The Uses of Silence

June 18, 2021

At the beginning of the year, we started a podcast called United Against Silence, which is an opportunity for to hear from (and gush over) the artists who facilitate for CBAW, and learn about their processes, rituals, and approaches to creativity. The name of the podcast came from the name we gave the collective of brilliant and accomplished artists who facilitate our workshops. In “Notes on Truth-Telling,” an essay that closes my first book, I wrote about the value of refusing silence, and how systems of abuse (even the systems of abuse we maintain inside ourselves) thrive on silence. I was thinking then of violent silences.

Don’t Listen To Me

October 22, 2020

It has been a long time dream/aspiration/goal of mine to perform at the Dodge Poetry Festival, To rub elbows with cool poets I love, to be in that catalog of (it seemed to me, all these years), who’s who. This year, I was accepted to present, and the festival launches today. I’ve recorded some parts, and will be live in some other parts over the next ten days. I am bummed to not share space with all those poets, to not rub literal elbows. But as I looked at the incredible, incredible, incredible list of poets, a knot formed in my stomach. Why was I included? I literally spent an entire hour scouring the Dodge site for information on what special program I might have been accepted under. Then I was so embarrassed by my lack of play-it-cool that I swore I’d never tell anyone. An hour later I told my whole writing group. And today I’m telling you.

Praise for Coming Together

September 12, 2020

What has been built in these six months was impossible for us to imagine then, and the magnitude of it is so difficult to articulate. Each week, unlikely groups of veterans, service members, healthcare workers, first time, and experienced writers gather on zoom from all over the world to create a sort of time-space. It is the epitome of reintegration, of overcoming isolation, of connecting across difference.

The poem I meant to write

August 29, 2020

The poem I wanted to write is crouched in the dark under the table, it crawled out of its skin and curled its fist around a pen. Yes, the poem I wanted to write wants to write a poem of its own. I moved a sofa into my study so I can lie down and cry between line breaks. And now you are worried, want to know if I’m okay. No, I am not. But neither are you.

Returning to Another Self

July 28, 2020

Last week a friend I met through teaching sent me a short essay about her time on an inpatient psychiatric ward, and I was struck by how familiar it was. And surprised by a longing so deep for entering that sacred space and sharing that muddy time with people so unabashedly human that I could…
Read more

Rage Writing with Seema Yasmin

July 22, 2020

Comment here!

The Lord is.

July 17, 2020

These times are no more or less extraordinary than others.

May 2, 2020

I have been reading Annie Dillard’s ought-to-be-a-classic book For the Time Being very slowly. It’s a book that warrants the rereading of pages. There’s this one passage I’m totally stuck on. I’ve been reading it to everyone–in workshops, over the telephone. The passage calls me again and again. Here it is: There were no formerly…
Read more

A record of these days

April 1, 2020

This is a post that’s for folks who were in the writing group this evening to post their writing to! We wrote in response to Brendan Constantine’s poem “The Needs of the Many” about these days. If you missed it, there are more! Here’s the link to the list. Oh my gosh you will love…
Read more

Diagnosing Happiness

March 30, 2020

*let’s get right into it, shall we? If you don’t yet know, CBAW’s workshops are all online for the foreseeable future, and open to everyone, regardless of military affiliation. Join us for workshops Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. So many great people are teaching for us. Here’s a link to the schedule, with dial-in info and…
Read more

Category: prompt