My name is Damian Rogers and I’m a poet, writer, inter-disciplinary artist, and tarot reader.
If It’s Alive, Feed It is where I offer workshops that approach creative writing, artistic practice, and the tarot as opportunities to encounter the mysterious, the numinous, and the unexpected — what one might choose to call “the strange.”
I named the school after something I said when visiting the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at the University of Guelph in the spring of 2021. During the Q&A portion of an event organized by poet Hoa Nguyen that focused on mixed-mode narrative and featured Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and myself in conversation about our work, a student asked us about our process. As artists who both publish and perform within multiple disciplines, how do we know when we begin a new creative project what it should be — a poem or a song, for example, a memoir or a novel? It was an interesting question and I admitted that I didn’t spend much time thinking about genre when I started to work on something new. “I just want to know if it’s alive, and if it’s alive, then my job is to feed it,” I told them. My answer surprised me a little, and it might sound like impractical advice to give a group of aspiring writers, but it reflects my philosophy about art-making pretty well. What do I mean by “alive”? In comic book author Lynda Barry’s beautiful book on writing What It Is, she writes, “At the center of everything we call ‘the arts,’ and children call ‘play,’ is something which seems somehow alive.” I love how she links the arts with play. Whenever I find myself growing anxious about my creative activities, I remind myself that I'm playing a game and that the point of the game isn't to win, the point of the game is to keep playing. My goal here is to create materials that support you in deepening your own practice, that help you commit (or recommit) to your pursuit of that which seems alive.
See below to read things people have said about my work as a reader and as a writer.
“Damian Rogers reads the cards with such poetry, vision and clarity — but not with so much that life, or one’s future, becomes already-lived. I always send my friends to her when they are muddled artistically, since she — also an artist — understands what is needed and can give it: can ably draw new lines with the right amount of conviction and flexibility. She clears away the mud in the mind. She is brilliant.”
- Sheila Heti, author of Pure Colour and Motherhood
Books & Zines
Praise for my most recent book, An Alphabet for Joanna: A Portrait of My Mother in 26 Fragments:
"Evocative, beautifully written, heartbreaking...of special interest to all whose loved ones suffer from dementia." —Margaret Atwood, on Twitter
"An Alphabet for Joanna is a braid of tiny stories that weaves us into a nest of belonging despite circumstance and injury.... A memoir of stunning thoughtfulness, Rogers presents us with a loving treatise on what it means to be human."
—Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, author of Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies
Substack
Reader feedback on my Substack newsletter, where I have been writing through the tarot deck one card at a time since May 2021:
"I can’t tell you the delight when your newsletter appears. What I need to see/hear…resonant always, inspiring always, and MORE. I would sign up for any wild notion you are inspired to offer. 💓"
"It's always a little bright spot in my inbox. I save them for when I can give it a couple of minutes of undivided attention. It takes me out of the mundane. Sometimes I make a to do list for myself out of something you've written. Little assignments. Wee bits of fun and self-exploration."
Tarot Readings
“I’m so glad for everyone else that Damian has opened up her readings as they are genuinely remarkable. She has a wild and elegant focus, as though calmly lighting up the hidden structures around you, or a new path, or the metaphor you had been groping for. I have really loved the ones I’ve gotten.” — Margaux Williamson, painter
“Damian is both esoteric and grounded; plugged into her own intuition and receptive to her recipient. Damian’s words are like a river — easy flowing and exactly as they should be."
—Becky Johnson, comedian and actor
A little more about me
I'm the author of the poetry collections Paper Radio (ECW Press) and Dear Leader (Coach House Books) and the memoir An Alphabet for Joanna: A Portrait of My Mother in 26 Fragments (KnopfCanada). After working as an editor for more than two decades, I currently teach creative writing at Toronto Metropolitan University and in private workshops. If It's Alive, Feed It is the home for my online courses on creative practice and the tarot.
Current Courses
Workshops you can sign up for now.
