SALEM — Salem poet Blake Campbell headlined this week’s Walnut Street Cafe Speakup virtual poetry series, reading work that focused on romance and the natural world.
“I want to be able to say that I’m reading poems about the pandemic and these horrible times that we’re living through and sound a little more relevant than I am,” Campbell said. “But I’m reading a lot of poems about nature and relationships, and my family.”
The poet grew up in a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania, where his family would hunt and farm. He credits these experiences with influencing the heavy focus on nature in his work.
“My dad taught me how to listen to sounds in the woods, how to detect movement,” he said. “I’ve always felt very connected to the natural world in that way.
“I’m always thinking about the impact we have on the environment and how we’re really a part of nature, even though we talk about the separation between nature and humanity. I really do have this deep love for the natural world. I always feel very sensitive to it and aware of my place within it and I’m always trying to articulate that in my poetry.”
Campbell moved to Salem in 2018 and features the natural world of the North Shore in much of his work.
One piece he read Wednesday “Sea Sparkle,” focuses on Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester, which uses the unique glowing blue microorganisms in the shallows, which he uses as a metaphor for a budding relationship.
Campbell feels like his poems have become a little “freer” in the past few years.
“I always wrote in strict metrical forms,” he said. “As I developed as a poet, I really like the formless stuff and I wanted to train myself to write competently that way.”
Thematically, he feels like his work is freer as well.
“I’ve been more open about talking about sex, and using more contemporary language, and talking about more modern things,” he said, “While trying to remain true to the naturey sensibility that I’ve always admired.”
The Walnut Street Cafe Speakup series, which began early in the pandemic, also featured an open mic and a round robin.
“I really miss it actually,” Campbell said of the Walnut Street Cafe’s live readings. “I miss going in and getting one of those amazing chicken salad sandwiches and a beer and listening to some poetry. It’s a tiny space but it’s so intimate and so warm and welcoming to new people.”
Campbell does feel like the COVID-19 pandemic provides some new opportunities for getting his work out there.
“The virtual readings have proliferated,” he said. “And because we’re all in this virtual webspace together, there are less geographical restrictions.”
He mentioned that he was recently able to perform in an international poetry reading, and was just told that one of the other poets involved was assembling an anthology that would include his work.
“It’s a gift to me to be able to reach people who I wouldn’t have been able to reach before,” he said.
Blake Campbell’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Painted Bride Quarterly, The Dark Horse, The Worcester Review, Measure Review, Lambda Literary, and Fulcrum. A Pushcart Prize nominee, he is the recipient of the 2015 Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award from the Academy of American Poets and a 2020 Emerging Artist Award from the St. Botolph Club Foundation.
