In the book I’m writing, a desperate child imagines himself far above the planet, far from the endlessly breaking bad news. He isn’t wired for the constant barrage of awfulness. None of us are. This is why I love and admire people like thirty-three-year-old Chris Smalls, who, independent from any giant outside organization, unionized the … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Robert Frost
Click here for details on my one-day spring workshops, including The Intuitive Leap on April 7 and Freedom of Form on April 8. The animal world I can understand: kill or be killed, kill or watch your children be killed. But so many of the things humans kill about are invisible and imaginary, like the boundaries between nations, … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Ursula K. Le Guin
For details on my one-day workshops, including Memoir in Moments on March 30 and The Art of Writing Picture Books on April 3, please click here. When he was eight, my son –known in the family for his rare, uncanny pronouncements–looked at me one day and said, “Mom, what if we’re all just people in a book, and someone somewhere … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Tadeusz Dabrowski
To sign up for one of my spring writing workshops, including our Tuesday evening five-week session that begins March 22, please click here. Moments: the tray of baked chicken and peas and applesauce that quiet night in the hospital. The first grade teacher who kept me in from recess but refused to tell me what I … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Claribel Alegria
I’d love to see you in one of my spring workshops! Details here. Observation: anyone who thinks it’s an insult to describe someone as a “former comedian” has clearly never stood alone in front of a crowd of people with the intention of making them laugh. Doing so takes crazy courage, along with smarts, empathy, … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Muriel Rukeyser
Check out our slew of spring workshops beginning next month, including our five-week Building a Story workshop. Me to a friend who claims spell check is the only reason he can spell anything: So before spell check what did you do? Friend: I would say the word out loud and then look through the dictionary trying … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Molly Brodak
Oh, this poem. When I first read it my long-ago friend Marty shimmered up in my mind, small thin Marty who came to the creative writing classes I taught at the Minnesota AIDS project when I first moved to Minneapolis. I used to bake muffins to pass around and Marty loved them, blueberry especially. Once, … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by CAConrad
Once, at a book conference overseas, the women at my table told me they felt sorry for American women like me, that I not only had to work so hard at my writing career but also at home, cleaning and cooking and doing laundry and taking care of my children, while they had cooks and … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Lucille Clifton
Ever tried to imitate someone else’s handwriting? It’s hard and fascinating and full of speculation. What’s up with this big poofy T? Is this long straight line at the end supposed to stand in for the last five letters of their surname? Trying to form letters the way someone else does makes me think how … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by C.L. O’Dell
Flags in general make me uneasy, especially now. Tromping around the streets of this little town, I see regular American flags, thin blue line flags, Q flags, skull flags, and other flags I can’t identify and don’t want to. If I had to fly a flag I think I’d fly a potsticker flag. Hard to … Continue reading Poem of the Week, by Garous Abdolmalekian
Goodies from my mailbox and camera
Telling all sides of the parenting story
Waking Up to Your Dreams
On James Baldwin and Diverse Literature
Putting those recalcitrant toddler cancer cells to bed...
your own PDK for writing
a collection of beautiful words.....
Objects, Memory and Meaning
If it can't be said in a hundred words, then it can't be said in a thousand.
sewing a handmade wardrobe
"drink from the well of your self and begin again" ~charles bukowski
Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.
Thoughts on the world around me
Alison McGhee 