Genre: Poetry
Neither Questions nor Answers
“Where is the homeland / to lay a cradle for the dead / Where is the other shore / for poetry to step across the end point / Where is the peace / that lets the days distribute blue sky...” In Sidetracks, forthcoming in May from New Directions, the Chinese poet Bei Dao begins his book-length poem with a list of twenty-five enigmatic questions that dance around mythological, philosophical, and existential subjects. In Jeffrey Yang’s translation, the speaker’s questions lack the end punctuation of the original text, with question marks omitted. Through these unanswered questions, the poet conjures loss and nostalgia. Loosely following this structure, write a prologue to a poem that poses a series of questions gesturing toward your most pressing uncertainties. While Bei Dao’s lines are mysterious and mystical, allow your poem the tone and allusions that feel instinctive to you.
Ten Questions for Callie Siskel
“I think the arc of writing a poem is similar to the experience of ascending and descending physical terrain.” —Callie Siskel, author of Two Minds
Poetry in Place
Alma College
Vermont Studio Center
The Vermont Studio Center (VSC) offers two-, three-, and four-week residencies year-round to poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators in Johnson, Vermont, a village in the northern Green Mountains. VSC provides time and space to write, as well as readings, craft talks, and one-on-one consultations with invited visiting writers. Residents are provided with a private room, a private or shared bathroom, and access to a shared kitchen and communal spaces.
Vermont Studio Center, 80 Pearl Street, P.O. Box 613, Johnson, VT 05656. (802) 635-2727.
MASS MoCA Writing Through Art Poetry Retreat
MASS MoCA Writing Through Art offers a fall retreat for poets from October 31 to November 6 in North Adams, Massachusetts. The retreat includes morning generative workshops with prompts, exercises, discussions, and readings; afternoon visits to art galleries, studios, and the Berkshires; and a one-on-one manuscript consultation with poet, editor, and retreat director Jan Freeman. Residents have access to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Clark Art Institute, and the Williams College Museum of Art.
MASS MoCA Writing Through Art Poetry Retreat, c/o Jan Freeman, 1117 West Road, Ashfield, MA 01330. Jan Freeman, Retreat Director.
Ragdale
The Ragdale Foundation offers residencies of 18 days year-round to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers on 38 acres of prairie in Lake Forest, Illinois, 30 miles north of Chicago. Residents are provided with a private room and bathroom, a shared kitchen, and meals. The cost of the residency ranges from $630 to $4,500 on an income-based sliding scale. A limited number of fully funded fellowships with stipends of $1,000 or more are available.
Ragdale, 1260 North Green Bay Road, Lake Forest, IL 60045. (847) 234-1063, ext. 23. Deanna Miera, Residency Manager.