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Registration for the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway
January 16-19, 2026
|
Seaview Hotel, Atlantic City area
Winter Getaway » Blog » Getaway Reads » Getaway Reads 2017: Two Poems by Renée Ashley

Getaway Reads 2017: Two Poems by Renée Ashley

December 16, 2016 BY Murphy Writing Intern

Murphy Writing of Stockton University Presents
Getaway Reads
This entry is part of Getaway Reads, an e-mail series curated by Kendal Lambert that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty.

 

Salt to Make a SeaRenee Ashley headshot

by Renée Ashley

I cannot hold such emptiness
—the only meaning, the meaning

 

we make & the way time tugs
the body down, the body named

 

bone, named brain, the color
of dust & tremor, the soft meat

 

& the bag it lives in. We beg
from the body; it shivers &

 

spits—we settle for desire, in-
commensurate sorrow, for a life

 

like too much water, shallow & wide,
for enough salt to make a little sea.

 

 

The Festival of Almost Getting There

by Renée Ashley

At the festival of almost getting there
Zeno pokes his head out halfway, asks

 

directions, half-heartedly, to the train,
admits he’s been riding on the tortoise,

 

been running after arrows to watch them
stand still. He understands course, path,

 

way, even relative position (dichotomize,
divide) but motion’s still a figment:

 

distance halved and halved (split infinity,
twin trajectory) the long, long way, and all

 

that longing (two-fold, doubled) (moments,
instants, continuous or discrete) for some

 

unfamiliar end—such unforgiving progress,
portioned, yes, bisected. A half-assed effort?

 

No, he’s as good as got it. So much struggle
and amends. Sure, we’re goddamned tired of

 

this much waiting, but look! He’s halfway there.

 

© Renée Ashley. From The View from the Body (Black Lawrence Press, 2016).

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The Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway and Murphy Writing are programs of Stockton University.

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Want to study with Renée Ashley?  Renée will lead the poetry portion of the Creative Writing Sampler and an Algonquin-Style Poetry Workshop at the 2017 Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway.

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Renée Ashley is the author of six collections of poetry: Salt (Brittingham Prize in Poetry, University of Wisconsin Press), The Various Reasons of Light, The Revisionist’s Dream, Basic Heart (X.J. Kennedy Prize in Poetry, Texas Review Press), Because I Am the Shore I Want to Be the Sea (Subito Book Prize) and The View from the Body. She has also published two chapbooks, The Museum of Lost Wings (Hill-Stead Poetry Prize) and The Verbs of Desiring (New American Press Chapbook Award) and a novel, Someplace Like This. She teaches in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University and does freelance editing; she’s received fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her website is reneeashleyatwork.com.

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Filed Under: Getaway Reads Tagged: Ashley, faculty, poems, poetry, Renée, Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway, writers, writers' conferences

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Advance your craft and energize your writing with our challenging and supportive workshops. Write with us and take advantage of inspiring craft discussions, dedicated writing time, insightful feedback and an encouraging community. Learn more about Murphy Writing of Stockton University.

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The Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway is a program of Murphy Writing of Stockton University.

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