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In this 2023 Segue Reading Series event hosted by Artists Space, Jackie Wang reads from her book Alien Daughters Walk Into the Sun: An Almanac of Extreme Girlhood (Semiotext(e), 2023) and Eileen Myles reads from their latest poetry collection, a “Working Life” (Grove Press, 2023).
“If the only thing we can give to each other is ourselves, we better do it. Now.” In this inaugural Speak Now series event hosted by Columbia University School of the Arts, Claudia Rankine reads from her work-in-progress “Triage” and discusses political censorship in higher education and the importance of literature in crises in a conversation with Sarah Cole.
The French expression, à la rentrée, literally means “at the return” and can be translated as “see you in the fall” to refer to the time of year when students return back to school after the summer break and vacationers return to the city and to work after out-of-town trips—a time to start anew feeling reenergized with a refreshed and rested perspective on everyday routines. Think about the projects, personal goals, or relationships that you’d like to approach with a fresh start this autumn season. To celebrate la rentrée, write a poem that revolves around a familiar relationship, duty, or obligation. How might it be approached from a different angle or seen in a new light?
Can what was once lost still be found? The Search for Lost Birds, a global partnership between the American Bird Conservancy, Re:wild, and BirdLife International, was founded in 2021 to shed a light on species of birds that are deemed “lost,” meaning that there has been no documented evidence of them in over a decade, but that they may still exist. Researchers from the organization recently published a paper in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment citing over one hundred “lost” bird species with the majority in danger of extinction. Jot down a list of items that have been lost to you over the years, perhaps including both physical objects and intangible things, and compose a poem that incorporates your list. How might you play with the order of items, punctuation, line breaks, sound, and rhythm to express the experience of loss?
In the 1960s, a string of songs about crying hit the air waves, from Roy Orbison’s “Crying,” to “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by The Four Seasons, to Lesley Gore’s song that begins with, “It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to.” Crying has carried on as a theme in popular songs throughout the decades with Prince’s 1984 ballad “When Doves Cry,” Aerosmith’s 1993 hit “Cryin’” and The Weeknd’s 2020 song “Save Your Tears.” This week, take a cue from tunes about shedding tears and write a poem that incorporates crying in some way, whether about sorrow or joy, letting the waterworks flow or attempting to hold them back. Consider using unique diction or imagery to put a fresh spin on conventional tropes. What can you say about crying that hasn’t been said before?
“I’d love to be the kind of writer who sits down at my desk at a specific and predictable time...and write, but I’ve never been that writer. —torrin a greathouse, author of DEED.
In this short reading hosted by the University of Illinois Chicago’s SparkTalks series, Daniel Borzutzky reads “Apparatus #519” from his poetry collection The Murmuring Grief of the Americas (Coffee House Press, 2024), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
In this video from U.K. publisher Carcanet Press, Carl Phillips talks about the themes of memory and reflection within his seventeenth poetry collection, Scattered Snows, to the North (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Prospect Street Writers House offers one- and two-week residencies in January and from May through November to poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators at the Prospect Street residency in the village of North Bennington, Vermont. Residents are provided with lodging in dorm-style bedrooms with a private bathroom and an en suite kitchenette and sitting room, as well as access to shared common spaces, including a kitchen, dining room, great room, library, office, porch, and a half-acre garden with a terrace.
Prospect Street Writers House, 20 Prospect Street, North Bennington, VT 05257. (802) 730-4125. Gary Clark, Managing Director.
The Edith Wharton–Straw Dog Writers Guild Writers-in-Residence Program offers one-week residencies during the month of March to nine emerging poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers at the Mount, Edith Wharton’s former home in Lenox, Massachusetts. Residents will be provided a $500 stipend; dedicated private work spaces at the Mount, a 1902 Georgian revival mansion; and lodging at a nearby hotel with private bedrooms and bathrooms.
Edith Wharton–Straw Dog Writers Guild Writers-in-Residence Program, The Mount, P.O. Box 974, Lenox, MA 01240.
