Entering the Picture: Myra Albert Wiggins and Me

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Finally. My article in the Oregon Quarterly is here! I love that these are the best produced images of Wiggins' photographs that I have ever seen. Guy Maynard, Editor-in-Chief of Oregon Quarterly and the author of the novel, The Risk of Being Ridiculous, was a complete joy to work with. The article tries to examine the nature of art and poetry - which is no small task. In addition, Guy asked me to look at three of my own poems and offer insight into the process of writing ekphrastic poems. This was a challenge for me. And I like challenges.

Writing prose is so different than writing poetry. Instead of soaring through sound and disjuncture, I'm stumbling around lost, looking for a narrative line.  Instead of singing in a new key, I'm slipping into quick sand. Yes, this is an exaggeration. The more I write, the more I see that these dichotomies only really exist in my head. My newest example of poet disguised as a fiction writer is Nicole Krauss author of History of Love and The Great House. More on this later.

For now, I hope you'll take a look at Entering the Picture and tell me what you think. I would like that.