HI! I’m Carolene.

I’m a Malayali-American poet from South Florida, and I currently serve as the Poetry Editor for Okay Donkey. Before you keep scrolling to see my updates, click on the link below to read my latest poem, published in Bennington Review!

Updates:

I’ll be reading some of my poems at The Betsy Hotel on Thursday, Sept 11 at 7:00pm! The reading is a collaboration with SWWIM, MATWAALA, and The Betsy Writer’s Room, and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of such a rich literary community. I hope you’ll come out; register here!

In other news, The Somatic Series, my five-part generative poetry workshop series encouraging participants to explore their senses through MAD Arts’ immersive exhibitions, finally came to a close with an open mic night on Aug 23. The whole series was an incredible time of community and connection, and I will be forever grateful for every participant who decided to choose poetry on a Saturday night.

If you weren’t able to attend any of the sessions, don’t despair! Future poetry workshops at MAD Arts will be headed your way soon; more on that to follow.

Lastly, I have new poems out in Painted Bride Quarterly, North American Review, RHINO, Passages North, and Barrelhouse; click on the hyperlinks and buy a copy to support! Or, follow me on Bluesky, where you can find my posts with the poems.

Stay tuned for more exciting news to come!