eMerge Unchained
"eMerge Unchained" is a dynamic podcast that delves into the creative minds of writers from all walks of life. In each episode, we explore the stories behind the stories—diving into the craft, process, and sources of inspiration that fuel these authors. Whether they’re poets, novelists, screenwriters, or storytellers of any kind, we aim to uncover what keeps them motivated, what challenges they face, and the unique ways in which they unleash their creativity.
eMerge Unchained
Interview: Catherine Buercklin
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In this episode of eMerge Unchained, host Aubrey Green and Arkansas writer Catherine Buercklin talk cats, spiders, the value of community, and the Woody Barlow Poetry Contest, including a reading of Catherine’s award-winning poem, Orb Weaver.
They also explore the magic found in rituals, habits, and the small things in life that often go overlooked, a passion that led Catherine to start her own podcast leading people in this practice of slowing down and celebrating seasons.
Join Aubrey and Catherine as they ponder the magic in the water of the creative spaces of Hot Springs and Eureka Springs, Arkansas, including a shot-out to the host of Hot Springs’ Wednesday Night Poetry.
Mentioned In This Episode
- The Hot Springs Poetry Festival
https://hspf.org/ - Wed Night Poetry: the longest running open mic
https://www.hotsprings.org/events/wednesday-night-poetry/ - The Slow Season podcast - wherever you get podcasts
https://theslowseason.podbean.com/
Find Us Online At
https://emerge-magazine.com
Welcome to Emerge Unchained, the podcast of Emerge Literary Magazine, where Literature kicks off its shoes and wanders barefoot through the wild terrain of human imagination. This is Emerge Unchained.
Aubrey Green:hi, I'm Aubrey Greene, and this week I sat down with Catherine Buercklin. Catherine is an Arkansas-based contemporary poet and podcaster. Her work explores the connection between our inner lives and the natural world around us, bringing our attention to small, magical moments so we can be more present in our lives. In her podcast, she invites listeners to slow down and create seasonal rituals that help them align their values and stay balanced in an unbalanced world. You can listen to her podcast the slow season on most major streaming platforms, and you can follow her on Instagram @poetrybycatherine with a C. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy this conversation with Catherine Buerklin. Catherine, thank you for sitting down and talking with us and taking time out of your busy cats' schedule to to sit with us.
Catherine Buercklin:You're welcome. I'm excited to talk. And hopefully, my cats, you know, if you hear them in the background, that's just them co-signing what I'm saying.
Aubrey Green:There you go. They are throwing in
Catherine Buercklin:cents.
Aubrey Green:their two As
Catherine Buercklin:Yeah.
Aubrey Green:cats or want to do. Did I see that you are in Conway, Arkansas? Is that right?
Catherine Buercklin:I used to live in Conway. I'm actually, I've been in hot springs for a year now. So I moved, last May.
Aubrey Green:Nice. So do you go to the hot springs open mic?
Catherine Buercklin:I have, I don't go every Wednesday, but I do. I have um, participated and, the host Kai Coggin is a really great fixture in the community and it's just such an inviting space. She is really great at creating that kind of, just brave space um, and, and fun, and heartfelt. So it's, it's a really cool thing to, to go to, and experience, but yeah, I, I really love hot springs. I,
Aubrey Green:well, I hear a but in there.
Catherine Buercklin:I, it's, I think the but is that it just, it surprises me because I am originally from Little Rock and so, you know, I've lived in several different states since I moved out of my mom's house. but I, I don't know, I just didn't, every time I'm like, yeah, I live in Hot Springs, I'm like, that's so weird because I used to come here, you know, to Magic Springs, sometimes when I was a kid kid, and I just never, I, that's the only thing that I've thought about Hot Springs really. and oh yeah, they have hot springs, you know, and water's a big part of what the, the city is.
Aubrey Green:funny how that since
Catherine Buercklin:But yeah, it's not, it's not so much a but, it's, and I am, it's still shocked that I'm, I'm here and I, I came here, but it's, I, I feel really connected to hot springs. I can't tell you all the reasons why I, there is something that flows through the town and I don't know if it's the water. I don't know if like, once you drink the water, you're like, yeah, this is it, you know, I'm really, there's a little bit of, um,
Aubrey Green:haha,
Catherine Buercklin:magic, and, and what the, what the city holds. So it's, and it has helped me with my writing, because it is so, you know, the, I think the juxtaposition of the city and downtown and also the spots that are super natural. And when I say super natural, I don't mean supernatural is in like spirits. I mean, like, they're just kept very natural. Like, there are a lot of creeks, that you can go to and we live next to a walking park. That's just so beautiful. And I mean, yeah, and I, I don't know, I, I get to live here and that's really cool and gives me a sense of peace. And I, I feel like I'm living my retirement dreams. way before retirement age. So that's that's kind of a, a little bit of the, not really the story of how I got here, but the story of why I'm still here.
Aubrey Green:no, that's, that's awesome. I've, I have not heard very many people who sound like they enjoy where they live quite that much. The exception might be people from Eureka Springs. I hear so
Catherine Buercklin:Yeah.
Aubrey Green:many people talk about Eureka Springs being magical. And like they, they go and they just feel at home.
Catherine Buercklin:I think some of it is also just the history and some of the messed up things that happened in the past. I mean, I know Eureka Springs. I've gone on some of the, um, tours that they have. And they're hot springs in Eureka Springs are very similar. They have a totally different vibe. And I, but they, they both have the, I mean, and Hot Springs has a ton of festivals. I was talking to some friends, and one of them joke they were like, "Is this just like the City of Festivals?" Like, I feel like there's a festival almost every weekend. Oh, it's like, honestly? At this point, that might be our, like, claim to fame is that - Yeah, we are the city of festivals. You know - Forget the bathhouses.... What is built.
Aubrey Green:But you don't need a reason, just,
Catherine Buercklin:yeah, yeah. but yeah, I've been to Eureka, and there, you know, it's definitely... same and different. Cut from the same cloth, not the same color cloth, or even the same texture necessarily. There was, like, a little, you know, change in there. I'm waving my hands, just to note that, that difference. But yeah, I, I think, you know, the other part of that is, I, and surprise that I'm back in Arkansas and I moved back here in 2019, but I was in administration administration and higher education. that's what I did for a living for a couple years, and I lived in Virginia, and I lived in Oklahoma, and I was like, "I've never come back to Arkansas", you know, I, I lived there, and it's fine, but I don't want to do it but then I moved back, and I moved back to Conway, and I found a group of people who, we just clicked, and there was a coworking space there, it's still there and we all, you know, would see each other most days, we were all, you know, just slightly creative, slightly off-kilter, slightly... all of these things, and we, we enjoyed doing a lot of different things. And I think that's why we did so well together is because there was this, the was always the spirit of collaboration, beyond the friendship that we had, and so we were, you know, constantly challenging each other, and that's when I got back into writing and I actually quit my career in higher education, I loved working with students, but there are often a lot of red tape and politics that you have to deal with, and I, even though I consider myself a charming person, I... (laughs) very rarely able to deal with that aspect of just any corporate type situation, so but I started writing again, and then I hadn't written poetry since I had been in college, and I graduated from college in 2011, so it was a long hiatus of just not writing at all and, I don't, I've got, like I said, I got around creative people, and I was like, "Oh yeah, this is what I
Aubrey Green:Oh yeah,
Catherine Buercklin:do."
Aubrey Green:I'm like...
Catherine Buercklin:Yeah, like I
Aubrey Green:(laughs)
Catherine Buercklin:actually enjoy collaborative pieces, and, you know, just thinking about ways to infuse art and culture, into into a space in which I can participate and also bring other people in to participate and say, "Ah, this is kinda cool."
Aubrey Green:(laughs) Right, so, so that was in Conway, so what are you doing in Hot Springs? Like, how are you utilizing that over there
Catherine Buercklin:I, last year, I helped organize the Hot Springs Poetry Festival and that was in November, the founder of that they had a creative writing and MFA degree, and they are from Hot Springs, and so they're very passionate about Hot Springs and poetry. (laughs) so it was funny because I just saw as, as I was getting ready to move down here, I organically saw a Instagram post. about yeah we're looking for volunteers and I was like well I don't have a job so I have a lot of free time and I would love to be a part of this um so I did that last year um and I also I have found through that I found several people who are also creatives and also really like this town and want to um create spaces of exploration and so I that's what I do I am still open to opportunities I am a working writer right now so I am putting my work that has been unpublished to different lit mags or um prizes things like but I yeah that collaboration pieces really important to me and so anytime that I can do that that's when I really just kind of come I want to say alive because that's but it's it's when I feel most connected um and connection is really important you know I think a lot of people myself included we feel disconnected more than connected a lot of times and so this is a way these free and I mean a lot of these festivals are happen but these free resources they you just never know who you're gonna meet or talk to or see or hear that can change your perspective on something and I think that's so cool that has always helped me in my writing is just experiencing different things and learning something new that I never like I said it's it's a perspective shift and maybe you don't always agree with it or maybe you don't always you know but you react to it and then you kind of it solidifies what you do believe um or
Aubrey Green:Mmmhmm
Catherine Buercklin:It can change how you think about things so so that's what I do
Aubrey Green:so
Catherine Buercklin:I look for different perspectives
Aubrey Green:it that is a phenomenal thing to actually like consciously be trying to do because so often it's especially it feels like now that that that practice is is something that seems to cause a lot of people a lot of fear um
Catherine Buercklin:yeah
Aubrey Green:getting getting new perspectives feels
Catherine Buercklin:yeah
Aubrey Green:scary for so many people now.
Catherine Buercklin:I was actually talking to my friend about this earlier today something that I saw on Instagram and I wish that I knew the person's name or you know the so that there could be some type of paper trail but I don't
Aubrey Green:just
Catherine Buercklin:I
Aubrey Green:that's
Catherine Buercklin:a really good point just put it in my file to talk about with whoever would listen but um they were talking about how young children because they're they're in early childhood education they were talking about how a lot of screen time and artificial intelligence and generatives new things that they are experiencing in school or even through new products like toys that have that AI they are
Aubrey Green:hmm
Catherine Buercklin:that kind of robs them of having friction and their social interactions because when you have friction there's growth or there's some type
Aubrey Green:hmm
Catherine Buercklin:of three so you kind of like I said you you realize you can either say oh no I don't really agree with that and kind of build that strength and resilience of your thoughts and your perspectives or you can find a new friend and you know even if you don't fully not that you can't disagree with your you know like there's but even if you don't fully see things exactly the same like they're still enough friction to where they're like hey what if what if he thought about it this way or
Aubrey Green:hmm
Catherine Buercklin:you know well when you say that this is what that means to me did you mean that you know and clarification and it helps us with communication and so I was just I was telling her I think that right now What I'm experiencing and what a lot of my friends are experiencing for whatever reason and their lives whether it's they're trying something new or they've just recently moved, I do think this time in my life is there's a lot of friction and it's like growing pains and I don't really like it. It has given me moments of, oh my gosh, this is wild, you know, and I don't know if that's in a good or a bad way. I, you know, it's still processing some of those things. But it's the friction and it's, it's good for you, you know, it's, it's good to grow and it's, it's good to see the things that can change you. it doesn't always feel good and like I said, you know, I mean, I remember when I was little and I would have a growth spurt, I didn't have very many. I'm a very short person. so it's
Aubrey Green:okay. You look nice and you look nice and tall to,
Catherine Buercklin:Sometimes I feel like my curly hair helps, you know, get a little like maybe half an
Aubrey Green:yeah.
Catherine Buercklin:inch something, yeah.
Aubrey Green:a little 'oomph',
Catherine Buercklin:but yeah,
Aubrey Green:it depends on the
Catherine Buercklin:humidity, humidity, which there is a lot of right now. So I could go outside, be looked like a totally different person. I think that's, I love to just think about that stuff and I love to talk about those things and, and I think again, you know, I was an English major in college. And it's because I love to read and I love to just absorb information and you know, see what else is out there that I don't already know. Again, not to, not to really necessarily apply it to anything, but to have these conversations about did you know this and, you know, I mean, a lot of it is nature inspired or, you know, I think about the things that I write, it's all very nature. And kind of that oneness with nature or the juxtaposition between how we're living and how the natural world kind of has already, you know, given us a, a scaffold of what we can use and how we tend to, you know, push away from that just as a society as a collective. But then we, you know, talk about, oh my gosh, I just need to get away, you know, and go to the mountains and I'm like, yeah, we can do that all the time there's nothing that's stopping any of us. that was kind of a
Aubrey Green:Yeah,
Catherine Buercklin:rant
Aubrey Green:I know
Catherine Buercklin:and I'm
Aubrey Green:that?
Catherine Buercklin:like, where
Aubrey Green:That's okay.
Catherine Buercklin:was
Aubrey Green:It is not, I, it is not abnormal. I've noticed for, for people to get on their soap box while we're, while we're recording. So I applaud that soap box away. It does remind me though of something I was going to ask you. Well,
Catherine Buercklin:I
Aubrey Green:was going to ask you, first of all, you mentioned nature being so inspirational in your writing. And I did go back and look, so the, the piece that won our our witty Barlow contest this year was a spider piece, but also we published several things of yours.
Catherine Buercklin:Yeah,
Aubrey Green:2022. And there was another spider piece in there. Are you just like a, are you
Catherine Buercklin:yeah,
Aubrey Green:a spider?
Catherine Buercklin:The funny thing is I'm really not I, I, I have two points where I am kind of not neutral about them, but I do, I'm not scared of them or anything, I never had a phobia. no, typically I like furry things over over scales and, but, and I, I guess,
Aubrey Green:I don't know. I've seen some pretty furry spiders.
Catherine Buercklin:The little cute ones the jumping spiders. Those are cute. Um, I think some of it is, I'm drawn to them. Because they are so different from what I like. And I, you know,
Aubrey Green:yeah,
Catherine Buercklin:there's, there's something about the way that they move and the way that they look, you know, that's unsettling. But also, I cannot take my eyes off of them, and sometimes that's also because I want to know exactly what they are. So that they're not, they don't get on me. But no, Actually, it's... it's interesting right after I wrote that or we've repose. I don't... again, we... we have an... a tidy, but unkempt lawn. and so, you know, there are different times when there are pockets of, you know, I'll see this random web, which I did the other week. And it was a spider that I've never seen before. It looks like a crustacean. it was white and it had these, like, spikes that were black, that, like, white that turned into black and it, I swear to you, it looked like a little crab. And I was just, like, this is awesome. I'm also not sure if you are, are you a good spider bad spider? You know, I'm like, are you poisonous? What's your deal, you know Um, and so, I just, I don't know, and then I saw another spider, um, within the same week that was super translucent. and it was on a... yeah,
Aubrey Green:oh,
Catherine Buercklin:and...
Aubrey Green:I've seen one of those.
Catherine Buercklin:The amount of just species within a species is wild to me. And I think, yeah, I think they're just so... I think that other part of that is, like,there's a darkness to them because people don't necessarily, you know, it's, it's kind of like that, oh, don't mess with them. or, you know, it's kind of the same with snakes, um, especially with the whole poisonous, like, if, you know, sometimes people don't know, and, you know, somewhere in our biology, in our little grasshopper brain that tells us, you know, what's safe and what's not that goes to unsafe immediately so that we don't do anything stupid. Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm not really a spider person, but they do, um, engage, engage me. So, um, there's, there's more to
Aubrey Green:Yeah,
Catherine Buercklin:explain.
Aubrey Green:I could see that.
Catherine Buercklin:I feel like but yeah,
Aubrey Green:So I, my other, my other nature question for you was, um, I saw that you also have a podcast, and it looks like nature is, is a pretty
Catherine Buercklin:mm-hmm.
Aubrey Green:important part of that. So maybe you need to do, you need to do a,
Catherine Buercklin:you know, I have about putting in their, it's so funny with podcasts. And this is a total passion project of mine. It's just something that I, like I said, I read a lot, just because I want to know what, you know, it, it helps me process, um, my own questions, but it also, again, helps with
Aubrey Green:um,
Catherine Buercklin:different perspectives. and I've always been a seasonal person. I've always really enjoyed the turning of the seasons and celebrating and, you know, trying to be more in the present, um, especially especially in my adulthood, you know, I think that's so easy to do when you're a kid. Um, and, you know, part of that is because someone is making,
Aubrey Green:yeah,
Catherine Buercklin:for you. And you just get to show up.
Aubrey Green:that does
Catherine Buercklin:Um,
Aubrey Green:help decisions
Catherine Buercklin:and, and not have to, like, oh, what do I want to, what, okay, wait, how am I going to, y know, make this look? Okay, what's the aesthetic, what's the vibe? What's, you um, which I love doing. I love, we love a good aesthetic. We love a good vibe. Um, what is that, like, aura farming? Have you heard of that? of, I
Aubrey Green:I
Catherine Buercklin:think
Aubrey Green:heard
Catherine Buercklin:it's more about,
Aubrey Green:you know, yeah,
Catherine Buercklin:person and how they're aura, but to medium, like, that's just vibes in general to me. And so I'm, you know, I'm like, okay, but what's the vibe? Like, what are we aesthetically, are we moody? Are we, you know, more fairy? Are we more cottage core, you know, so, I like to, you know, pretend to do that in my mind, um, but yeah, my podcast, the slow season was born out of wanting to be more intentional about celebrating um, the moments within seasons, um, and some of that was because I, historically don't love winter, but, and
Aubrey Green:I don't know after a summer, like,
Catherine Buercklin:we
Aubrey Green:it's what,
Catherine Buercklin:always
Aubrey Green:winter
Catherine Buercklin:say, but
Aubrey Green:is looking
Catherine Buercklin:the
Aubrey Green:pretty darn good at the moment.
Catherine Buercklin:Where is the sun? But I've seen more of the movement in books and just in thought pieces about winter, truly being a time of rest and reflection. And not a person who's like, oh, choose joy, because I'll just be honest with you. I have chronic depression and I've had that since I was 16 and I, you know, even in winter, I'm like, having to like pull all of my reserves together sometimes to really feel like I can be a human. And some of that is societal, you know, like you have the societal pressure to keep going, even though truly everything in nature is resting. But that's also another soap box that I could get on and talk through for hours. But yeah, I really just wanted to create a space for myself and for others who wanted to listen to talk about celebrations and rituals and seasonal living. And some of that goes into really looking at the past and looking at different celebrations throughout the world in different cultures. And some of that is more rooted in personal rituals. You know, I think one in one of the episodes I talked about creating personal rituals that align with your values, because that's another thing that I can talk about is values. I did a lot when I was working in higher education. There was a ton of stuff that we did that was around personalities and strengths mapping, strengths quest. I don't know if that's familiar to you, but some of them are archetypes, but other things are personal to you, you know, like kind of what are your five top values. And one of mine is connection, and so for me, I don't think that everything happens for a reason necessarily. I think that's something that I used to think, but now I think no, everything is connected. Everything that we do, and it may be just a small thing, I mean, you know, I don't want to put so much pressure on everything that I'm afraid to make any move. But I know that when I it will cause a ripple effect, and it I may not know where that ripple goes, you know, but five years from now, it might hit me again, and I'll be like, hey, what? What? That's cool. Okay, okay, so we did a few things that were right. And in alignment with, you know, what we were trying to get to, and sometimes they don't, and I think just trying to show that balance because we're in such an unbalanced world. And there are so many things pushing and pulling for our attention. Coming back to yourself, and again, what you value, and you know, for me, that is time in nature. I'm not necessarily an outdoorsy person. I just, I consider myself outside, I just like to go outside and sit, and look at the small creatures and, you know, think like, oh, to be a mock, you know, or buterfly, just flitting around, dim thing, you know, but I think just having that space to be intentional and also have a sense of humor about it too, you know, I think that we have these traditions that we just love. And I know that sometimes that causes a lot of internal conflict, especially when we want things to go really well. And so I think about, you know, fa dysfunction, you know, the Christmas dinner, or, you know, things like that. And I, I do, My goal is to get people to find traditions that speak to them and find ceremonies or rituals that truly do speak to them that they can incorporate into their lives and not feel like they're having to completely redefine themselves. I think that's the other thing is that that can be intimidating to start something new anyway but even just the way... I mean one of the things that I started doing recently was I really like to pick things out of jars again going back to that kind of you know, like I can't decide something else to it for me universe. What do you have?
Aubrey Green:Yeah, I roll dice a lot.
Catherine Buercklin:And it's you know relinquishing control in a way but then being able to see the answer and then you're like okay, that's what I'll do you know but I wrote down different intentions for the day
Aubrey Green:There you go
Catherine Buercklin:just like one word and I have... I try to have one of my cats pick it with because I like shake the jar and I'll dump it and typically they did not do that.One of them did today They put their whatever their paw touches or whatever they sniff, I'm like okay, that's the intention that we'll go with for today. So today's was nourish and I don't know what that means yet, you know, it could... sometimes I go really literal with it and I'm like okay you need to remember to eat and eat you know like enough to where you actually feel like oh yes that was a nice meal or I'll try to think of like okay what from my life is a little malnourished right now you know is there is there something that I either am not paying attention to because it's uncomfortable or is there something that I've put off that deserves attention that I've said to myself and I've made a promise to myself that I want to do this I will follow through. So just things like that that are you know may seem a little woo woo but they add just a little bit of of magic to your day and you know I think one of my favorite things is drinking coffee in the morning and so just even how you do that and what you do while you're doing that you know being intentional and I I want to say this to I don't pick something out of that jar every day some days I forget until like 5 p. m. and then I'm like well you know that that intention that we picked yesterday was a really strong one so you know we can just let that
Aubrey Green:haha
Catherine Buercklin:go over into there
Aubrey Green:there you go
Catherine Buercklin:so there's a little bit of grace there too you know like these are not hard and fast rules for your life this is just an invitation to sit you know when you have a chance or to carve out a space to have that time for yourself and to to connect to yourself and to the things that matter to you so that's kind of what started the podcast and then you know sometimes I'm sure I get onto tangents or right now I'm having a I'm having trouble writing my next episode because I've burned through three topics and I'm like none of this is connected and I don't know packaged this and so now I'm like okay what okay what's the point what are you trying to say what are we what are we doing you know and so I but I was reading a lot I was reading a lot about different celebrations because right now in August it feels like to me I'm not in school and I don't have kids and and so I know that there are people who celebrate returning to school but since that part of my life is over kind of like what do I celebrate this month what do I you know and so I I did ask on my Facebook I did ask my friends you know what do you do like I feel like August is kind of one of those months it doesn't really have a specific national holiday at least in the U. S. so what are we celebrating
Aubrey Green:I am a big proponent of, even if you don't have school-aged children or you're not in School
Catherine Buercklin:school, oh
Aubrey Green:supplies are still something worth celebrating. Every year I always end up buying school supplies.
Catherine Buercklin:yeah,
Aubrey Green:Some of them I use, a lot of them I use. Some of them I give away and donate, but just the, the act of buying school supplies is still
Catherine Buercklin:yeah,
Aubrey Green:just so much fun to me.
Catherine Buercklin:yeah.
Aubrey Green:um,
Catherine Buercklin:I mean
Aubrey Green:yeah,
Catherine Buercklin:just think, you know, what crayons am I gonna get, you know, am I gonna get the practical, the, you know, these are the ten colors that you need, or am I gonna go
Aubrey Green:big like
Catherine Buercklin:a wild card,
Aubrey Green:64,
Catherine Buercklin:you know, what am I? I'd, have two composition notebooks that I bought last year. Some of it was just to write down random stuff and then others were for the podcast, the other one was for the podcast and so, I was just kind of sketching out ideas and stuff like that, but yeah there, I mean, they're super cheap, and I was like, this is cool. I, I do feel like a little, a student, about one in black
Aubrey Green:have
Catherine Buercklin:and one
Aubrey Green:a
Catherine Buercklin:in
Aubrey Green:very
Catherine Buercklin:yellow.
Aubrey Green:nice good choices.
Catherine Buercklin:Because I don't think they had different, I think they maybe three colors when I was in school, because I don't remember looking, you know, my favorite color was blue, and I only remembered the black and
Aubrey Green:yeah,
Catherine Buercklin:white,
Aubrey Green:I didn't actually use composition notebooks when, when I was in school, it was always, no, it was
Catherine Buercklin:you
Aubrey Green:always
Catherine Buercklin:did.
Aubrey Green:like college lined college room. Yeah, spirals
Catherine Buercklin:I was, I think that was a very elementary. thing. So I guess,
Aubrey Green:maybe.
Catherine Buercklin:I mean, but I know that I had them and, you know, I, I think, yeah, But as I, I think this is a universal thing or at least I've seen it, like on Instagram, people, um, commenting on things about this experience is like which color was English for you and which color was math and which color was social studies and science and, you know, what does that say about you? This is, if you didn't choose these colors, what were
Aubrey Green:that's
Catherine Buercklin:you doing,
Aubrey Green:funny.
Catherine Buercklin:you know, like, are you maniac? Yeah, I, Some people did say, um, on my Facebook post, they said, you know, even though I'm out of school, it is fine to see the pictures of people who are getting ready. And, you know, see a new season starting for them because that, that's a big deal when you're young. You know, it's like, yeah, I'm in a you either go to a new school or you're going to a new grade where you have a new teacher and, you know, you're just coming off of the, the buzz of summer.
Aubrey Green:new school. Yeah,
Catherine Buercklin:Yeah, but yeah, being intentional and, and finding small moments of connection is what I try to infuse in my writing. and, and, and the things that I share on the podcast and in real life.
Aubrey Green:speaking of sharing, would you like to share some poetry with us?
Catherine Buercklin:Yeah, yeah, so, As I told you, I self-published a book is called A Social Distance, um, because a lot of the poetry that I wrote was during 2020 in the pandemic, and I was in my house a lot. So, I had a lot of time to go out in nature. sometimes it was just to feel like I wasn't going to go stir crazy. but, and some of this is, I'm going to read from, it was broken up in the
Aubrey Green:um ,
Catherine Buercklin:seasons. So, the spring has more spring poems and things that were, um, more, I don't know what I'm trying to say, like a muse. But, yeah, spring, I would say fall is my muse. Did that, definitely,
Aubrey Green:I, when I was younger, I was all
Catherine Buercklin:so. Um,
Aubrey Green:about spring and summer. But, yeah, as I've gotten older, fall has become a lot more appealing.
Catherine Buercklin:yeah. Ozean.
Aubrey Green:Yeah, it
Catherine Buercklin:Yeah, feels safe. You don't feel like you have to go out in the summer. Like, there's this like, push to go out and do things and, you know, sometimes I'm just like, no, I don't
Aubrey Green:no
Catherine Buercklin:want to do that. No. Ehm, so this poem is called cicada. You sing a different tune as the heat beats down you shake, mimicking maracas until you break. And then start up again, a new wave, an overwhelming ache like bodies in southern churches their unbelief welded with sweat and faith. Press together like petals of grief at a wake. You yearn for something I can't quite understand. You leave your skin perhaps too soon and disappear, a soul exhumed. And then this next one from the same book it was my one of my grandpa's favorite and he passed away two years ago in May, um, but he was when I saw my mom is automatically my number one fan.
Aubrey Green:Nice.
Catherine Buercklin:She's just, you know, she's always sharing my stuff she's, Her dad, my grandfather he bought several of my books and he donated them to the libraries I've been North East Arkansas, um, 'cause they're from the Jonesboro area. And I was just so touched by that, you know, I mean, besides the fact that he, you know, bought like 10 of my books and that was financially very helpful to me. But just the fact that he wanted to share that in, in a way that was accessible, you know, I just thought that that was so Um, and I don't know it. You know, no matter what I end up doing in my life, like those, that book will be there, um, and I just think that's really cool. This was one of his favorite poems, and it's about August. It's called The Bend in the Sidewalk. August laid its days to rest, but the sun has not gone down yet and you decide to take your bike to the bend in the sidewalk. You are a child, eight years old, maybe nine. With summer spotted pattern still across your face. You're pedaling fast,faster still, because you see it's coming up. The bend in the sidewalk, only a few feet now. You're almost there. You squint your eyes, smile wide, lift your chest high and then for just a moment, you fly. You are a child, eight years old, maybe nine, and everything is fine.
Aubrey Green:a very nice
Catherine Buercklin:And then I'll read Orbweaver, spider poem.
Aubrey Green:one of the winners of the Woody Barlow the
Catherine Buercklin:Yes,
Aubrey Green:2026 Woody Barlow poetry contest
Catherine Buercklin:Yes I was, so excited to hear that. I was one of
Aubrey Green:was
Catherine Buercklin:them
Aubrey Green:excited to see you them too, because I
Catherine Buercklin:I
Aubrey Green:really, really loved this poem. I don't like spiders, but I
Catherine Buercklin:were yes
Aubrey Green:love watching Orbweavers actually, and I loved how you did this one.
Catherine Buercklin:Okay Orbweaver I watch an Orbweaver destroy her web every day when the sun rises. And I pretend I would never be like her. But at night, when everyone is asleep, I spread my favorite words out in front of me. String them up on my wall to see which ones I want to keep. Then before I turn out the light, I eat each and every single letter so I can weave a new poem for the morning.
Aubrey Green:Yeah, that's just great. Well done.
Catherine Buercklin:Thank you.
Aubrey Green:All righty. Well, so that particular piece and all of the other witty Barlow winners will be in the September 2026 issue. So that'll be coming out in just a couple of weeks and everybody, everybody can go and read it as well as hear it. and then you also have more, more poetry that we published in 2022 in several seasons of 2022. So, people can find you there. Is there anywhere else that they can find you or where they can get your book
Catherine Buercklin:So there were only a hundred and fifty copies, of the book? it was a true self publish and it was kind of one of those things where I could have bought more, but it felt like a moment and I just didn't. So, they are few and far but there are some if you wanted to read a social distance. you could go to several of the Northeast Arkansas libraries. I know that there's one in Jonesboro, you live in that area But yeah, there were a couple of places that I had a few poems, but I think one was in print and that was back in 2021, I think I don't know if that's still in circulation. But I am working on new pieces and if you want to follow me at Poetry by Catherine on Instagram or friend me on Facebook I will I typically let people when a new piece is coming out. So stuff is in the works. It's just, you know, sometimes we're in the writing season and we're in the editing season and
Aubrey Green:There you
Catherine Buercklin:I
Aubrey Green:go.
Catherine Buercklin:am in the editing season right now.
Aubrey Green:All right. Well, keep us posted on when you come into the publishing season. that. And
Catherine Buercklin:Yeah.
Aubrey Green:yeah, we will come and find you
Catherine Buercklin:Thank you so much. I really appreciate find out and this was super fun to talk about.
Aubrey Green:my I've I've loved listening to your phone boxes. So thank
Catherine Buercklin:Thank
Aubrey Green:you.
Catherine Buercklin:you. Typically, it's just my cats and You know, like I said, my my close friends who are like, yeah, do your thing, girl. And I'm like, yeah, I will.
Aubrey Green:Yeah, I
Catherine Buercklin:I
Aubrey Green:will.
Catherine Buercklin:will do my thing. I will. Dang it.
Aubrey Green:maybe we would we would all be a lot happier. We would be more natural. people if we would just
Catherine Buercklin:We would be more, yes,
Aubrey Green:do our thing
Catherine Buercklin:You got to find your
Aubrey Green:they
Catherine Buercklin:who who, you know, whether they do the same thing as you do or just like you and you know, think everything that you that you do is. Yeah, that's really good because that's super
Aubrey Green:like moms. just like
Catherine Buercklin:like
Aubrey Green:everything we
Catherine Buercklin:moms
Aubrey Green:do.
Catherine Buercklin:and Yes, you
Cat Templeton:We hope you've enjoyed today's episode of Emerge Unchained with our hosts, the Emerge Literary magazine editor, Aubrey Green. The Emerge Unchained podcast is brought to you by Emerge Literary magazine. Our producers are Charles and Sandra Templeton. Our website designer is Cat Templeton. Thank you again for joining us for Emerge Unchained. And remember, we'll be here to celebrate the courage it takes to put words into the world. So keep writing until next time.
