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WE'RE BACK
Ready for the cold, hard facts? And by that I mean the fun, juicy facts, of course...
Thirty slots. For thirty writers.
From all over the country. Maybe even the globe!
In ISL, you'll receive a prompt a day.
Write in community for a month.
Learn from 4 incredible Visiting Poets.
For everything you need to know, click here.
Know someone amazing who would love it? You can nominate a Surreal Scholar to take the course for free. In celebration of my poem-y children's book coming out in April, this ninth session of In Surreal Life is being held this April during National Poetry Writing Month!
To sign up right now, just fill out this form. Have any questions? That's what I'm here for! Email me.
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WHAT PHILIPE HAS TO SAY ON THE MATTER
"Imagination and community are the tandem heartbeat of Shira Erlichman's online poetry workshop, In Surreal Life. Shira provides daily writing prompts that feel like they were poems in another life, with landscapes that are cosmic and musical, familiar and hilarious; [her prompts] embody the surreal in a way that blew my imagination open every time I sat down to write.
Over the span of In Surreal Life I found myself laughing with my classmates, interrogating their work, sharing reading recommendations, and listening to them converse with my work.
Shira is a teacher who sits with a student's poetry at eye level and masterfully pulls the intended life out of a poem. Shira gives students the necessary space to grapple with their own work in the light of generous and abundant feedback. I took In Surreal Life after writing in my own bubble for almost a year and I got really emotional (in a really good way!) when Shira gave me one-on-one feedback on my work. Her critiques are so thoughtful that I felt like my poetry was really being heard."
– Philipe AbiYouness, 2018 In Surreal Life Participant
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REVELATIONS
AKA What's New
 Music: SLOW BURN If you're like me, Kacey Musgrave's single "Slow Burn" has wormed its way into your ear this year and just won't leave. There is something so assuring, so intoxicatingly honeyed, about the lyrics, "I'm alright with a slow burn, taking my time, let the world turn. I'm gonna do it my way, it'll be alright." I often feel like I wish I could slow down. Let the world turn. Remember to do it my way. So one night I slowed down and recorded the ditty for you all.
 Writing: YOU ARE A QUILT 🧵This month I listened to this podcast with Nikki Giovanni. One of the first poets I ever read, Giovanni welcomed me into her truths with an earthiness that made me feel like an equal, not talked-down-to. At one moment in the interview, Giovanni offers us a realization, which she pieces together authentically before our very ears, "What you're doing as you grow older is enjoying––––you know, you're a quilt. You're––there's pieces of you that are being put together and you're figuring out okay, and who do I embrace and how do I embrace it? I think old age is just wonderful, just wonderful." I love the image of one's life-making, one's aging, as quilting. Of the self. Of memories and dreams, truths and difficulties, of all the different "mes" one has been.
 Visual Art: BE/HOLD THE PROCESS! When did I first fall in love with stones? I don't know. I remember walking across the huge campus at UMASS Amherst when I was a Freshman, feeling anxiety about everything from existential questions to an upcoming test, and picking up a stone on the side of the path. A touchstone, it calmed me to hold it. In the past few years, stones have been a recurring theme. Drawing them has become a longstanding, ongoing meditative practice. While on a residency at AIR Serenbe in Georgia two years ago, I daily discovered stones with such personality and intelligence, I was called to pick them up and hang out with them awhile. While finishing Odes to Lithium, I often collaged, just for fun. Often, stones would assemble on the page in neon colors, their small bodies decorated by the same rip-lines I'd seen on stones by the road. While traveling across the country with Odes For You, a rest stop could become a place of noticing and gathering.
In last month's zine, I shared a preview from inside Be/Hold: A Friendship Book; it was of a river rush of splashing stones. It surprised me that drawings of stones made it into my children's book about friendship. And yet, like friends, stones have been there for me throughout the years as reminders of solidity, presence, and the passage of time.One way or another, your obsessions find their way into your work. They live in the background, adding beauty to your days, until suddenly they shout, "Time for meeeeeee!" and dive right into your poem, or song, or children's book.
What is it about a stone? I mean, it's just dirt, right? I don't know. I don't think so. I think it's a little palmful of palpable wisdom. A collection of passing time. A comfort. A simultaneous reminder of mortality and vastness.
   
Today, take stock: What are your obsessions? What captures your attention, not just day to day, but month to month, maybe even over years? What genre has been whispering in your ear: give me a try. What simple, unadorned thing do you find beautiful or soothing? Another fun question to ponder: what were you obsessed with as a ten year old? What did you collect? For me, it was POGS, sea shells, and key chains. What do your collections reveal about you? What do you wish you could start collecting? Can you start your collection today? One stone at a time?
Remember: You, yourself, are a collection. You are a quilt. You are a constellation, a gathering of shining pieces. Separately, they're stars. But together, they make a picture, a story, something whole. Your life, without a doubt, is a wonder constructed of endless smaller wonders.
Lastly, I'll be at AWP in Portland, Oregon this year; on Thursday 3/28 I'll be signing fresh copies of Be/Hold at the Penny Candy booth, as well as on the panel "The Future is Femme & Queer: An Alice James Reading" with Franny Choi, Carey Salerno, and Tamiko Beyer.
Very lastly, and very excitedly, I hope to see some of you in April at my book launch for Be/Hold! Cue confetti! Cue the parade! In the Spring, I'll be heading to a bunch of different cities on Be/Hold Book Tour – WooOooOoo! Do you want me to come to your town? See the flyers below for all the details...
With maple syrup,
Shira |
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