Day 1 of teaching for Freeing the Muse at the Ionian Center for the Arts and Culture on Kefalonia, Greece! 16 hours of sleep to get over my jet lag, a swim at one of my favorite beaches, Avithos Beach, evening sunlight on Mount Ainos, my first Greece cat sighting of this trip (outside the Arts Center), my first goat sighting (in the refrigerator at Lidl supermarket), ending with the joyous opening night celebration dinner cooked by the wonderful Sophie!
And just like that, 1 week after completing teaching at the September session of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, I jump on a plane, travel 12 hours (without sleeping a wink) and here I am on the Greek Ionian island of Kefalonia to teach poetry for my second year for Freeing the Muse at the Ionian Center for the Arts and Culture. From one island to another…
I’ve loved each of the 14 years I’ve been teaching for the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. This just finished September session was one of the very best! Thank you to my fellow faculty and to all the poets and writers who came and made it such an inspiring time!
Day 6 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing! The final day! I taught The Intersections of Writing & Publishing, paneled about The Writing Life, then enjoyed the final night of participant readings. Such a heart-filling week. Thank you to everyone for making it so special!
Day 5 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing! More manuscript meetings with awesome writers, a Seafood Shanty lunch by the Edgartown docks, some sightseeing, ending with the first day of participant readings. So many moving poems and stories and essays. My heart left the reading full. Overflowing in fact.
I recently began a new writing project–maybe it’ll be a book?– and today Cold Mountain Review accepted two of the prose poems from this brand new project. What a joy to have my work coming up this wonderful journal, and what an encouragement that I might not be on the totally wrong track with this new project!
28 days after starting Journal 123 it’s time to say goodbye. Hello Journal 124! Also, a squirrel with a black walnut in its face stepped on my big toe while I was writing. So another reason to feel thankful.
Day 4 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing September Edition! I met with awesome writers all day for manuscript consultations, then ate seafood at Menemsha Beach with fellow faculty and we clapped when the sun set. *sarcasm* It’s a sort of life, I guess.
Day 3 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing! I taught two craft/generative classes: one on broken things & anaphora and one on the hermit crab essay. Then in the evening we enjoyed wonderful readings by fellow faculty Hannah Bae and Vogue Robinson! Then Indian food at Indigo!
Day 2 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing… No teaching for me today, but I read my poetry alongside the wonderful fiction writer Joy Deva Baglio! Thanks so much to all the awesome supportive people in the audience tonight! Golly that was a warm and welcoming time tonight!
