Poemancer began as a fun hypothetical: how could the world of poetry meet the world of game design?

What started as an exercise in creativity soon turned into a serious project. We realized that there are a lot of poets out there who want to get into poetry—but the resources that exist are often exclusionary or pretentious. It’s hard to participate in a poetry workshop if you’ve never written poems before, or if you don’t know the difference between a metonymy and a synecdoche.

But poets already have what they need to write good poems: their own imaginations and lived experiences.

Poemancer is a game that helps poets use their lives and minds to write inspired poetry. The game includes card decks that help inspire and instruct you through the poetry process, plus a guide through the basics of good poetry writing. These cards can be used in countless ways to prompt poems, and they’re designed to be used again and again and again.

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Meet the Team

Sean Glatch — Poetry Prestidigitator

Sean Glatch is a queer poet, storyteller, and screenwriter in New York City. His work has appeared in Ninth Letter, Milk Press, 8Poems, The Poetry Annals, on local TV, and elsewhere. Sean currently runs Writers.com, the oldest writing school on the internet. When he’s not writing, which is often, he thinks he should be writing.

Sergio Araneda — Card Conjurer

Sergio Araneda is a mathematician by training, a Ph.D. in psychometrics, and a fanatic of board games and game design. Since he was a kid, he has been inventing games for his friends, and his creativity and passion have now reached new professional levels in more serious projects related to game design. He also taught a class about the principles of game design in education a few years ago. A self-taught creator, Sergio loves games that transcend the traditional limits of gaming, seeking to create devices that elicit deeper experiences — to the point of considering Game Design a new form of art. Proud cat uncle, wanderer of the world, humble servant of the southern stars of Chiloé, Chile.

Yves Menshikova — Design Diviner

Yves Menshikova is an illustrator and designer working in the TV animation industry. Aside from drawing and painting, they also dabble in other mediums such as sculpting, sewing, knitting, felting and tattooing. In their spare time they enjoy playing video games, dancing, exploring with their friends, and petting their cat.

Jameson — Meow Muse

The year is 623 B.C.E. Mages from the ancient Phoenician city-state Tyre search for a mythical being so adorable that no evil entity can resist its powers of cuteness. They climbed what are now called the Caucasus Mountains and came upon two cat-like statues sitting guard to a shrine near the mountain’s peak. The mages crawled in one-by-one; none returned; out came a beast so enchantingly endearing, only the bravest of poet-magicians dare meet its terrific gaze. Yes, he’s a Maine Coon.