Today we’d like to introduce you to JOHN TESSITORE.

Hi JOHN, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.

I am a writer. Also an editor. A bit of a journeyman. I think I’ve done every kind of writing a writer can do, including business and nonprofit communications, which is how I support myself. But my heart is in my creative work, and especially in my poems.

I got a late start. I’ve written poems since I was a very young kid…secretly. I continued to write them, secretly, for much of my life. I’m not entirely sure why it was such a secret. I think I was trying to fulfill expectations…the real or perceived expectations of others.

I have a PhD in American Studies and the subject of my dissertation was American poetry. But I still kept my own stuff in a drawer.

It took a whole confluence of circumstances, in my late 40s, to pry my work loose. But once I started publishing my poems with some regularity, in print and online journals, the dam broke open.

In addition to the journal poems, I started writing longer, more experimental work…which I decided to publish myself, in a variety of chapbooks–long narrative poems, fragmented thematic explorations, abstract biographies.

Then I was invited to become an editor of the Wee Sparrow Poetry Press, which publishes poetry anthologies and donates all proceeds to charity.

And then I started my own poetry podcast, Be True, which has a growing following and may be my most public form of creative expression.

So in five years, starting from nothing, I’ve built up a small but significant publishing enterprise of my very own, all based on my own voice. I’m a late bloomer, for sure, but I feel like I’m finally doing the work I’m supposed to do.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

The first obstacle, obviously, was me. I can’t explain how and why I held myself back, except to say that I allowed a variety of fears, insecurities, and uncertainties to govern my own choices. I did not take a chance on myself. Instead I chose the safe, sure thing, for far too long.

Now that I’ve overcome myself, the new obstacle is…still me, but in a different way. I’m not my own enemy anymore. But there are disadvantages to being a late bloomer.

Typically, the creative life is a young person’s game. Especially in the era of social media. Young people, with less responsibility, can take more chances, and pursue the right mentors, and chase the right credentials, and learn to navigate current fashions. If you’re an older guy like me–who studied poetry as a literary historian, rather than in creative writing seminars, and who developed his voice over decades, completely on his own–you never really fit in the literary world. The gatekeepers don’t really know what to do with you. Who is this guy? He doesn’t write like others. Where did he come from? Is he for real?

I don’t sound like anyone else. I don’t speak like anyone else. My references are unusual. And I can’t expect anyone to give a damn. I have to make them care.

So almost everything I do is DIY. I’m like an old punk rocker mimeographing his concert posters and handing out his demo tapes, one audience member at a time. And that’s great. It’s exciting. And I love being in control. But it’s also exhausting.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

At this point, I have published dozens of poems in literary journals, in print and online. I don’t know the exact number but I know it’s enough to fill two collections.

I have also published twelve chapbooks that are more experimental: hybrid books that combine poetry and prose, stream-of-consciousness poems, biographical and autobiographical works, weird prayers, poetry collections that include images. I also released a novella that I wrote several years ago and revisited during the pandemic. All available on johntessitore.com.

The big surprise has been Be True, my podcast. The format appeals to me because it allows me to combine a variety of things I enjoy: writing, public speaking, educating. In a way, it gathers together my entire life experience. Each week I read one of my own poems–a convenience, since I own my own work and don’t have to chase down the rights–and I build an essay around it. Topics range from love and sex, to social justice, to personal anecdote…whatever obsesses me that week. Almost all the episodes are under ten minutes long, a quick shot of life and literature. As a listener told me recently, they’re exactly the right length for the drive to grocery store, and I can’t think of a better use for them.

I reserve the right to return to fiction at any minute (that was my first love), and have several manuscripts and a three-act play waiting in a drawer next to my desk. I also enjoy creative collaboration of every kind, and could show up anywhere if it sounds interesting, even where I least expect it. But my main goal, at the moment, is to find an imprint willing to help publish a collection of my journal poems. That would be a wonderful thing for me, if I can make it happen.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?

In hindsight, lots of people tried to encourage me to pursue my creative life in a more serious way. But most were very polite about it, and hinted at it. I didn’t listen to hints. I needed someone to grab me by the shoulders and shake me. “What are you doing? Publish your stuff!” And so I am eternally grateful to a few very close friends who did just that. That’s really all I needed and I was off and running. But it’s risky business for a friend to be so forceful. You risk pushing too hard. So we all need to thank the ones who are willing to take that kind of chance, and push us.

I’m also very grateful to my family. One of my fears was that my family would see my writing and realize what a weirdo I really am. All the self-exposure. All this fuss about erotic life, and spirituality, and rebellion…all this honesty. It turns out, they already knew, or suspected, that I was a weirdo. And no one batted an eye. Which has been a great gift. It’s very freeing to know that everyone already thinks you’re out of your mind.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.johntessitore.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jtessitorewriter
• Facebook: www.facebook/johntessitorewriter
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johtessitore
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@johntessitore6366
• Other: www.johntessitore.substack.com