Instagram story viewer> @cap.writes> Posts

cap • claudia

@cap.writes

2K

followers

1592

following

writer | educator | poet #CAPWrites
pardon my excellence 🧿☁️🤍👁️
🪷 @caps.yesyear

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

As I embark on another journey towards publication, I’m humbled by my first journal entry for Stories: Poems I Wrote While Turning Pain Into Hope.

TL,DR: Three years later, this book changed my life. I’m grateful to the point of tears in this Starbucks.

Stories was a passion project that scared me. I knew it had the potential to change my life. I knew that all I had to do was *try a little* and I could have the life I dreamed of. I knew that my gift was being lost between flash drives & countless journals. I knew that I could accomplish any goal for this book. But I’ve always been afraid of my own potential.

Three years later, my book is sold out. I’ve helped 2 others publish their books. I’ve created & facilitated 3 public, free, writing challenges with over 90 carefully crafted prompts. I’ve curated & written 18 successful, engaging newsletters to over 200 people. I’ve taught countless student-centered workshops throughout NYC. I’ve written commissioned poems for milestones like weddings. I’ve helped create opportunities for emerging poets to launch careers in performance & education. I’ve reached a point where I feel confident saying “no” to events/opportunities that don’t align with my interests or beliefs. And none of this addresses the revolutionary healing that I, and others, have experienced from my words.

Through Stories, I found a sense of self, my literal & creative voice, & a refined purpose. This book also made way for me to meet (& re-meet) people who have undoubtedly changed my life. People who challenge me, support any dream, put money in my pocket, push me, & most of all, love me with a profundidad I never knew before. Praise God.

This prayer from July 14, 2020 was answered beyond expectation. As I sit in this Starbucks, I’m reminded of the power of prayer & action. I’m inspired to begin book 3. I’m proud, humbled, grateful, SHOOK, & emotional. Best believe this girl hasn’t stopped praying & pushing since! We’re doubling down!

Thank you all for being here with me. And thank you, God, for letting my life fall apart for the sake of falling into place.
🤍c taken in Bronx, NY by @cap.writes

141

26

3 years ago

Mid January, 2023 #CAPWrites #CAPjanchallenge23
.
.
.
.
#PoetsOfInstagram #PoetsAndWriters #PoemsDaily #BronxPoet #BronxPoetry #NYCPoetry #NYCPoet #NYCPoets #LatinaPoetsOfInstagram #LatinaPoeta #WritersOfInstagram #WritersFollowWriters #writerstag #AltText #AltTextForAll #AltTextPoem #AltTextPoetry #Chapter #Ripples by @cap.writes

65

11

4 years ago

I’m not crying, you’re crying.
This may seem like a small number to many of you. But this is the equivalent of filling up Gramercy Theater with people who care about what *I* have to say. As a girl who grew up feeling heavy shame surrounding pretty much everything, this moment means so much to me. Thank you.
I didn’t know I needed to celebrate today, but we here 🤍 grateful and humbled #CAPWrites by @cap.writes

168

39

5 years ago

Week 5 of the July Poetry Challenge by cap <3 Music / Wind down / Reflect: days 27-31 #CAPjuly2026 #JulyPoetryChallenge

In the spirit of wrapping up July with reflection, here’s mine on retiring The July Poetry Challenge.

🚨TW!! S.I.
(2/2) As I prepare this last post, it feels right, though my body keeps entering an anxious spiral.

My heart isn’t in poetry anymore & it’s showing in my craft. I’ve loved writing since childhood. In 2017, depression gave me poetry. Poetry gave me a way to live. By 2026, the industry & su*dal ideation took it all.

There is a wider conversation we must have about “poetry” the industry, & how it bastardizes this magical craft. It’s entirely too many “poets” creating division & chaos because of ego. Too many groups competing for the same 3 crumbs. Too many who wanna be a celebrity, not a vessel. Too many ready to rip someone else’s tongue out. But I digress.

I want to fall back in love with the craft that saved me. I want to write, share, publish. I’m teeming with emotion but my spirit can’t move, like I’m under some veil of self preservation. I don’t even care about my own projects anymore. All my energy goes to safely lying to rest every night.

The world can keep what I’ve given. What’s left is mine to preserve for now.

I’m not “ready-to-end-it-all,” I promise. I may not have asked to be here, but it isn’t accidental. I have no choice but to see it through. I have support. I’m not alone.

I am so proud of myself for giving the world 186 writing prompts from my own heart & brain. I am proud of each jump-off point, blurb, inspo post, hand drawn/handwritten graphic, bespoke font, accompanying playlist, signup form, & email template. I’m proud of the workshops & open mics that never left my notebooks. I’m proud of every yes & no that came from The Challenges. I’m proud of every poem (mine & yours) birthed from all 6 Challenges.
And most of all, I’m proud of myself for stepping away. ❤️‍🩹

I appreciate you for being here & believing in me, wherever in my poetry journey we met. I love you. Happy writing <3

PLEASE TAG ME IN POEMS WRITTEN THROUGH THE MONTH! I wanna love on them and share them with my corner of the world. by @cap.writes

22

10

3 months ago

pa que se sienta triste? / why do you feel sad?
yo traigo la receta / i bring the recipe
Salsa! Salsa, pa olvidar las penas / salsa! Salsa, to forget your sorrows
.
My current sorrow:
I really don’t feel like writing anymore. I feel like I have nothing left to say. But I am falling back in love with things I’ve written before. And the process of bringing them back to life. Like this one?? I love it so much.
But … What does it mean when cap stops writing? by @cap.writes

94

13

6 months ago

Obviously is Leah’s show. But the show is really ours.
Long Way Home is like the train ride you’ll always love. The nostalgic ride. The one where you cried and nobody watched. Or you cried and someone passed you a tissue but asked no questions. The one where you wrote that unforgettable journal entry turned poem. The one where you and your friends laughed so obnoxiously loud, everyone else hated you but it’s still the funniest memory with those people you never saw again. It’s the one where you snuggled with your first love…

Long Way Home gave me the chance to write one of the most important poems I’ve ever written. I am allowed to speak plainly about the way my mother was abused by the structures that promised to protect her. I am allowed to dance through my grief and find others to do it with me. I am allowed to be furious and hopeful.

This “Boricua From the Bronx” is truly excited for this transfer, alongside some incredible poets. Poem edited, memorized, and pouring from my soul onto the triad stage. Pull up and enjoy my fav 6 minutes written 🫶🏼 taken in The Triad by @cap.writes

128

6

6 months ago

workshop shawty is baaack! Join me at at Allerton Library @allertonnypl April 15 for my part of a history-making lineup of FREE poetry workshops in collaboration with @nuyoricanpoetscafe & @nypl 🗣️ If you can't make it to Allerton, no sweat. Issa whole fire lineup of opportunites to write something worthy of a blessed RUN IT BACK!!! 🫶🏽 by @cap.writes

67

2

6 months ago

APRIL 9-30 🌺 Becoming whole by accepting both. Honored to have my poetry on display at @flowspacegallery in collaboration with the incredible @marcelas_brain_juice 🎨
.
🌀🌸another full circle moment in the life of claudia
.
As the story goes, I’ve been writing my whole life. I stopped for a long time. Fear of my truth and my talent got in the way. But in July 2017, I started writing again. “I Collect” was one of the first poems I wrote in that season.
October 2017, I curated and hosted my first art show with multiple mediums represented and a full lineup of performances. It was my first time publicly sharing my poetry. I hand-wrote a full display and wrote a new poem to perform that night. It was my first poetry performance. “I Collect” was on display. Someone asked me to sign it because they knew I’d be famous some day. I took a picture and handed it over.
.
When my second book, Stories: Poems I Wrote While Turning Pain Into Hope, was published in 2021, “I Collect” had a whole new meaning to me and found its way into chapter 2, LIVING, dedicated to my mother. I may have read it at my first feature, but rarely shared it again.
.
Fast forward, 2026 — While peeking into @marcelas_brain_juice process and brainstorming how this collaboration might happen, we aligned on SO much. Particularly, the difficult dynamics of femininity as it was projected onto us. She showed me two unfinished masks, “Brazen Bloom” being one. I actually fought my draw to it. I wanted to “challenge” myself by leaning into something “different” for me, although her mask was the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen.
.
Even so, I had NO intention to revive “I Collect” from the vault. In comes the happy medium, “I Collect, part 2.” An exploration of the FULL acceptance of the other side: the furious, vengeful, scorned, protective. The side that’s silenced under -isms. The side that wields machetes, fire, thunder, and the energy of Changó. The thorn that allows for flowers.
Becoming whole by accepting both.
.
COME READ BOTH VERSIONS ON DISPLAY AT @flowspacegallery until April 30❤️‍🔥 by @cap.writes

32

4

6 months ago

[SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED. NEW LINES ARE NOT PROMISED TO MAKE IT INTO THE POEM. It’s cooking though!! 🫶🏼]
Calling all writers 👀 Let’s write a poem together in celebration of World Poetry Day!! It’s YEAR FIVE of my fav tradition, hosting instagram’s favorite WPD Community Poem 🌍✍🏽🗓️

Over the last four years, 11+ poems were written together through this tradition. Let’s keep it going and growwwwing!! #capWrites

I provide the first/inspo line & you drop 1 line in the comments (you can DM/text if you’re feeling shy). I will put everyone’s lines together & post the completed poem. Anything goes; there are no “wrong” or “right” submissions, no “good” or “bad” lines. Go against the prompt, lean into it, rhyme or don’t — just don’t think too hard 💕
First/Inspo line: “That’s not the place where i dream from” by @cap.writes

48

23

7 months ago

steady musing is a free poetry newsletter by claudia Alvarez-Plaud, aka cap. One email a month w poems, long form, and visual art all made by me, cap. Never selling you anything. Only asking you to feel with me. 🔗https://tinyurl.com/4yahezj4 by @cap.writes

9

0

8 months ago

MobWife Galentines 💰 with my four corner of poet bori's at our favorite place @lafondanyc #PUÑETA by @cap.writes

3

24

8 months ago

This poem was a journey in itself. From the haunting repetition of ProveHersselfDeserving to the childhood nostalgia to the anger and complexity of grief followed by an attempt at finding peace - what a stunning, heart wrenching stop. Thank you for blessing us with this, @cap.writes 🇵🇷🗽🛤️

#thelongwayhome by @cap.writes

163

24

9 months ago