Jennifer Acker's Blog, page 103
March 4, 2020
Ticks in the Hedgerows
AMANDA M. FAIRBANKS
Last May, having exhausted all possible local options, my husband and I got into our car and drove one hundred miles west. We left home early that morning in search of two specific things: better medical care and a definitive diagnosis.
Last May, having exhausted all possible local options, my husband and I got into our car and drove one hundred miles west. We left home early that morning in search of two specific things: better medical care and a definitive diagnosis.
March 3, 2020
Virtual Office Hour for Teachers
Unfortunately, we at The Common had to cancel our trip to San Antonio, but I hope you'll join me and Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Acker via video conference to chat about The Common's classroom program and our supportive resources for teachers and students.
March 2, 2020
Where to find The Common at AWP 2020
It's time for AWP 2020! We love attending The Association for Writers and Writing Programs Conference, mainly because it gives us a chance to meet so many of you. If you're in the San Antonio area, or are attending AWP, we hope you'll stop by and say hello. You'll have a few chances to catch us there:
February 28, 2020
February 2020 Poetry Feature: Victoria Kelly
VICTORIA KELLY
This is not a corsage or dinner party /
kind of love; this is a hard love, /
a mining rubies in Greenland kind /
of love, out of rocks /
uncovered by melting ice, the terrain sparse
// and unexplored; there are no galas, no gazebos /
here, no indolent lovers on sofas...
This is not a corsage or dinner party /
kind of love; this is a hard love, /
a mining rubies in Greenland kind /
of love, out of rocks /
uncovered by melting ice, the terrain sparse
// and unexplored; there are no galas, no gazebos /
here, no indolent lovers on sofas...
February 2020 Poetry Feature
VICTORIA KELLY
Here we are again / In our clown faces, wearing our grotesque / smiles, lounging on bar stools / with a clique of pilots and their wives.
Here we are again / In our clown faces, wearing our grotesque / smiles, lounging on bar stools / with a clique of pilots and their wives.
February 27, 2020
Excerpt from BATTLE DRESS
KAREN SKOLFIELD
Perhaps with a desk between, / some chaste space, the recruiter leaning / forward, warm bodies on the other side. / Of the teenagers present / one will lie about her age, / one will eat bananas to make weight...
Perhaps with a desk between, / some chaste space, the recruiter leaning / forward, warm bodies on the other side. / Of the teenagers present / one will lie about her age, / one will eat bananas to make weight...
February 26, 2020
Public Survey
NILUFAR KARIMI
all begins slowly like anything else. night. two birds walk together through a cobblestone alley. / the rooster first, then the hen. if I were to invert this order, begin again. there is a pile of bags / a pile of white cloth sacks. the objects transform themselves as I write. two bicycle / tires over the sacks to restrain them. a waiting for the image to come from darkness.
all begins slowly like anything else. night. two birds walk together through a cobblestone alley. / the rooster first, then the hen. if I were to invert this order, begin again. there is a pile of bags / a pile of white cloth sacks. the objects transform themselves as I write. two bicycle / tires over the sacks to restrain them. a waiting for the image to come from darkness.
February 25, 2020
Nora
LAILA LALAMI
My father was killed on a spring night four years ago, while I sat in the corner booth of a new bistro in Oakland. Whenever I think about that moment, these two contradictory images come to me: my father struggling for breath on the cracked asphalt, and me drinking champagne with my roommate, Margo.
My father was killed on a spring night four years ago, while I sat in the corner booth of a new bistro in Oakland. Whenever I think about that moment, these two contradictory images come to me: my father struggling for breath on the cracked asphalt, and me drinking champagne with my roommate, Margo.
February 24, 2020
Excerpt from Trust Exercise
SUSAN CHOI
It’s been obvious from the beginning who are Broadway Babies and who aren’t. Those who truly can sing, who can give them the old razzle-dazzle, who live for that one singular sensation, have for the most part drawn attention to themselves from the first day of school.
It’s been obvious from the beginning who are Broadway Babies and who aren’t. Those who truly can sing, who can give them the old razzle-dazzle, who live for that one singular sensation, have for the most part drawn attention to themselves from the first day of school.
February 20, 2020
Poetry-Making as Empathy Play: An Interview with Oliver de la Paz
OLIVER DE LA PAZ
I had just come to terms with the realization that I had been writing about my neurodiverse kids, but through the mask of the Theseus and the Minotaur allusion. That’s when I started messing about with other shapes and structures, like mathematical equations and multiple choice questions.
I had just come to terms with the realization that I had been writing about my neurodiverse kids, but through the mask of the Theseus and the Minotaur allusion. That’s when I started messing about with other shapes and structures, like mathematical equations and multiple choice questions.
