Caitlin Conlon
LightNews LightNews
banner
cgcpoems.bsky.social
Caitlin Conlon
@cgcpoems.bsky.social
100 followers 89 following 99 posts
leo, award-winning poet, & buffalo bills fan. I wrote ‘Burning the Ghost Light’ and ‘The Surrender Theory.’ [she/her]

https://linktr.ee/cgcpoems
Posts Replies Media Videos
cgcpoems.bsky.social
Friends! Family! Kind strangers! I’ll be reading poems & signing books at Rust Belt Books in Buffalo, NY, one week from today! Come celebrate my new poetry collection ‘Burning the Ghost Light’ with me :)

*I’ll only be able to accept cash or venmo payments for books & merch at this venue!*
OCT. 4th 1-3 PM RUST BELT BOOKS 415 Grant St Buffalo, NY, 14213
September 27, 2025 at 7:45 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
In case you missed it, my new book 'Burning the Ghost Light' is available now! I'm also going on tour this Fall!
Come see me read poems if you're in/around Albany (NY), Buffalo (NY), Cleveland, (OH), or Ann Arbor (MI).
More info can be found in the tour posters below!
SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1-3 PM The Warbler Brewery 155 Delaware Ave Delmar, NY, 12054 OCTOBER 4TH, 1-3 PM Rust Belt Books 415 Grant St Buffalo, NY, 14213 OCTOBER 5TH, 1-3 PM Fireside Bookshop 29 N Franklin St Chagrin Falls, OH, 44022 OCTOBER 7TH, 6:30 PM Literati Bookstore 124 E Washington St Ann Arbor, MI, 48104
September 14, 2025 at 6:59 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
I’m reading & signing books in New York, Ohio, & Michigan this Fall!! I hope you can come!!!
September 21st, 1-3PM at The Warbler Brewery, 155 Delaware Ave, Delmar, NY, 12054. October 5th, 1-3PM, at Fireside Bookshop, 29 N Franklin St, Chagrin Falls, OH, 44022. October 7th, 6:30 PM, at Literati Bookstore, 124 E Washington St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104.
July 24, 2025 at 10:16 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
The first 100 people to email me at cgcpoems@gmail.com with proof of preorder & mailing address will get a sticker in the mail, which contains a link to an exclusive digital "playbill" :) Plus, you'll be entered to win a gift certificate to any indie bookstore of your choice!!

(2/3)
This is why you should preorder BURNING THE GHOST LIGHT by Caitlin Conlon! Why should you preorder my book? it shows my publisher that there's interest in my work! it encourages booksellers to order copies to sell in-store! the first 100 preorders will get a sticker in the mail & access to an exclusive playbill created by me :) you could win a $50 gift certificate to an indie bookstore of your choice! email me at cgcpoems@gmail.com with your proof of preorder & your mailing address for a gift & chance to win a gift certificate to your favorite indie bookstore :)
May 12, 2025 at 6:20 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
I'm so happy & excited to announce that my sophomore poetry collection, Burning The Ghost Light, is officially available to preorder!! I'll link my publisher below, but you can preorder through any indie bookstore or online retailer--wherever you get your books! :)

(1/3)
graphic with the cover of BURNING THE GHOST LIGHT by Caitlin Conlon. arrows come out from the book and point to these bits of text: poems about complicated family relationships, grief, romantic love, self-discovery, and, most of all, performance genre-bending (primarily poetry, but includes theatrical references & formatting, as well as some dialogue between characters) narrative is told through four characters (THE MOTHER, THE FATHER, THE LOVER, and THE SELF) now available to preorder through simon & schuster, bookshop, barnes & noble, & anywhere else you buy books :)
May 12, 2025 at 6:20 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
If you were planning on preordering my book through Barnes & Noble, today is the last day to take advantage of their 25% off sale!!

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/burning-th...
PREMIUM & REWARDS MEMBERS 25% OFF UPCOMING BOOKS With Code: PREORDER25 SHOP NOW INCLUDES eBOOKS & AUDIOBOOKS *Online only. See page for details. Ends 4/25 Premium Members Save 10%
April 25, 2025 at 1:22 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
can’t stop thinking about this
Doctor Doofenshmirtz meme, which I’ve edited to say “If I had a nickel for every time Hozier showed up while I’m seeing Lucy Dacus live I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.”
April 25, 2025 at 3:46 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
so so excited to reveal the cover to my upcoming poetry collection!!!! I love it so much!!!!
The cover of Burning The Ghost Light by Caitlin Conlon. We are on stage, looking out at an audience of empty chairs. One ghost light burns on the stage. The colors are yellow, brown, and orange-toned.
April 12, 2025 at 5:55 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
I’d argue that Challengers could not have existed without this coming before it.
Chad and Ryan during the baseball scene in High School Musical 2.
March 2, 2025 at 2:15 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
@aribcofer.com & I are thrilled to announce our next retreat, INTERROGATION, is happening this August in Grand Island, New York. FAQ & more are at this link!! www.unearthwritingretreats.com/interrogatio...
PRESENTED BY UNEARTH WRITING RETREATS YOU'RE INVITED TO THE INTERROGATION RETREAT AUGUST 15-17, 2025 GRAND ISLAND, NEW YORK AT THE ALT NATURE PRESERVE & CENTER JOIN US FOR POETRY WORKSHOPS, LIVELY DISCUSSIONS, SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY, & MORE, WITH ARI B. COFER & CAITLIN CONLON apply now at unearthwritingretreats.com When a person sits down to write, there are familiar wells they tend to draw from. These wells are different for everyone, and can look like anything; your family history, the beautiful image you saw on your walk yesterday, or your fears for the future are all examples. But what happens when you allow yourself to sink down to the bottom of the well? What would you find if you dug underneath? Welcome to the Interrogation Retreat, a retreat that challenges writers to interrogate where their poems are truly coming from and teaches how to bring the heart of their ideas to the surface. By the end of this three-day retreat, facilitated by Ari B. Cofer and Caitlin Conlon, writers will leave with a greater understanding of why they write in the first place and how to engage with their own work in a meaningful way. If you're a writer that feels stuck in a rut, a writer looking to delve deeper into their craft, a writer looking to experiment and grow their work in a safe, supportive community, or a combination of the three, the Interrogation Retreat is for you. picture of ari & caitlin :)
February 10, 2025 at 6:05 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
afc championship vibes
Meme with a countdown to kms, then postponed, then back on.
January 27, 2025 at 3:05 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
This poem of mine came out at the end of 2023 with “midsummer magazine." I've been thinking a lot about my teenage self lately, who she could've been if she wasn't so self-conscious. In some ways, l've spent my whole life trying to be seen (something I explore a lot in my upcoming book, lol).
COOL GIRLS Caitlin Conlon Angie takes her shirt off in Molly's bedroom and because I'm sixteen and avoiding mirrors, I take mine off too. I've never been kissed and I think being cool will solve all my problems. Cool Girls take their shirts off at parties. Cool Girls don't think, they reflect. As we compare ourselves I wait to feel something and am still waiting. Molly keeps her flesh-colored bra on but, in the spirit of being a Cool Girl, slides the right cup over with her fingers to reveal one mound. I'm trying not to look for too long at anyone's chest but I've never seen bare bodies that weren't mine in person, before. I'm moonlighting as a wildlife explorer, glancing between skins, my heart a feral animal growling above my abdomen. There's so much anxiety scratching at my ribcage, adolescent grievances begging to be let out of my mouth but, right now, what's important to the Cool Girls is that 1 have the biggest arcolas. Angie points this out, not unkindly. She doesn't use the word arcolas, though. She says nipples. As a teeanger you hardly have the language to say how you hurt, let alone identify your biology. Later that night, alone in the bathroom, I lift up my cotton pajama top and examine my breasts with gentle hands. Squeezing, and tugging. Imagining how it might feel to be touched, noticed, with purpose. Do I have to like my body to live with it? The truth is that sometimes, even now, in the middle of the night, I wake from a dream and think I'm still there. Standing breathless in a hushed room, begging everyone there to see me.
January 26, 2025 at 7:27 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
would like everyone to know that the last video I ever watched on tiktok was a hunger games x hozier edit
Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now that means you can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned! screenshot of a Hozier x Hunger Games TikTok
January 19, 2025 at 3:42 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
still riding the high of winning my fantasy football championship with this ragtag bunch
Screenshot of Yahoo Sports, showing my Fantasy football team from my 2024 win! Screenshot of Yahoo Sports, showing my Fantasy football team from my 2024 win!
January 19, 2025 at 1:14 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
currently stuck in hell
Circle with arrows pointing in an endless loop. Inside the circle reads these statements: need time off from job to write look into applications for residencies & retreats applications need writing sample from work in progress don't have writing sample yet because I have no time to write
January 18, 2025 at 4:05 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
not sure if this is common knowledge that I just haven’t seen, but I was in my substack settings under “privacy” & noticed this “block AI training” section, which was automatically turned off. if you don’t want AI being trained with your newsletters, please go into your settings & turn the block on!
Photograph of Substack settings. Reads as follows: Block Al training Tells third-party Al-tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini that their models should not be trained on your content. Note this may limit your discoverability on these platforms.
January 16, 2025 at 11:28 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
something I love about writing is being able to look back on a piece and know exactly where I was when I wrote it. I wrote this for NaPoWriMo many years ago, in one of the study rooms of the library I worked at. it was a poem I both needed to write & needed to read.
Photo of the poem “Half-Conditional Statements” by Caitlin Conlon, in the book “The Surrender Theory.” Text reads as follows: HALF-CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS if you have stood on the precipice of anger and let it wash over you like sickness if you have unhinged a fshhook from a yellow perch just to throw it back into a life of green if you have waited for somebody gentle to cajole you into happiness if you have thrust your heart into the mouth of a cave and listened for its echo if you have survived every past version of yourself if you haveused a lighter for anything other than warmth if you have scratched a mosquito bite through your jeans if you have been moved to tears by something unliving if you have remained stagnant longer than you should've if you have attempted to cut mistakes out of your hair if you have untangled a jewelry drawer full of beads if you have craved physical attention so desperately that it ruined your tongue if you have shined a flashlight onto grief if you have dreamt of living among the lonely if your eyes have swept over a crime scene and lingered if you have felt illuminated by loss if you have burned a hole through your idea of love and built something sturdy and ephemeral in its absence then be comforted knowing that you are still alive. Photo of “The Surrender Theory” by Caitlin Conlon, resting on white sheets in natural lighting. The book is worn, with page flags peeking out of the top.
January 9, 2025 at 1:06 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
GO BILLS
Photo of me, a white girl with curly, wet, brown hair, in a Bills jacket, with a Bills fanny pack, holding a Labatt’s in one hand and holding a blue umbrella in the other. It’s pouring.
December 30, 2024 at 2:09 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
boomers when they have to wait in any sort of line
A young, Black kid with short hair, in a red shirt and khaki (?) pants, has his fists balled up, with an angry look on his face. He’s standing in front of what looks like a closet door inside of a house, with beige walls.
December 13, 2024 at 2:19 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
lol
screenshot of two email notifications, one after the other. the top one reads “The New York Times. Breaking news: Police arrest "person of i... The man was carrying a manifesto criticizing health care firms. nytimes.com” The second notification reads “HealthCare.gov. You could qualify for extra savings on 20... Many consumers are now eligible for more savings. View in browser HealthCare.gov”
December 9, 2024 at 8:18 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
watching people complain about their week off being over when you work in retail feels like this
a frame of the popular “this is fine” meme. a brown cartoon dog white black ears, wide eyes, and a small brown hat, sits in front of a table with a coffee mug on top of it. the room around the dog is full of flames, and smoke covers the ceiling.
December 2, 2024 at 4:35 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
omg boygenius spotting at the macy’s thanksgiving day parade!!
photo of my television, during the macy’s thanksgiving day parade. we’re looking at a float with the word “Peanuts” hanging off the front. linus, lucy, and charlie brown are hanging out behind the sign. the scene is leafy, with what looks like a tent behind them. they’re waving at the crowd!
November 28, 2024 at 4:18 PM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
dream blunt rotation
Photo of Brain Pop’s Tim and Moby! A cartoon orange robot with gray arms and a smile looks over at his friend, a cartoon white boy sitting at a desk with a computer who is looking at the audience.
November 23, 2024 at 3:28 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
one of my favorites from “The Surrender Theory” :)

www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Su...
Screenshot from the ebook “The Surrender Theory” by Caitlin Conlon. The poem is on two photos. This screenshot reads: NESTING DOLL My grandmother's death is a big grief - the size of, maybe, a medicine ball. Anything bigger than that is no longer grief, it is hopelessness, which is generally much worse. Nobody talks about it, it being hopelessness, without lying at least a little bit. I do not want to lie, anymore. Lying is a plum-sized grief. When I was younger I treated truth carelessly and cannot tell you why, only that the guilt never tasted quite as bitter as it should have. Guilt is a watermelon-sized grief. Premature forgiveness is a peach. There is something terribly fitting about eating loss when you're able to. I have not always been able to. Misplacing love for the first time was a wad of taffy as big as my head. I crawled away with a cavity on my canine but at least I crawled away. The trick is to stop believing you will come away unscathed and, instead, prepare for the inevitability of upheaval. One time my grandmother asked me if she was the reason that I was always so sad and I told her the truth, which was that I don't know why I'm always so sad. What I should've said, what she probably needed to hear, was you are the opposite of what is misprinted in my foundation, but I've never really been one for saying the right thing at the correct time, which, of course, is why I write, why I'm here at all, meditating on grief, trying to say something that sounds nicer than I would like you to come home, now. The rest of the poem reads as follows: I would like you to take your shoes off by the coat rack and leave me notes on the kitchen counter, brag about me to your friends as I turn into a strawberry, take me to terrible matinee comedies and pretend we both hated them. I promise that, if you do, I'll stop talking to loose change on the sidewalk, poking at the birth mark on my chest that isn't there anymore, eating the flowers we once planted so carefully by the big tree. Dolly, they taste so sweet, and fresh. Like a place I could finally be happy in.
November 21, 2024 at 2:42 AM
cgcpoems.bsky.social
another substack excerpt, this one from an essay about Corduroy the bear & finding home!

open.substack.com/pub/cgcpoems...
Screenshot from Caitlin Conlon’s substack, “Dancing With The Marginalia.” Text reads as follows: When you're young, or at least when I was young, it never occurred to me that these places which became so important to me, so fundamental in my upbringing, would someday cease to be accessible to me. Though it happens every day, though I myself am living in an apartment, it feels impossible that another family is living in my father's apartment, or in the house my mother rented. What do these strangers know about those spaces? I grew up there, navigated every corner, and they'll never know so much as my name. They'll never know where the couches were, the photos hanging on the walls. How I watched my father decorate the walls of my bedroom with flowers. How my younger siblings and I raced around the circular layout of the rented house, my mother sipping tea in the kitchen. I'm lucky that my great aunt is living in the house my grandmother raised me in, grateful that if I ever wanted, needed, to step inside those walls again, I could. But it's not the same. It's been decorated differently, updated and flipped around. Never again will I walk into the bedroom of my youth and flop down on my springy twin bed, surrounded by posters of musicians and actors affixed with command strips to the peeling walls. It is impossible to return to that exact setting of my youth, much like it is impossible to return to my youth at all.
November 21, 2024 at 2:39 AM