Lisbet Nypan was a healer who used blessed salts to ease her patients’ pains. A wise, aged, and financially independent woman. Under no circumstances would she give those uppity little priest men who thought they knew so much the confession they wanted. Under no circumstances would she apologize for herself…
Category Archives: New Work
Advent Calendar of Witches, Day 3, Maria Barbosa
Day 3 on my Advent Calendar of Witches is devoted to Maria Barbosa, who survived more than anyone should have to bear. I hope it’s true that she cursed many men, and sunk their slave-trading ships too…
Advent Calendar of Witches, Day 2, Walpurga Hausmännin
This year I made an Advent calendar of witches I learned about while writing The Witch of Eye, because their defiant resistance is light upon light. Today, behind door number 2, I put Walpurga Hausmännin.
Advent Calendar of Witches, Day 1: Elizabeth Styles
This year I’ve decided to make a little Advent calendar about accused witches I learned about while writing The Witch of Eye. Because their defiant resistance against various forms of oppression is light upon light. Day 1 on my calendar is for Elizabeth Styles. I wrote about her and the accusations levied against her…
Finding a Form, Choosing a Genre, Embracing Your Nymph
A common question I get, since I wrote poetry and creative nonfiction, has to do with how I know what genre a piece of writing should be in. One answer I have given to this question is to say that the work will teach you its form, to just write, and see what shape it takes on. But there are other ways to think about genre, form, and what that thing you are writing wants to be.
The Poetics of Spells
My essay, “Medusa and the Poetics of Spells” up at Guernica today. The essay began as a craft talk for a poetry class and evolved into something much more historical and much more personal, so I’m sharing some outtakes of poems and ideas that informed the earlier, more crafty version.
Science, Poetry & a History of Disrepair
Southeast Review just came out with their new issue, which includes “A History of Disrepair,” one of the poems I’d hoped to share on the AWP panel, Science at the Source, this year. Unfortunately, but necessarily, the panel was cancelled due to the pandemic. Go here to read that poem, which is about Genevieve Jones, a nineteenth century ornithologist, climate change anxiety, and what it means to love each other in a crisis.
I’d also like to share some of the remarks I’d planned to make on that panel, which was organized by Rosalie Moffett and also included John James, Nomi Stone, and Rushi Vyas…
Titba & the Invention of the Unknown
The Salem witch trials were a miserable shit show, but Tituba’s ingenuity, subterfuge, and resistance was extraordinary. My essay about her testimony is up at The Public Domain Review…
A RUE Sampler
Thanks to Tin House for publishing “Hexagenia Limbata,” the last poem from RUE to appear in magazines before they make their debut, all together with a spine, in April. Here’s a sample of some other poems from the book that are available in journals online. “The Petty Politics of the Thing” — 32 Poems “Rue”Continue reading “A RUE Sampler”
Getting symbiotic with scientists & film-makers
Poems on instances of symbiotic mutualism were commissioned by the True/False Film Festival. Ant/acacia expert extraordinaire, Dr. Todd Palmer, provided the scientific background. The brilliant multi-media geniuses Chelsea Meyers, Becca Sullinger, and Mike Marshall made this sensory feast out of my little “Symbiosis Sonnet.” And be sure you don’t miss the one on the LancetContinue reading “Getting symbiotic with scientists & film-makers”
