One of my favorite lines on craft comes from Rebecca Solnit: “Any subject is a good enough starting point to travel any distance, toward any destination.” Actually, she was speaking about Thoreau’s practice of giving his politics and his leisure time equal narrative weight, of balancing berry picking with jail time, but the metaphor lends […]
Guest Blogger Erica Watson: Travel, Memory, and Craft Notes: for Eva Read More »
Dear Reader, I met Ron Carlson at last summer’s UAA MFA Residency. Which seems a funny thing to say, since there have to be plenty of Ron Carlsons in the United States. But I met THE Ron Carlson, the writer guy. And not only did I meet him; I got to sit down and have
Guest Blogger Matt Komatsu: “Congratulations” Read More »
A poem’s form consists of the structural “rules” concerning elements like meter, rhyme, alliteration, or repetition. Each poetic form is like a different shaped vase into which water (language) can be poured. Each form has its own particular way of shaping meaning and progressing through a thought. Each has a unique system of organization and
Guest Blogger Alyse Knorr: Six Poetic Forms at a Party Read More »
Dear Reader, It went well, to answer your question regarding Danger Close Alaska. Really well. So well that the participants didn’t have time to finish the enormous pile of junk food I fretted over at Costco last week, thinking it would never be enough. But maybe this isn’t the best metric. It’s easy enough to
Guest Blogger Matt Komatsu: The Rearview Read More »
What do The Ramones, visual arts portraiture, and the elusive creative genius all have in common? Flash fiction, of course, though I should probably confess that, as a bona fide obsessive when it comes to the flash genre, it’s my personal opinion that all roads lead back to this jaw-dropping, fun, short-form style of writing.
Guest Blogger Katey Schultz In Favor of Flashing (fiction, y’all) Read More »
Dear Reader, With no small sense of relief, I’m proud to say that this week, Danger Close: Alaska kicks off. What began as a dream during my first residency at UAA’s MFA program is now staring me in the face, exhaling steam into the Alaska winter, and pawing the ground impatiently, full of life. It’s
Guest Blogger Matt Komatsu: The Grind Read More »
Photo courtesy of Igor B. Runov View of Moscow street taken in January 2016 where Anna Akhmatova admirers have spray-painted her image and fragments from some of her earliest poems across a wall. Translation of above poem: “I was brazen, angry and funny I didn’t know at all this was — happiness.” —from By the
During the 49 Writers recent Anchorage Resolve to Write event, I enjoyed hearing about everybody’s plans for the upcoming year. I was also interested to hear how much writing everybody accomplished in 2015. Truly inspiring! The event is helping me dive into 2016, a year in which I hope to finish a book of short
Guest Blogger Martha Amore Ponders What Women Want Read More »
Now I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds, said Krishna to both Arjuna on the battlefield and Robert Oppenheimer of the Manhattan Project. These words, for not entirely obvious reasons, rattled around my head yesterday as I wandered the trails behind the University of Alaska, Fairbanks with a long stick. My purpose, among other
Guest Blogger Kris Farmen: Alma Mater Read More »
“He loved Big Brother.” “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” “How can we know the dancer from the dance?” “Beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” “Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I
