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Tagline: TechNova UltraX Smartphone: Capture the Future
Social Ads
Post Copy (Facebook):
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Image/Video: Split screen. On one side a young man in business attire sits outside a cafe in Paris smiling at his phone, propped up against a bottle of wine. On the other side, an older woman laughs at her kitchen table, her phone in hand.
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Image/Video: A young, pretty influencer sits at a kitchen table in front of a ring light. She’s putting on makeup using her phone’s camera as a mirror, her smiling face visible on the screen.
Post Copy (Threads)
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Image/Video: A high-quality close-up of the smartphone, showcasing its sleek design. Overlay text highlights key features.
Post Copy (Instagram)
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Image/Video: A carousel post showing the various features of TechNova UltraX, including close-up shots of its camera, display screen, sleek design, etc.
Banner Ads
300x250 Banner Ad:
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Image: Close-up of the UltraX's camera.
728x90 Banner Ad:
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Image: UltraX in a tech-savvy environment.
160x600 Banner Ad:
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Image: Side profile of the UltraX showing its sleek design.
Print Ad
Headline: "TechNova UltraX: Capture the Future"
Visual: Full-page image of the UltraX, focusing on its sleek design and vibrant AMOLED display.
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Blog Posts
Blog Copy, Poets House
The Path is Made by Walking (Excerpts)
The Poets House Poetry Path in New York’s Battery Park City, an installation of lines of poetry embedded into the urban landscape—on paving stones, railings, flags, and benches—is officially open for visitors! Featuring poetry that traces relationships between people, nature, and city, the path winds through the green space of Rockefeller Park to the waterway of North Cove Marina. We invite the public to explore the path virtually, watch videos of poets reading their featured poems from the path, or visit the path in person.
Traveler, the path is made by walking.
- Antonio Machado
On a cold winter morning, I walked with Abby Ehrlich, Director of Community Partnerships and Public Art for the BPCA, and my Poets House colleagues along Rockefeller Park’s winding paths. That day’s meeting was the culmination of a year and a half of meetings and fundraising which began with a gathering of poets, our friends from BPCA, and Poets House staff, led by our Exective Director Lee Briccetti. That walk marked the beginning of the final stretch of this process, when the vision would begin to be made real.
We tossed around ideas for the installation, and Abby pointed out materials comprising the park’s surfaces, imagining ways that the spirit of the page could be adapted to each of them. We asked questions. What ifs.
These poems
they are things that I do
in the dark
reaching for you
whoever you are
and
are you ready?- June Jordan
Wanting to represent the diversity and creativity of New York City, we thought not just about the poets we wanted to feature but the audience, the people who would read these words. What would resonate with them? What could connect the Lower Manhattan locals, for whom Rockefeller Park provides much needed fresh air and sunlight in a crowded corner of the city, with commuters coming from all over the region and tourists from all over the world?
Back at Poets House, we looked for answers in stacks of books. We poured over selections made by the poets in residence of our earlier poetry path projects, grateful for the knowledge and care they poured into this work.
One recurring aspect of many poems that ended up part of the Poetry Path is addressing of the reader directly in the second person, often at a point of epiphany within the poem that implicates the audience, asking us to reflect on the poem’s relevance to their own lives. June Jordan’s “These Poems,” above, is an example. Poems by Jorie Graham and Anne Waldman also use this technique to comment on the progress of climate change and global political upheaval.
Poems that use this kind of direct address enact what we hoped the experience of the Poetry Path would create for visitors: a dialogue between poet and pedestrian through space and time.
In addressing the city’s people through the Poetry Path, we wanted to communicate something. It wasn’t a discrete statement, so much as a tempo: we wanted to slow down their days, to designate space for contemplation. But we also wanted to respond to the challenges of life in our current moment—threats of climate change, xenophobia, and inequality. We emphasized poets celebrating the natural and built environments in which we live and those witnessing their degradation; we wanted to respond to the injustices of our present moment by mapping them onto the scenery of everyday life.
At one point that afternoon I put a book down and realized it was my eighth that afternoon. There were a few hours of daylight left. By the end of the week, we had filled several folders with words that might eventually pave the Poetry Path. The next few weeks would be for whittling them down, sculpting the archive into an arc that could be traversed by foot.
I leave poems behind me
dropping them like dark seeds that
I will never harvest
that I will never mourn- Audre Lorde
When it came time to place the poems, my Poets House colleague Phoebe Kaufman and I spent several days walking through the park with clipboards, packets of poems, maps, and cell phone cameras. Phoebe, having grown up in Lower Manhattan, brought insight into the ways that park-goers used the space—where Stuyvesant high school kids hang out after class, where the neighborhood moms congregate with their kids, where families from all over the city come for the annual River to River Festival arts festival—which helped us to imagine how particular poems might be mapped onto the physical space.
When we found the right fit for a poem, we would jot down the location on each of our packets, then take pictures from different angles to show how passersby would see the poems. It was late spring at this point and raining most days. Often, even on the afternoons when we found conditions favorable for walking, pavements were saturated with rain, benches drenched in condensation. On several afternoons we came back to Poets House slightly damp from leaning against railings and sitting on benches, marked by the same sites we had marked for the installation.
Let's build the community garden
that never was. Let's call the neighbors
out, call for an orchard, not a wall.
Trees with arms free, flaming
into apple, peach, pear—every imaginable,
edible fire.- Chen Chen
Months were spent on the design of this Path, on every detail from color choice to fabrication method. A design team from Ralph Appelbaum and Associates (RAA) that included poet Evelyn Reilly, Rob Bolesta, Michael Maggio, and Kelsey Mitchell brought their vision and insight into materials, treatments, and installation design principles, helping us to envision transforming pages of text into vibrant, dynamic rail panels, bench slats, and pavers. Battery Park City Authority’s horticulture, park maintenance, and craftspeople applied their knowledge of the spaces and uses of Rockefeller and Teardrop Parks and Belvedere Plaza, ensuring integration with existing natural and built environments.
I’m proud to have been a part of such an incredible team with so many varieties of expertise and ideas that went into the making of this Path. But even more, I’m excited to welcome the public into this collaborative, interactive space, to see what paths and connections they make with the city, the land, and each other through walking.
This is the latest in a series of poetry paths that Poets House has developed in collaboration with libraries, museums, parks, and zoos across the country. Its opening celebrates the ten-year anniversary of Poets House’s permanent home at 10 River Terrace. We’re honored by the support of the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA), without whom our home and this path would not be possible, and by the faith and support of our other funders.
The Poetry Path is made possible through a partnership with Battery Park City Authority, partners in design and fabrication of the Poetry Path, with additional support from Outreach Partner, Goldman Sachs. Special thanks to the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation for funding the Poetry Path planning process, and to the Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation for supporting Poetry Path educational initiatives for youth and children.
E-Blasts
Email Marketing Copy, Commonplace
Episode 98: Torrey Peters
Dear Listener,
What do you do to feel comfortable at the end of a long day? Personally, I've been binge-watching Emily in Paris. If you, like me, get recommended “quirky” and “character-driven” comedy series on your streaming platform of choice then you might try Torrey Peters’ Detransition, Baby. I recommended this book to Rachel last year, shortly after it came out, and we’ve been talking about it ever since.
Last fall, in the vaccinated false spring between Delta and Omicron, Rachel met Torrey Peters at her apartment in Greenpoint to talk about Detransition, Baby and what she’s working on now. They also discussed: trans women writing for trans women; their shared experience of attending the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; divorce, transition, and other ruptures; reading and writing across differences; and adapting Detransition, Baby for television.
Torrey Peters is the author of the novel Detransition, Baby, published by One World/Random House, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She is also the author of the novellas Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones and The Masker. She has an MFA from the University of Iowa and an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth. Torrey rides a pink motorcycle and splits her time between Brooklyn and an off-grid cabin in Vermont.
LISTEN TO EPISODE 98!
For this episode, Commonplace’s charitable partner will donate $250 to Trans Equity Consulting, chosen by Torrey Peters. Trans Equity Consulting is committed to building the leadership of trans women of color, and to the centering of sex workers, immigrants, and incarcerated peoples as experts in creating a more just world.
In the coming months lookout for additional conversations with Douglas Kearney, Liz Lerman, lecturers from the Bagley Wright Lecture Series, and more.
And if you’re new here, don’t forget to sign up for our Patreon. As a thank you, we’ll send you three books of your choice from our Commonplace Book Club (while supplies last). Active patrons can also participate by referring friends!
Join the discussion! You can Tweet at us, DM us on Instagram, talk to us on Speakpipe, leave us a voice message at (123) 456-7890, or reply to this email.
As always, thank you for listening and for your support!
With love and solidarity,
Valentine & the Commonplace Team
Episode 99: Douglas Kearney
Dear Listener,
For this, our 99th episode, Rachel welcomes poet, interdisciplinary artist, and professor Douglas Kearney to Commonplace. This conversation, recorded in early November 2021, has been a long time coming. And even before then, Rachel had been hoping to talk to Douglas Kearney for years. Did you know he’s also one of our most devoted listeners?
In the beginning of this episode, she mentions she feels like she’s already spent a lot of time with him having read his books and interviews. Having listened to this episode, and to Kearney’s brilliant Bagley Wright lectures on poetry over and over again, I can’t help but feel the same. His vocal quirks, thought processes, and rich laughter have become familiar to me over these past few months, as I hope they will become for you, listener.
In this episode, Kearney and Zucker discuss poetry and poetics, Kearney's recent ADHD diagnosis, scales for writers, the failures of metaphor, epiphanies, performance, and how the idea of an authentic self is rooted in white supremacy.
Douglas Kearney is the author of seven books—most recently Sho, published by Wave Books in 2021. Sho was a National book Award finalist, a Pen/Voelcker Award Finalist, a Kingsley Tufts Award finalist and a Minnesota Book Award finalist. Wave Books will publish Optic Subwoof, containing written versions of all the lectures discussed in this episode (and more!) later in 2022. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Altadena, CA, Kearney is a Howard University and CalArts alum and teaches Creative writing at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
LISTEN TO EPISODE 99!
For this episode, Commonplace Patrons will get access to the full Zoom recording of Kearney’s “#Werewolf Goals” lecture, as well as a 30-second video highlighting Douglas Kearney’s process for creating visual poems, which he calls “performative typography,” and a PDF with several drafts of one of these poems.
In celebration of this episode and the Bagley Wright Lecture Series, we are so grateful to Wave Books for sponsoring this excellent promotion:
The next 10 people to sign up for our Patreon at the level of $20 or more will receive a bundle of the Bagley Wright lecture books published to date. And if you’re already a Commonplace patron, raise your level of support to $20 or more and you’ll also be eligible to receive this awesome set of books by Joshua Beckman, Dorothea Lasky, Terrance Hayes, and Cedar Sigo!
For this episode, Commonplace’s charitable partner will donate $250 to the African American Policy Forum’s and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies’ #SayHerName campaign, chosen by Douglas Kearney.
From their website: “Launched in December 2014 by the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS), the #SayHerName campaign brings awareness to the often invisible names and stories of Black women and girls who have been victimized by racist police violence, and provides support to their families.”
Join us in celebrating Commonplace’s 100th episode! In the next episode, Rachel and Commonplace alum Doreen Wang reflect on Doreen’s time with Commonplace and talk about her new Mandarin-language podcast. In our 101st episode, we’ll be sharing clips from the first 99 episodes—and hearing from a few listeners! If you have a favorite Commonplace moment or want to share one way that Commonplace has impacted your life, please feel free to reach us at (123) 456-7890 or talk to us on Speakpipe, and your story might end up in the episode! As always, you can also Tweet at us, DM us on Instagram, or reply to this email.
Thank you for (almost) 100 episodes!
With love and solidarity,
Valentine & the Commonplace Team
Reflecting & Reconnecting with Commonplace
Dear [Patron Name],
Happy New Year’s from Commonplace!
This month, we're taking stock of our accomplishments over the past year and prioritizing reconnecting with our community. We noticed that your recurring contribution recently expired but hope you're still enjoying our episodes! Even if circumstances prevent you from contributing right now, your attention and support is important to us.
If you have the means to restart your Patreon contributions and the podcast brings you joy, we would be delighted to have your financial support. Commonplace has no ads or corporate sponsorships. We’re entirely funded by listeners like you. Can you chip in $5 or $10 a month to keep this community-driven podcast running?
Did you know that Commonplace patrons get access to special bonus content at each episode’s launch? From Carl Phillips’ well-loved recipes to Doreen’s guide to Taipei to an audio excerpt of S. Yarberry’s novella-in-progress, we work with each guest to bring you engaging episode-related content to keep the conversation going long after the outro music ends.
Click here to become a patron of Commonplace!
If you haven’t been keeping up with the most recent episodes, here’s what we’ve been up to: this spring, Rachel spoke with poet, performer, and teacher Douglas Kearney about his experience writing, editing, and performing lectures for the Bagley Wright Lecture Series on Poetry. This episode will be of particular interest to writers looking to deepen their understanding of craft, and especially those interested in live performance!
Commonplace celebrated our 100th episode with a special conversation between Rachel and former Commonplace Social Media Director Doreen Wang about Doreen’s new audio documentary, 一年的告白/ Dos Salidas. If you're a longtime listener of Commonplace, you'll remember Doreen from Commonplace Goes to Taiwan, our two-part exploration of the literary life of Taipei.
During the summer, Rachel spoke with poet and professor Prageeta Sharma about love, grief, and the lyric; Rachel and her cousin Rebekah Wolkstein reminisced about their childhoods, their creative lives, and their experiences of raising kids during unprecedented times; and Commonplace Producer V Conaty spoke with poet Cody-Rose Clevidence about science, the human yearning for divinity, and their mutual love of reading.
Listen to these and more on Apple Podcasts or our website.
Whether or not you’re a Patron, there’s a lot to look forward to in the coming year but we need your support to pull it off. If you can’t afford to donate, we hope you’ll keep listening to and sharing the episodes. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates about new episodes featuring Eileen Myles, debut poets Chase Berggrun and Claire Schwartz in conversation, and Rachel’s own Bagley Wright Lectures co-presented with the Bagley Wright Lecture Series.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Thank you for being part of our community!
With love and solidarity,
Valentine & the Commonplace Team
Direct Mail Marketing
Seasonal Events Calendar, Poets House
I crafted marketing copy to promote the library's seasonal programming and collaborated on the design of the print program. I worked closely with a team to collect materials including artist bios, headshots, and event prospectuses and translate them into accessible, engaging copy for the library’s diverse audiences.
Press Releases
Press Release, Poets House
POETS HOUSE
poetshouse.org
10 River Terrace, New York, NY 10282
123-456-7890
Contact: Jane Doe
janedoe@johndoe.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
25th Annual Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge
Poets House invites poetry enthusiasts to join in our annual crossing of the Brooklyn Bridge on Monday, June 8th at 6pm.
For 25 years Poets House has welcomed poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry. Our own cherished annual tradition, the Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge, celebrates our commitment to creating a place for poetry in New York City and serving our local community. This unique event offers the opportunity to experience the city's history and vitality through the written word with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop.
Renowned poets will lead the procession, reading poems about the city by great writers who lived and worked on these shores. At the end of this journey, participants will gather over a celebratory dinner for conversation, laughter, and more poetry. Proceeds from the event help to make our programs and library possible. Reservations are required.
Please contact Jane Doe with any questions or to schedule interviews.
Galley Letter/Press Release, Roof Books
ROOF BOOKS
roofbooks.com
300 Bowery, New York, NY 10012
123-456-7890
Contact: John Doe
johndoe@johndoe.com
Mostly Clearing by Michael Gottlieb
If Michael Gottlieb’s language is familiar, it’s because he places his voice in conversation with generations of New York’s poets, pop culture, and commercial branding. His cultural references, from Ashbery and O’Hara to Loony Toons’ one-liners and commercial airliners’ rehearsed landing speech (“all the honeyed demarches/ adorning our table talk”), convey a tongue-in-cheek optimism. Addressing the violences of our contemporary moment, he frames poetry as “a current coursing through the crowd” and poets themselves as engineers of utopian thinking.
Alternately ironic and sincere, this optimism colors every fragment of familiar language appropriated into Mostly Clearing’s mockingbird diction. Gottlieb uses idiom and anachronism to invoke specific generational concerns. Throughout, the speaker addresses three generations of poets: The New York School, his own network of Language Poets, and a younger generation whose artistic practice is situated by precarity, instability, and disillusionment. He sympathizes with the latter, nostalgic for “all the swooning certainty of youth/ ... where once it sprouted in all directions.” In the end, Mostly Clearing offers hope to younger poets as the raw material for imagining a new utopian art.
Accompanied by an essay meditating on the New York School’s aesthetic of mid-century optimism in light of the death of John Ashbery, Mostly Clearing is both an homage to the poetic and political traditions of young New York (“we were all once/ of fighting age”) and an intervention into a contemporary poetry world marked by reactionary pessimism. Gottlieb’s text asserts a future for poetry in an uncertain time, and in doing so, entails a call to arms for the next generation of poets—the stakes of which are “an article of faith/ that words can save us.”