-story narrative, a comic strip, billboards, signs, titles, and any visual representation that you feel in your heart and soul. It's an explosion of unbound imagination; a galaxy in which you are the mystical creator. Super fun!

I'm delighted to share that I dove straight into the free-flowing well and created my first two zines of dark poetry that I'll be featuring (along with my two published books) at upcoming community events around my hometown:

Free-form poem (a 2-pager in my zine, The Sting of Love's Melancholia)

• 4th Street Long Beach (July 24)

• Downtown Santa Ana Artwalk (August 1)

• Downtown Fullerton Artwork (August 7)

• Southgate Artwalk (August 23)

I've never considered myself a poet, yet I love the idea of free-form writing; of pushing a certain rhythm and tone and pace in the way I structure my narratives. I wanted the poems in my zines to convey not a love story but a hunger for love, as well as the consequences of choices we make when we're denied the love we need.

Make sure to follow me on Instagram (@13xthirteen), where I'll share more of my dark poetry zines and, on occasion, read an excerpt, which is always a super good time. Plus, make sure to sign up for my newsletter, (see footer below at the bottom of this page) where I share more insights, fun, and special insider info!

Take care, friends. Stay true to who you are and never give up or diminish the value of your creative superpower.

Hunger for Love (dark poetry zine no. 1)

The Sting of Love's Melancholia (dark poetry zine no. 2)