drawing excerpt.
- c. essington
You mentioned Richard Siken in an earlier ask - how do you find new contemporary poets to read?
Largely by asking other readers and or writers who they like. Also by engaging with people who are also emerging writers. Artists supporting artists is great and super underrated.
Please feel free to send in any more college/ kenyon/ writing/ publishing questions! I have a lot of time today.
What are some of your favorite things about Kenyon?
- Class sizes: the largest class I’ve been in, as a freshman, was about 25 students. This is seriously such a big deal for me, it makes the class relations much easier and peer conversation much more possible. The professors know your name, recognize your participation, and are much more likely to empathize if you have a sick day/ need to take a mental health day.
- The people: Everyone is interesting in one way or another. I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people and gotten to know several of them in a fairly significant way. It’s a small school so running in to people you know is not hard to do. This is a bit of a personal preference, but I’d rather really know five people than know the names of fifty.
- Professors: So far I’ve had no TAs teaching courses and all my professors have held office hours that are accessible to me and or have been willing to schedule time outside of them to meet. The professors I’ve had are invested and interesting and encourage students to come to their hours just to discuss the subject they’re teaching. I had a friend go in to speak to a professor about multiple-worlds theory in literature just for kicks and he responded by giving her more resources and ideas.
I hope that helps! All of this is of course purely based on my experiences so far and certainly does not reflect everyone’s opinion of the institution. But I love it!
Please feel free to send in any more college/ kenyon/ writing/ publishing questions! I have a lot of time today.
I’m teaching this workshop with another published and accomplished author! We aim to teach what high school and most college students do not learn about writing and publishing their own work.
We’re excited to announce that Siblíní is hosting a Summer Writing Workshop in Grand Rapids, Michigan over the month of July!
We’re currently accepting applications from high school and college-age students who are interested in learning more about creative writing and publication opportunities. For more information and to apply, please visit our website.
http://www.siblinijournal.com/#!writing-workshop/o95nw
If able, any reblogging of this opportunity would be immensely appreciated!
today the air is dim, oyster-shell dim cut through with sheens of rain, coming from far off, nearly off-screen, with cold signed at the bottom of every cloud-bank.
the sky is longer than the word it takes up or the words it takes down when snow happens in front of the billboards, the ads, going white.
- C. Essington
but what if it were
nice/ honeyed/ came with its own heart/ already done up in light blue muslin and set to music, wait, the right music.
and what if it
didn’t hurt (too much)/ came soft in places like the sky comes whole/ and looked like cream and felt like it too and worked like it too.
and what if
a pulse doesn’t have to feel like a punchline that keeps getting told without a joke to explain it/ (get it, get it, get it)/ and a life doesn’t have to feel like a pressure/ and your head doesn’t always have to be the thing that starts you and ends you and is you.
- c. essington
she’s small and made of sodium
(just lil new art o mine)
in a bite of lamplight, he stands up to say I love you. he says it slow so he can feel it in his mouth, rolling like a marble with no glass to put its body in. no one is there to take it, but it is still true. It is snow falling, looking for concrete.
- c. essington
A poem I recently had published by Zetetic Record.
but what if it were
nice/ honeyed/ came with its own heart/ already done up in light blue muslin and set to music, wait, the right music.
and what if it
didn’t hurt (too much)/ came soft in places like the sky comes whole/ and looked like cream and felt like it too and worked like it too.
and what if
a pulse doesn’t have to feel like a punchline that keeps getting told without a joke to explain it/ (get it, get it, get it)/ and a life doesn’t have to feel like a pressure/ and your head doesn’t always have to be the thing that starts you and ends you and is you.
- c. essington
Queer Writer, Repd by Janklow & Nesbit, 2020 Center for Fiction Fellow, Brooklyn
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