tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30657642024-03-14T13:19:32.032-05:00letter from memphisnotes, rambles, and rhymesthe admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.comBlogger1860125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-49817543007227611872023-07-16T19:27:00.029-05:002023-07-29T18:00:40.554-05:00i just need to knowwhat is alive and what is allowedwhat is alive and is it allowedwhat is alive and what if it's loud///////////////scooped out chest empty hearthow mad mean I am at the people on the streetevery car an infinite fuckup I hate you I can't stand people "like you"where does it stem"I just wish I wasn't allowed to live"I can't believe I said something like this out loud ?ppl are already working on thisthe admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-15799075255842792792023-05-31T00:11:00.001-05:002023-07-29T16:39:58.350-05:00distinction impossible everything builds the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-20937117014220901812022-03-18T19:21:00.002-05:002022-03-18T19:21:11.929-05:00tubular tuber, somehow soupAlanna Artstew, fairy spud, whisks up words and serves them candied–a butterscotch forgotten under the table, bedazzled with dirt. Sticky treasure gravitates towards them, accumulates in speckled circles, pile files. Alanna's cast-offs congregation woos few, but those it enchants grow viscous, melting into each other + new versions of themselves; by embracing briars, they make room for the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-1444205796058090442022-03-12T22:20:00.006-06:002022-03-17T16:50:36.596-05:00spring beauty swoon songMarch was starting to spring, the backyard was green and that was fine. Mama pointed at blobs in trees, that’s the downy woodpecker, that’s that old cardinal again would he just quit it, that’s that’s i’ll have to check my app. All their songs come down to “hey baby” in the end the birds radio mtv2 all align in constant cat call “do you want me or not?” i’ll tell you now i can’t tell the the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-69993305672175155642022-03-09T15:15:00.002-06:002022-03-12T22:29:39.600-06:00patchworkI've noticed I write about myself A LOT. I'd like to move beyond that, but maybe I need to purge some of these old stories before I can move forward...? I'm not sure how to deal with that. But my own experiences have been my main subject over these last 9 weeks. Some themes I'm finding:-- family (both biological and chosen), acceptance, connections and broken connections--mental health, queer/the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-42218522776416806582022-03-08T14:41:00.007-06:002022-03-08T16:19:06.058-06:00writing class wrap up hey future self! you are about to post all your prompts from this creative nonfiction class so far because guess what it's kind of what today's exercise is about! called look at everything we wrote and try to connect the dots. images, themes, etc. so WHAT BETTER TIME to carefully arrange these bread crumbs?! little lost loon. also i am telling you right now that you are NOT gonna be the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-38724508042994365512022-03-08T14:15:00.008-06:002022-03-08T16:20:29.778-06:00a sterilized send offWEEK NINE - When Is It Finished? In conjunction with "No Such Thing as a True Story", please write a scene from the point of view of someone with whom you've recently argued/disagreed. What does the 'truth' look like from his/her vantage point?All the groups warned her this would happen. "Sadly, this catches up with all us sufferers of environmental illness. First the establishment doctors, then the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-84561082842048173962022-03-02T14:42:00.014-06:002022-03-08T16:17:42.396-06:00not quite quotesWhat is your favorite quote about writing or writers? Explain...I reach, but recall fails me. A cavern holds the memory of treasure, as each tide swishes in and steals whatever's sat there. Not a damn thing stays where I put it, and that's a promise. Say, “a scroll in the morning is death to a writer,” which I saw, would you believe it, on social media, and though I’ve mangled the original words,the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-15947624155642640812022-03-01T14:44:00.005-06:002022-03-12T22:33:36.961-06:00digging or the hole story[[Write a Q & A between you and your inner voice.]]QWhat are you doing down there?AHuh? Oh I’m digging a hole. Don’t fall in.QI don’t intend to. But why?ABecause I don’t want you to get hurt!QThanks, but why the hole?AWell that’s a secret. Pah! I can’t believe you’d ask such a dingus question.ALL titter.AI’ll just say, I hope everyone will fit. QIn the hole?ALLIt’s a secret secret!&the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-92055453325712981332022-02-28T18:49:00.004-06:002022-03-08T16:21:51.046-06:00cut sceneFor today's prompt, try writing something that elevates the absurd to the obscenely absurd (remember the infant on the chopping block from the lecture). “So she's on the rope ladder, being lifted up into the spaceship by her crew, and remember this comes after she leaves the sinking clinic in the swamp and she’s walking around planet Chattanooga noticing all the little fuckin weird aliens and the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-85518018476442342832022-02-27T14:52:00.003-06:002022-03-08T14:56:10.903-06:00new edits of these old awful things [[here are two pieces i wrote several years ago, condensed from their original length. i thought i might be able to combine them somehow but i haven't been able to work that out. maybe connect them with some statistics or more of a big-picture view somehow? any insight about that would be great. and even though this writing is old, it still feels vulnerable and i've had to the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-47401377430664818112022-02-25T14:58:00.007-06:002022-03-08T16:22:36.584-06:00week 7 friday promptToday's prompt is adapted from a book called Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer. This collection of 'tips' from assorted authors includes a chapter on revision, and though we're focusing on micro editing this week, I think John Smolens' contribution "On the Wheel: Revising the Personal Essay" fits our needs nicely.Using the first draft of an essay (or a previous responsethe admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-46994845254908712992022-02-24T15:00:00.000-06:002022-03-08T15:05:07.948-06:00hungry scene draft 2[[Experiment with punctuation today. Not usually a fan of commas, semicolons, colons, or dashes? Find a way to make them an interesting/artistic part of a new or old piece. Comma crazy and dash happy? Find a way to remove them from your work by shortening sentence lengths or using a different tone or point of view. Let us see two versions, (one with punc. and one without or vice versa).]]No one the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-50415207140430709002022-02-23T15:05:00.001-06:002022-03-08T15:08:00.628-06:00bit from "witness" draft 2[[Revisit a paragraph or two from a piece you are feeling good about. Search for your verbs. How many of them are state of being vs. active? Swap out as many is am are was were words with mood setting active verbs as possible. Then, go back and look at your nouns. Are there any you could make more concrete and less abstract? Lastly, search out all adjectives and adverbs. If you remove them, does the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-81494153308294740282022-02-22T15:08:00.001-06:002022-03-08T15:10:02.539-06:00performance review[[Yesterday we attempted the six-word memoir. Today we take on the six sentence paragraph. Here's the catch: you must not repeat any words in all of these six sentences--not even a, and, or the.I have found that this exercise is easier when approaching it as a painter might. Find a subject to study and draw inspiration from it (a bowl of fruit, a melting mountain of snow, a nude model, etc. :).]]the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-75758480415385495912022-02-21T18:11:00.005-06:002022-03-08T15:25:55.619-06:006 word memoir(s)pale blistered changeling, birthmarks still itch. come out bloom whisper worlds awake.UNCENSORED OUTTAKES, WHICH I DID NOT POST IN CLASS BUT HERE YOU GO.born blistered, brown birthmarks still itch. mama said i was a changeling.come quick, you gotta see this. wake up, ghost, burn this ship. fight for the labels you deserve.hush puppy, dirt dobber, bloom sideways. the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-12841024918572031812022-02-19T18:26:00.001-06:002022-03-08T15:28:41.734-06:00Temporary Resistance to Abnormal State [[Okay I dug up this old thing from May 2020, about 8 weeks into COVID lockdown. It is a ramble that I lost the reigns on and never finished but I thought it might be informative to get feedback on a piece that is 1) an extremely rough draft and 2) a different style from my other submissions. I never really figured out who the audience was supposed to be, so sometimes I use gamer speak and the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-62607123426058289192022-02-16T15:30:00.001-06:002022-03-08T15:35:52.096-06:00the walls stay wet.Write a piece that includes repetition in a meaningful way.[[cheated on this one and used something i'd already written. not sure that i even edited it.]]my honey bought a dehumidifier just for this dilemma, but the damp still clings to everything. you'd think this would be mostly a summer problem for memphis, what with the humidity and all, the heat a huge hug, all things sweating and stinking, the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-20688766254328287022022-02-15T15:39:00.001-06:002022-03-08T15:42:14.738-06:00witnessDefine Love. If love were an essay, how would you classify its structure? What do its beginning and ending have in common? What are its classifiable parts?[[i guess i kind of ignored this prompt actually.]]In the glass chapel in the autumn Ozarks, with the trees encircling our strangerness into family, you declared your love by sharing its hard birth, in the form of years-old journal entries–you the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-3463758493795830102022-02-14T15:37:00.001-06:002022-03-08T15:39:35.591-06:00first-aid trainingMACRO-EDITING We are storytelling animals. We relive our days around the dinner table through story. We set the stage; we build suspense; we instinctively know when to shift gears; we pack in the sensory details; we build toward the inevitable conclusion. What we don't do is fret over the order of the story. We don't hit backspace. We don't overthink, and somehow everything that needs to be said the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-50450005922541169742022-02-10T15:44:00.007-06:002022-03-08T15:50:46.308-06:00body storyWhat is it like to live inside your skin? Do you avoid mirrors or look forward to your reflection in every storefront you pass? Do you live with pain? Do you bite your fingernails? Do you have a curve you admire? A Romanesque nose? A frog in your throat? As you consider today's prompt, try not to describe your body as an outside observer: I am 5 ft. 2 inches, etc. Rather, concentrate on one the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-52279160553657604802022-02-09T15:46:00.001-06:002022-03-08T15:49:14.240-06:00the choiceElizabeth Bishop's poem "One Art" could be interpreted as a call to take up our pens in order to gain control over the 'disasters' in our lives. Write it to right it, in other words. But I also find meaning in the opening line: "Lose something every day". Considered in tandem with Hemingway's ghostly remnants, this proclamation could become a mantra for writers. Is there something in your work the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-80845598006098898252022-02-08T15:51:00.001-06:002022-03-08T15:53:23.739-06:00hungry sceneConsider Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as you approach today's prompt. We spend most of our time eating, drinking, sleeping, etc., but often we forget to include these seemingly mundane activities into our writing. When these needs are not met, we can't achieve all of the lofty things to which our great minds aspire. Go back into a piece you've been working on, and re-see it to include some bodily the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-54197340270882144632022-02-07T15:54:00.005-06:002022-03-08T16:06:22.616-06:00snapdragons discover each otherWEEK 5 – REVIEW REMIX REVISEWrite your autobiography (not memoir but the entire story of your life) on one page, in ten minutes. Seriously, set a timer.What are you surprised you left out? What are you glad you left out? What frightens you? Now, pick one detail from the original piece, and let it be the point of departure for a second draft of the same length.Once the clouds came, I could not seethe admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3065764.post-89867309814039813372022-02-07T13:37:00.021-06:002022-03-08T16:03:50.938-06:00part one of the above assignment~This is how we do it!~ Memphis mud raised your blistered body little mammal. They sorted you out a sister, these stupid hobbitses, the sweetest kinds. Take them under the table. Grumpy from the start, curious of letters + making nonsense of sense. Circle the family of colors. School, a disaster. Friends turned populuar while you mudlark wandered tree bark scars. When the clouds came, you the admiralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04059453290306425945noreply@blogger.com0