We have something exciting to share! Just in time for National Poetry Month, we are announcing the release of Leaf and Petal: Poems, by Britta Gomez. This compact collection of poems, inspired by 115 of our teas, is the perfect gift for Leaf & Petal fans, poetry readers, or anyone who loves tea. In fact, when you purchase Leaf and Petal: Poems, if you add a Leaf & Petal gift card to your purchase, the gift card will be 10% off.
To kick off the release of this book and celebrate National Poetry Month, we caught up with Britta Gomez to discuss poetry, creative process, art, tea, and what it was like to grow up as the oldest sibling in the Carden household. (That's right! This talented artist and writer is the daughter of our shop owner, Petra Carden!)
If you want to know more about our author, read on!
1. Tell us a little about yourself personally and your connection to Leaf & Petal. I'm a writer whose mom happens to be the owner of Leaf and Petal! I had long moved out by the time my family moved to Occoquan and she began the shop, but it has been very cool to watch that journey unfold from her drinking different kinds of tea throughout the day to now providing others with their own cups of tea.
2. What gave you the idea to write poetry inspired by our teas? It started with a desire to write something cozy - a warm cup of tea in book form. And then wondering if I even could. (My other books tend to be a bit more on the broody and esoteric side of things.) Of course I thought of Leaf and Petal immediately. It progressed from there. I looked at the list of y’all’s teas for a jumping off point, but before I knew it, I was 50 poems deep with 65 more waiting to be written. The teas were anthropomorphized and the entire collection became an ode to the shop and the people who find their teas there.
3. We know you’re a busy woman - how do you find time to write? Do you have a daily writing routine or do you just write spontaneously when you can fit it into your day? Definitely the latter. I keep my laptop open and if I have even five minutes of free time in between tasks - I write. When I’m doing more mundane things like cleaning the house, I brainstorm. Little notes taken down throughout the day turn into poems or paragraphs later when everyone else in my house is asleep. Although, sometimes I’ll just type on the couch while we sit down and have whatever genre of YouTube deep dive video has our attention at the time playing on the tv. It’s just about stealing moments where I can and the lines add up quickly.
4. We also carry some of your art work - Are you primarily an artist and poet? What other forms does your creativity take? I think I’ve tried my hand at every craft I possibly could. I took up and dropped wood carving, oil painting, and banjo. There were years that I spent more time with piano, singing, and sewing. During my teens I loved scrapbooking and sharpie art. There may or may not have been a stint with street art. But these days and moving forward, I think I’d say I’m primarily a writer and an artist. Besides Leaf and Petal: Poems, I have another collection of poetry and a novella out. There is another poetry collection and two novels in the works right now as well.
5. As a poet do you find that your prose leans more towards a lyrical/poetic/verse form? I would definitely say that my prose leans more lyrically. Even in writing fiction I find myself making just one long stretched out poem. I wrote a novella and the first paragraph might as well have the lines stacked on top of each other rather than following each other in sequence. After writing poetry for 20 years, it’s a difficult habit to break.
6. What genre do you prefer to write and read? This is such a hard question for me, because I genuinely love so many genres. Poetry and speculative fiction are at the top for sure, even though I do enjoy a good memoir and philosophical or religious text. I’m a sucker for Science Fiction/Fantasy though. It’s genuinely hard for me to write a story without some monster or ancient god popping up and I can’t say I’ve ever read a book that was made worse by the appearance of aliens or magic.
7. What poets, authors, or artists inspire or influence your work? Oh, I’m going to have to hold back here. There are far too many writers I’d love to gush about for longer than anyone has time for. Langston Hughes, Power Dalton, Charles Bukowski, Ogden Nash, and Robert Service are who come to mind first for poets. Each is an absolute wizard when it comes to words. Ray Bradbury, Zora Neil Hurston, Robert Heinlein, Toni Morrison, and Victor Hugo are the ghosts I’m inviting to the seance to help me write my books. Living authors on the vision board this month are Susanna Clarke, Sean M. Tirman, Alan Moore, Cait Alvarez, and Britney Lewis. If they write a book - I’m reading it.
8. What is your favorite poem? Hands down, Prelude from Rhymes of a Roughneck by Robert Service. To me - it is the perfect poem.
9. As a poet do you focus more on the visual structure of your poems or the auditory experience of your poetry? (Follow up - have you done a poetry reading, open mic, or slam?) I used to focus on the visual structure a lot more, but I had an English teacher who made me consider how the reader experiences the poems. Now I use the visual only to direct the reader according to the intended rhythm of the words. I’ve never done any sort of open mic. I’m far too shy to seek it out, but I’m always open to trying new things and it is on my “someday” list.
10. What are some of your favorite themes or subjects to explore in your art and writing? Did you explore those same things within the structure of the tea poems, and if so was it easier or harder to do that with the constraints of titling each poem with a tea blend? I find myself writing about water, time, death, monster, and deity fairly consistently. They are infinitely fascinating subjects and I haven’t been able to find the end in exploring them. While those themes snuck into several of the poems in Leaf and Petal, I think this collection was a lot more about the human experience in general. It was unavoidable. Tea has such a rich history and remains an integral part of cultures across the world. You’ll find it on scene in a religious ritual, at a wake, in the early hours before work, late at night before bed, sitting next to a book, and in the hands of people experiencing every emotion we have. As I wrote through the list of teas, it became very clear that each blend was about much more than a simple mixture of herbs.
11. What is the fastest amount of time it has taken you to write a poem? What is the longest amount of time? How do you know when a poem is done? I think the fastest was probably only a minute or two. Sometimes you tap into the flow and words just pour out. That actually happened a lot while I wrote Leaf and Petal. The longest was most likely years in the making. I have notebooks filled with lines and poems that go back a long time. Whenever I’m putting together a new collection, I usually go to the notebooks first for a jumping off point. Some of the poems get their final edits ten plus years after they were first written down. For me, a poem is done when I’ve said something the best way I know how. And if I find a better way to say it later, then I write another poem.
12. What are you reading right now? And what is your top book (poetry collection or otherwise) recommendation? I’ve just started reading Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and am really enjoying it. And I’m going to sneak in two books right here. I wish more people knew about Power Dalton’s Turning Earth (Poetry). And I think more people should read The Martian Chronicles (Sci-Fi) by Ray Bradbury.
13. Describe being the oldest child in the Carden family in one word. I don’t know if I could ever think of one word. I love all of my siblings a ton though.
14. Which poem in this collection is your favorite? I love the entire collection so much, but if I had to choose a favorite it would be Masala Chai.
15. What’s in your cup? Jasmine Green Tea from Leaf and Petal or Yorkshire Gold are my go-to!
We want to thank Britta for honoring our shop, and giving life to our teas in such a creative and beautiful way. We love that our tea was a source of inspiration for her art, and we hope that each of our customers find a similar spark each time they enter our shop or drink our tea.
Support Britta and all of our artists and vendors by shopping small and local in our shop. If you are interested in Britta's other work, follow her @Britta_Gomez on Instagram or follow the links below to check out her other books.
Old Gods Clashing in the Sea: Poems
https://a.co/d/00RYrIFI
The Fallen God: A Novella
https://a.co/d/0b4N3uBU