Spring News Round-Up

I have just two more days to spend in Minnesota, and then I'm off to Prairie Center of the Arts for a four-week writing residency. Since I've been a derelict blogger (and will likely always be so), I'm going to summarize events of note.

• For a long time, it was supposed to be spring, but it wasn't. We had snow in May this year, and it was a bit more than my spirit could handle. But now the sun is shining and I've rallied.
• I joined the artist co-op at MCBA and I'm busy on a new book arts project.
• My poems have appeared recently in Handsome Journal, DIAGRAM, and Interim Magazine. I added a list on the sidebar of this blog that links to those sites.
• It's been crazy and wonderful to have Shawn's siblings in town, and less than a week later, mine. We rarely are all in the same state at once these days, so it feels like a special occasion.
• Speaking of special occasions, in Minnesota we recently had a historic one: our politicians did the right thing and legalized same-sex marriage. My two youngest sisters and I went to the capital to see Gov. Dayton sign the measure into law.

And so, life is busy, but good. I'm looking forward to some restful and writing-focused days coming my way in Peoria, Illinois.

Next Big Thing

I first heard about the internet chain letter of ten questions, the Next Big Thing, through Molly. Later I was honored to be tagged by Anna Lena. I have chosen not to tag anyone, but I hope you will read about these two lovely ladies' projects, each which inspire me in a myriad of ways.

1. What is your working title of your book?

Shadows Across Skin

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

As a poet and a heavily tattooed woman (and wife of a tattoo artist), I’m a member of two communities that are exclusive in their own individual ways and don’t often talk to each other. I guess I wanted to create connections between poetry and tattooing… and isn’t that why we all write really, to connect? Shadows Across Skin is concerned with the ways a tattooed body becomes a kind of text that is read (or misread) by a lover. The book isn’t only about tattoos, however. Primarily it’s interested in complicated love, the stories we tell about ourselves and the stories that are told about us. And of course I stirred in other subjects that inspire me: mornings, ukiyo-e, dairy farming, cyborgs, snow, etc.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Poetry: a genre for which this questionnaire was clearly not designed! Still, it amuses me to answer these questions and think of my book in terms of fiction.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Epic poems like The Iliad can be made into movies (though I actually haven’t seen one a good one yet), but the poems in Shadows Across Skin wouldn’t translate into film at all. That said, there are two recurring characters in the book: the tattooed lady and a “you” (lover/beloved). The tattooed lady is constantly shifting forms; she is a little like Katherine Hepurn, and then like Mama Cass, and sometimes like Amy Winehouse. Yes, I intentionally chose performers who are dead, because I think ghosts would do a better job. The “you” is evoked often, but he only exists offstage (or offscreen). What matters about him are the thoughts and feelings the various speakers of the poems attach to him. It is not always important even for the “you” to be male.

5. What is a one-sentence synopsis of excerpt from your book?

“In this iteration, / I am the dead sparrow that floats past you, singing: my feathers are swollen with kindness.” --from “Dream of a Perfect Interface”

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 

How curious that these are the only two options listed! I hope that Shadows Across Skin will find a home at a small literary press. It was chosen as a finalist for Pleiades' Lena-Miles Wever Todd Poetry Book Prize, so that gave me some encouragement. Both as a feminist and as a poet (poetry is non-moneyed), I believe in my own agency.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

The oldest poem in the manuscript was written in 2008, and in 2010 I put together a thesis manuscript that contained some poems (or versions of poems) that would eventually go in Shadows Across Skin. But the book itself didn’t really take a shape resembling its current form until summer 2012. I completed the first draft at a residency at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center. I blogged about my experience throughout, and reflected upon it here. I revised the MS this fall and will likely do so again before the book is in print.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I don’t know of any poetry books that deal with the same content or subject matter as mine... if that’s what is meant by “story.” The two books that I found myself returning to most frequently while I was working on my manuscript were Bhanu Kapil’s The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers and Ada Limón’s Sharks in the Rivers. I wouldn’t say there is any specific element (style, aesthetic, tone, etc) that is comparable about these two books, or comparable with mine, but I felt a certain closeness to them that was over and above the other texts I was reading.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Let’s see… My work on the book led me to embrace the form of the long poem and challenge myself to create poetic sequences that employ a fragmented (and often surreal) style of storytelling. I found models for these explorations in the work of Anne Carson, Li-Young Lee, Philip Shultz and C.D. Wright, among others. The inspiration and encouragement from my friends in the Caldera Poetry Collective was crucial in helping me finish this work. And finally, I am eternally grateful to Shawn: my lover, collaborator and taskmaster.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

Several of the poems in Shadows Across Skin will appear in my poetry chapbook, Dream of a Perfect Interface, coming out this May with dancing girl press. Poems from the book have appeared or are forthcoming in DIAGRAM, esque magazine, Handsome Journal, Interim Magazine, and Paper Darts. I’m currently collaborating with Shawn on a letterpress artist book about tattooed ladies that uses the text from one of the poems in Shadows Across Skin. More information about that project will appear soon on this blog and at Four-Letter Press.

AWP 2013 / Part 2 of 2 / The Panel

Over and above the delectable AWP accoutrements (noted in my previous post), my main purpose in going to Boston was to moderate a pedagogy panel on book arts. For those who weren't able to attend, I'll try to relate the experience as well as I can here, aided by photos Anna Lena was kind enough to take. I'll begin with the panel description and panelist bios, and move from there into some of my notes and recollections.

Get a Hold of Your Writing: Book Arts in the Classroom

While much has been made of hands-on learning, the possibilities that book arts can bring into the creative writing classroom deserve deeper exploration. When students have a chance to study page layout, printing, and binding, does it change how they think about language and form? How can tactile experiences with book arts inform/influence the act of writing? Four writers and educators involved in the production of limited edition chapbooks, journals, and broadsides share their impressions on the interplay between writing and making a physical object. 

Emily Brandt is a co-founding editor of No, Dear magazine. Her poems have appeared in Berkeley Poetry Review, Now Culture, and Forklift, Ohio. She teaches in Brooklyn. 

Genevieve Kaplan is the author of In the ice house, winner of the A Room of Her Own Foundation's To the Lighthouse poetry prize. She edits the Toad Press International chapbook series, publishing contemporary translations.

Carol Ann Johnston directs creative writing and is the Martha Porter Sellers Chair of Rhetoric and the English Language at Dickinson College. She participated in a fine press printing for poets seminar at the Center for the Book Arts in New York. She has published poems in Shenandoah and Drunken Boat, and an article on printing poetry in American Poetry Review.

Richard Mathews is the director of the University of Tampa Press and the Tampa Book Arts Studio and editor of Tampa Review. His poetry has appeared in two collections, Mummery and Numbery, as well as in magazines and anthologies. He has also published a book on fantasy as a genre, Fantasy: the Liberation of Imagination. He is Dana Professor of English at the University of Tampa. 

We had a slideshow on a loop during the discussion that featured pictures of our students making chapbooks and broadsides, as well as the finished products. I spoke briefly about the motivations for putting the panel together, and the panelists each introduced themselves. I asked a series of questions (the panelists had the questions sent to them beforehand and were encouraged to prepare notes). Then we had time for Q&A from the audience.

My Questions:

1. What creative benefits do you believe exist for students when they have the opportunity to learn book arts?
2. You teach for many different kinds of institutions and the resources available vary dramatically. How does the particular group of students that you work with and the circumstances at your institution influence your teaching?
3. What challenges do you believe an instructor will encounter when incorporating book arts into the curriculum? How can those challenges be addressed?
4. What do you enjoy most about teaching book arts? What does it offer you as an instructor?

I was amazed at how naturally the discussion unfolded. The quality of each panelists' contributions was very high, and the audience seemed engaged. I found myself thinking: "this is the sort of panel I would have liked to attend myself." I might have done work when setting it up, but on the day of, I basically just showed up and asked my questions. It was the panelists that made it happen. They are each very interesting people, and as a group the range of experiences represented enriched the conversation.

Emily and Genevieve do chapbook and pamphlet making with their students, Emily at a NYC public high school and Genevieve at USC. These activities don't require much in the way of special equipment, and can be more easily fit into any class. Richard and Carol Ann teach at a private university and college, respectively, with impressive letterpress studios, and both have been involved in designing curriculum that pairs book arts with literature (Milton!) or creative writing classes.

Last but not least, here are my notes:

• Typesetting (for letterpress) and formatting page layout (for laser printed chapbooks/pamphlets) forces students to edit more carefully and think about their word choice and line breaks. They also have a different concept of space when moving from the computer screen to the physical page.
• When Emily's HS removed creative writing from the curriculum, she had her students make chapbooks of their essays. She found that they wrote better essays when they had a more precise idea of audience (knowing their essays would be bound and distributed to their classmates, friends and family).
• Richard mentioned that the time-consuming nature of letterpress is a good balm for students' plugged-in, instant-gratification-oriented modes of consciousness. The slowed down sense of time leads to different modes of thinking that are more conducive to literary pursuits. When writing poetry (and prose) they begin to think in smaller units.
• Carol Ann believes we've ruined poetry intellectually by disembodying it. Broadsides and handmade books bring physicality back to the art form. 
• We all waxed poetic on the tactile pleasures of making books and broadsides, and watching our students put their hands on needle & thread, hand-set type, the handle of the press, etc.
• One of the biggest limiting factors (besides the obvious $ and studio equipment/space), is the size of a class. A group of 20 or more can't easily be taken on field trips or into the studio. Time is another issue when it comes to more elaborate projects. Sometimes a semester isn't enough to learn how to use the equipment AND make something. A two-semester class opens up much larger possibilities.
• Someone in the audience mentioned that Utah has a CW Ph.D. that allows for coursework in book arts. Hmmm...

AWP 2013 / Part 1 of 2 / Besides the Panel

Each year, my AWP experience seems completely different. This is the first time I've gone to the conference without any close friends or a built-in posse to hang out with. Since I'm no longer editing for Midway Journal, I didn't have responsibilities at the book fair, either. I was very unfettered. I still met up with plenty of great folks who I know, and I had more opportunities to make new connections. 

The highlight of my trip was getting to know Anna Lena Phillips. We connected through Rory Sparks (who I blogged about before here), and we ended up rooming together. Anna Lena is a poet, poetic object maker, editor (for Fringe Magazine and American Scientist), and square dance caller. She has excellent taste in clothes and whiskey, and a great smile. 

I also got to spend time with Colleen Coyne & her hubby Bart Brinkman (for those who may not know, Colleen is a dear friend and one of my collaborators in a poetry collective formed in gradschool), Florie Namir (we shared an apartment at the KHN Center, she's a composer living in Boston), and Ross White (poet and Bull City Press editor, who I originally met at Breadloaf). I ran into a host of awesome Minneapolis folks too, including Lightsey Darst, Brian Laidlaw, and Matt Mauch. I even saw two of my old CW profs from my undergrad U in Connecticut.

I went to a good amount of panels and readings. My only regret is that I never got to any off-site events... there were a few I really tried to make, but the stars didn't align right. Next time. Here are some recollections that attempt to be brief:

• (1) Camouflage & Capitalism: The Intellectual Appropriation of American Poetry

Tony Hoagland read a critical essay and Kathleen Graber, Reginald Dwayne Betts and Peter Campion read responses to his essay that had been prepared beforehand. Laura McCullough from Alice James Books moderated. 

In a nut shell, Hoagland's essay was a provocative (as can be expected) critique of contemporary poetry's privileging of the intellect over the heart. To paraphrase, when poets are so fearful of sounding sentimental that words like soul become taboo, our community, and the art form itself, is in trouble. Hoagland believes that the problem can be traced back to the academic system, which is fundamentally part of a capitalist exchange, despite appearances to the contrary. As a counterpoint, he discussed Lewis Hyde's book The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, and talked of the potential that exists within the poetry community to move to a gift economy. The responses were just as well-considered and persuasive as the original essay... so I left with my brain buzzing and no concrete opinion formed.

• (2) Eros in the Classroom

Michele Morano and Barrie Jean Borich (other panelists didn't show), moderated by Heather McNaugher. 

Michele Morano read a narrative essay about a mutual crush between herself and a 12 year old boy at a summer camp for gifted students. Their interactions were very innocent, but the essay explored a taboo subject with unflinching honesty. If I had to extract a thesis statement from the essay, I would say that teaching and learning creative writing is a passionate pursuit, and crushes are a natural outcome. In fact, a productive intimacy between teacher and student enhances the learning experience of both parties. But a great responsibility rests on the teacher's shoulders to recognize where the line is, and make sure it is not crossed.

Barrie Jean Borich read a satirical syllabus, complete with learning objectives, readings, assignments, learning outcomes, and student evaluations. The essay explored how, when confronted with erotic queer texts, students associate the physical body of their professor with the learning they are doing about feminine, queer, tattooed and/or non-normative bodies in general. In the Q&A that followed, Borich brought attention to the feelings of violation experienced by students when they are romantically pursued by professors, and the feelings of violation that can be felt by a professor when students put them into a role they didn't ask for. 

• (3) Alison Bechdel & Jeanette Winterson: A Reading & Conversation

No Bechdel (she was snowed-in), and therefore no conversation. But Jeanette Winterson was so hilarious, and her new memoir Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? was so good that I didn't mind. In fact, I stood in line for an hour waiting to buy a copy for myself and two friends, and then get them signed, only to have the publisher sell out three people ahead of me. Oh well, I'll just have to go to England I guess!

• (4) Numbers Trouble: Editors & Writers Speak to VIDA's Count

So many intelligent things were said at this panel that I can't possibly relate them all. Many were familiar to me already, having followed VIDA's activities from their early founding days. I'll just relate a few points and anecdotes that were particularly interesting to me, the majority of which came from panelist Katha Pollitt. 

• Editors of newspapers and magazines, who commission articles and opinion pieces, relate that when they call a woman writer to ask her to write a piece she will say: "can I have a week?" or "I'm not sure I have enough expertise on that subject." A man says: "how about 600 words by 6pm tonight?" And so men turn up more in those kinds of publications because they are more reliable and convenient for the editor. Women are more cautious (and often intimidated) about entering these spheres, and they have responsibilities at home and elsewhere that they don't easily drop. 
• Women writers LOVE the subjects of sex, love, family, etc... so much so that the TV show Girls gets reviewed in disproportionate numbers because it gives women writers the opportunity to write about these things. Pollitt recommended that new women writers learn about and explore other subjects that interest them and be bold about entering spheres that aren't already crowded with other women writers. (I personally don't believe that it is possible to write too much on those subjects, but I still appreciated the career advice). 
• Many successful male writers formed "a posse" when they were first starting out, a close-knit group of friends where they supported one another's work and passed around information and opportunities. More women should do this.
• Editors who complain that more men submit to their journal than women should look in the mirror and ask themselves why this is so. Editors that have equitable numbers of women in their publication see equitable submissions in their slush. Journals that have made no efforts to reach out to women are the kind that women writers look at and think: "why throw myself against that wall?"
• That said, all women writers should submit their writing more.

• (5) Moore for Writers: Frontier, Form, & the Case of Marianne Moore

David Baker, Linda Gregerson, Stanley Plumly, Ann Townsend

This was the first "tribute" panel I've attended at AWP, and Moore is an object of great curiosity for me. The room was packed! Standing room only. The essays read offered a variety of critical responses, all revealing a great deal of thought and legitimate delight. Lots of close readings of poems, some interesting biographical details. I especially enjoyed how each panelist employed a mixture of the more familiar info/poems about/by Moore with more obscure info/poems. 

• (6) Lucie Brock-Broido & Anne Carson

I was breathless with excitement at this reading; I still am when I think about it. Two female poets that are among my top favorites and extremely influential to me, together on a stage. The poems were so, so good. And OMG Red Doc>! If I die before I have a chance to read this book I will return as an awkward red winged creature who wails sorrowfully up and down the aisles of book stores.

I also wanted to show a picture of my book fair haul... I thought I had everything gathered, but it turns out that my signed copy of Dorothea Lasky's Thunderbird and Volume 5 of Handsome Journal (that contains my poems "On Parting" and "Supine") were elsewhere during the photo shoot. Still! Pictured here is a broadside, two poetic objects, and a record. 2 chapbooks, 4 journals (2 of which are handmade), and 6 poetry books (2 of which have visual and/or collaborative elements). Not too shabby, if I do say!

Finally, a couple of the more interesting new things I heard about:

1. Small Demons: a site that collects and connects the details in books
2. SIXFOLD: a journal where the submitters will vote on which poems and stories are accepted

... and that's all for now! A post about my own panel to follow.

Beautiful Built-In Bookshelves

Like all writers, I love my books. But I strive not to get too fetishistic in my approach to having books. By this I mean that I don't think of myself as a collector and I don't own a significant amount of rare and/or pricey volumes. I buy what I think I might like to read (mostly in paperbacks), and I keep only what I think I might like to revisit in the future.

Still, in the past year (or maybe two if I'm honest) my books have overgrown the two standard-size bookshelves I was keeping them in. Then Shawn set up a tattoo trade with a client who does woodworking and cabinetry--and voila!--in my room there appeared these gorgeous floating bookshelves.

The different levels allow for a variety of organizational strategies. There's a couple empty shelves still, and therefore room to grow. I think with periodic shedding/purging this amount of space will be sufficient for me forever. Because even if we were to sell the house and move in the future, these shelves will come off the wall and go with us. All I need is a few tasteful bookends, and I will be in reader heaven.

A Reading Adventure

Reading my own poems in front of people is an activity that I consider important, poetry being an oral form and all, and also terrifying. Last night I had the opportunity to read with Steve Healey, Brad Liening, and Elisabeth Workman at Maeve's Cafe in Minneapolis as part of a team up between Maeve's Sessions and Our Flow is Hard. Good folks all around doing very inspiring things.

I was more nervous than usual because I've been... unwell lately. Since before the holidays, I've had tooth pain from a recent filling. Three weeks ago I started getting severe headaches, and three days ago they became so debilitating that over the counter pain relievers wouldn't work and I couldn't work or sleep. I wasn't sure how I could give a reading in this condition, or teach my first class on Saturday. 

I visited the dentist several times throughout the process, but he was unsure of the exact cause of the pain and remained optimistic that it could clear up on its own. Turns out it was a pretty nasty infection and I needed a root canal. This wasn't established until 1.5 hours before the reading was about to start, and so I ended up getting drilled and arriving late with partially numb lips. 

There wasn't time to psych myself up or out, I had to just plunge in. I was a bit shaky, but I persevered. The Maeve's format involves hearing each poet read briefly, an intermission, and then another brief reading from each poet. The second time around my lips were no longer numb and the pain was starting, but that made me more alert. Despite these physical challenges, I was still able to notice the excellent poems read by the other writers, and I enjoyed the experience immensely. 

I hope that my next reading will be less dramatic, but I'm very thankful to have been a part of this one. I'm also thankful to be able to look forward (once I heal) to a mouth that isn't in pain. I'm thankful to Shawn, who drove my doped-up self around yesterday without dinner, supported me and even took photos. I'm thankful to my sister, who arrived with her 4 month old baby in arms, and to my former student Jessica, who was there without my knowing. Finally, I'm thankful for percocet, which put me straight to sleep when I got home.

A Short Trip to Chicago

A change of setting is vital for winter survival, even when exchanging one ice box for another. Seriously, Shawn and I have been meaning to spend a weekend in Chicago since we first moved to MN over five years ago. But just like these ducks, we don't get around to migration very easily.

We practiced variations on awkward single standing poses in front of various landmarks.

I got to meet with Kristy Bowen and see Dancing Girl Press & Studio firsthand, which is located in one of the most beautiful historic buildings I've ever been in. There were even old-style elevators with operators! Dancing Girl will be publishing my chapbook in late March or early April. We discussed the possibility of a letterpress cover. From there I headed over to oggle the Poetry Foundation building. It was just as gorgeous as I expected. I'd love to go to a reading there one day, and spend a few hours in the library (it was closed for maintenance when we visited).

We had lots of good vegan eating, and only a minor case of food poisoning (mine, from a salad). Luckily our hotel room offered a cozy space and an incredible view while I was recuperating. Then when my stomach was right again, we had our best meal of the whole trip at The Chicago Diner.

The trip got me thinking about poetry in new ways and made me feel more inspired. I hope to return soon, during the warmer months, for an architecture tour by boat. We'll see!