We caught up with the brilliant and insightful JJ Brinski a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

JJ , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had started sooner?

Totally! I really wish I would have seen and felt the gravity of creative work as viable and purposeful…10, maybe 15 years ago. But it took some HUGE shifts in my family life and vocation and a long time in the “desert wanderings” of life to stumble back upon poetry, art, and the deepest of meanings. It is so very healthy for me, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Coming from full-time ministry and “sold out” life to the Cause, I just didn’t have a category for creative work to be wholesome and generative…and for it to even allow me to FURTHER embrace my deep-held faith and belief. Turns out, beauty is so important…and mystery, the unknown of the universe. And poetry along with other art forms, made the world bigger, not more restrictive, asking better questions, looking up instead of down. So, I’m so thankful for the work I get to do now.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I believe that poetry is one of the purest, rawest ways to observe the world and tell the truth about both it and ourselves. Being my chosen craft since high school and getting a BA in Creative Writing, I use the written word to tell of the greatest, hardest, most colorful, or most horrible things I know. Poetry looks us straight in the eye. Poetry won’t let us get away with crafted persona or made-up landscapes in this human experience. It beckons us to TELL ABOUT IT, all about it, and use…your…best…words. So, I employ poetry as my main medium and then also use the written word as physical art in a sort of text-based visual poetry. On top of this, I often create in analog using mid-century, mechanical typewriters from all of the world. This medium allows for small, but obvious human mistakes to almost always be shown. There’s no autocorrect. There’s no spellcheck. There’s definitely no cut & paste! And this is the way I like it. I am NOT a polished person, or poet. I want human error to be evident. Every single piece of my art and poetry is a work in the grand progress of all the art I’ll ever make. I also think art and creative work is supposed to be communal, and this is why I do LIVE typing gigs at farmers & artisan markets and art shows, conferences too. I love real-time art that connects with real, flesh and blood humans. While I do edit and hone my poetry every week, this method gives me a real and raw touch; spontaneous, unabashed, messy, filled with joy and passion.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I have found two particular, larger creative communities tying together art and faith circles…that I didn’t know existed until three or four years ago. Good lord, could I have used these communities, their podcasts, their articles, their artistic works and books, their conferences, and their hearts 10-15 years ago! These two are most notably The Rabbit Room out of Nashville, Tennessee and Makers & Mystics from North Carolina (phenomenal podcast, btw). I have also fostered community with two subgroups of poets and writers to go deeper and become a better person and writer.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think my general workload and creative work ethic has proven to be resilient. As I saw the importance of this work, this poetry, on myself and those around me, I knew I wanted to work at it almost every day. I have a wife and four daughters, and I knew this would take a serious commitment and try to prioritize the work as much as possible, bless it, and keep going. I’ve learned that you have to be willing to write garbage and bland stuff sometimes to just keep working at it. I also try not to worry about bearing my heart and soul and regularly share my work, both for critique AND connection. I just go for it, get it out there, but then have to grow in front of folks. It’s not always easy, and sometimes blows up in your face…but taking risks is something I’m “good” at, I guess.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jjbrinski (I use this heavily)
• Facebook: JJ BRINSKI
• Other: I am often a part of the work that get’s shared on the Rabbit Room Substack Poetry page. There are some QUALITY poetry pieces and contributing poets who are a part of that. I also have a web store coming on Backerkit.com and be looking for me in other crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter!

Image Credits
The first three, pro photos I uploaded are credited to Maarten Vermaat.