This entry is part of Getaway Reads, a weekly e-mail series curated by Stephanie Cawley that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty. Notes on Eavesdropping by Nancy Falkow I’m not nosey. (Okay, well maybe a little.) I’m just always collecting inspiration. Eavesdropping is when I write down phrases or snippets I hear when I’m out and about, or when I'm listening to podcasts, or watching movies or TV. Sometimes I pop these snippets into my songwriting journal or I keep a running list in my phone. While listening to a podcast ... Read More...
Getaway Reads: Two Poems by Dorianne Laux
This entry is part of Getaway Reads, a weekly e-mail series curated by Stephanie Cawley that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty. Facts About the Moon by Dorianne Laux The moon is backing away from us an inch and a half each year. That means if you’re like me and were born around fifty years ago the moon was a full six feet closer to the earth. What’s a person supposed to do? I feel the gray cloud of consternation travel across my face. I begin thinking about the moon-lit past, how if you go ... Read More...
Getaway Reads: “Writing with Carly” by Mimi Schwartz
This entry is part of Getaway Reads, a weekly e-mail series curated by Stephanie Cawley that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty. Writing with Carly by Mimi Schwartz This poem is on my refrigerator door: I love you, to the moon and stars and all the Way up to the planet mars. So one day if I fly up there You’ll know I love you anywhere. It has a smiley face above it and “I love you!” in a heart below it—and was written by my granddaughter Carly in the days when she felt like a writer. The feeling began ... Read More...
Getaway Reads: Two Poems by BJ Ward
This entry is part of Getaway Reads, a weekly e-mail series curated by Stephanie Cawley that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty. The Photographer's Divorce by BJ Ward She walks out the door for the final time and her absence is already moving in, clutching its baggage, looking for whiskey in his cupboard, negatives in his camera. Her absence sets the table for one where it and the man will dine alone together for many nights. As they eat each night in the stark light of a single candle (how ... Read More...
Getaway Reads: “Face to Face” by Anndee Hochman
This entry is part of Getaway Reads, a weekly e-mail series curated by Stephanie Cawley that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty. Face to Face: Loss and Homecoming at the 25th Reunion by Anndee Hochman I didn't expect to cry after just two hours on the Old Campus. Then again, I had few expectations for my 25th college reunion. For the previous four months, thoughts of returning to New Haven had been eclipsed by a more urgent matter: the rapidly declining health of my 77-year-old ... Read More...
Getaway Reads: Two Poems by Stephen Dunn
This entry is part of Getaway Reads, a weekly e-mail series curated by Stephanie Cawley that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty. The Imagined by Stephen Dunn If the imagined woman makes the real woman seem bare-boned, hardly existent, lacking in gracefulness and intellect and pulchritude, and if you come to realize the imagined woman can only satisfy your imagination, whereas the real woman with all her limitations can often make you feel good, how, in spite of knowing this, does the imagined ... Read More...
Getaway Reads: “The Book of Roger” by Richard K. Weems
This entry is part of Getaway Reads, a weekly e-mail series curated by Stephanie Cawley that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty. The Book of Roger by Richard K. Weems Of course, near this tale’s end, the Book of Roger—that narrative of third person limited omniscience—is suffering an unexpected twist, isn’t it, Roger? Thus far, the tale of hardworking, bring-home-the-bacon Roger and his darling, quiet Rhonda, who experienced loss and more than their fair share of turbulent times in their ... Read More...
Getaway Reads: “The Ripple in Your Day” & Prose by Douglas Goetsch
The Ripple in Your Day by Douglas Goetsch I’d like to pull back the hair from your face and ask how you get through the ripple in your day, the one that comes unannounced like a feral animal sitting on the lawn facing your windows—you’d think you’d be used to it by now. It stays maybe a minute, maybe an hour, and doesn’t go away until it does. Do you settle into your favorite chair with the universal remote, spend an hour in the shower, bury your head in crosswords, sleep in your clothes? Do you buy crap on eBay, Google people from your old ... Read More...
Getaway Reads: Bulldog by Paul Lisicky
Bulldog By Paul Lisicky The bulldog kept the woman alive, but the woman didn’t know that. She had other problems on her mind, such as where did she put her keys, and what was her car doing in Florida when she’d parked it in Tennessee? The bulldog got very still when the woman started shoving her fingers into bowls. He figured he could make the earth spin a little slower if he were sitting on its axis, so he’d quiet his panting. He’d look straight ahead, neither left nor right. The woman would trip on him, wince at him for being in her way, then lean down ... Read More...
A hurricane-inspired writing prompt
"...Love, if you love me, lie next to me. Be for me, like rain..." From “The Rain” by Robert Creeley Writing Prompt Drive a storm into a poem that explores a devastating romantic relationship, current or past. Requirements Begin with a line or two of pure description of Hurricane Sandy or its aftermath. Argue for or against one of Dr. Phil’s "Ten Relationship Myths." Tell a secret, tell a lie and never tell anyone which is which. Surprise yourself! Fiction Alternative Write a dialogue-driven story about a chance encounter between two ... Read More...