Mike Sonksen - Poetry, Place, and Learning How to Feel

In this episode, I spoke with poet, journalist, and educator Mike Sonksen a.k.a Mike the Poet. In our conversation, we talk about how Mike got into writing, the importance of poetry in self expression and in connecting with place, learning how to feel, how to develop and grow in a craft, and much more.

Mike is a 3rd-generation Los Angeles native. He teaches at Woodbury University and serves as the Program Coordinator of the school’s First Year Experience Program. He has published over 500 essays and poems with publications like Academy of American Poets, Alta, KCET, Poets & Writers Magazine, PBS, BOOM, Wax Poetics, Southern California Quarterly, LA Weekly, OC Weekly, Lana Turner, Metropolis, The Architect’s Newspaper, LA Alternative Press, Los Angeles Review of Books, Angel City Review, LA Taco, LAist, LA Parent and more. One of his KCET essays received an Award from the Los Angeles Press Club.

Over the last two decades, Sonksen has delivered more than 2,000 poetry readings across the country in a wide range of venues including bookstores, museums, galleries, secondary schools, and literary festivals. He's been a guest speaker at over 100 universities and high schools and presented his poetry on public radio stations KCRW, KPFK and KPCC and TV stations like Spectrum News. In 2013, the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center honored Sonksen for "Distinguished Service to the Los Angeles Poetry Community." 

Show links:

• Follow Mike on Instagram @mikethepoetla
• Follow Mike on Twitter @mikethepoetla
• Be sure to purchase Mike's book Letters To My City
• Here is a link to Mike's Linktree, which includes links to his many author pages and latest writings.