Emerging Form

Like a lot of life plans over the past few weeks, this episode veered from our original schedule. We’d planned to discuss the joys and challenges of creating things with friends, but instead we found ourselves talking about these strange times. In this emergency episode of Emerging Form, we talk about how COVID-19 is changing what and how we write, and how it’s affecting all kinds of creative careers. Warning: we get a bit emotional at times. Topics include toilet paper hoarding, coronavirus anxiety, the importance of the arts, financial insecurity, online alternatives to in person events and how our lives are different now. We check in with our fabulous audio producer, Rob Dozier, and then we talk with our scheduled guest, Sarina Bowen, a USA Today best-selling author who has written more than 30 contemporary novels and is cohost of the #amwriting podcast. 

Read Rosemerry’s daily poems

Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

Rob Dozier

Sarina Bowen

#amwriting podcast

coronavirus image by pixabay

Tonight I Pray for All the Doctors, the Nurses

the Healthcare Workers

And tonight I think

of the seventeen Italian doctors,

dead. And the hundreds

of thousands of people

whose test results were positive.

And all the doctors, nurses,

health care workers—

some right here in our town.

I think of them eating breakfast,

reading the same discouraging news,

then kissing their loved ones,

putting on their shoes,

and walking out the door,

though resolution’s as elusive

as last month’s peace—

the peace we didn’t

even know we had.

         —Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

In this bonus episode, we talk with memoirist and essayist Claire Dederer about the role of ambition in a writer’s life. She also discusses the different ways she responds to rejection, and how it differs when it comes from a professional source versus from a reader. She also talks about the writer’s imperative to write about difficult subjects, why it’s important it is to have clarity and distance before sharing difficult personal stories, how domestic labor can affect a writer’s work life and how devoting time to her work has, at times, made her feel monstrous.

Claire Dederer (photo courtesy Claire Dederer)

Claire Dederer’s essay “What do we do with the Art of Monstrous Men?”

Claire Dederer’s essay “Eclipsed: In our two-writer household, my husband's literary star shines all too brightly”

“We’re sorry, your work does not suit our needs at this time.” These words are so common. Rejection is a difficult reality for most (all?) writers and artists. So how do we handle rejection? Can we use it to improve our work? What does it have to tell us and teach us? In this episode, we talk about a useful phrase in the face of rejection, Christie’s Southeast Asia Problem, and one of the poetry worlds’ best rejection letter writers. Then we’ll talk with memoirist and essayist Claire Dederer and ask her two questions: 1) How do you process rejection, especially when it’s a work that feels very personal? And 2) What have you learned from rejection? We’re interested in your feedback on these answers, too! 

Episode Notes:

Halcyon Poetry Prize

Christie’s article on mammography in Mother Jones

Christie’s report for the Pulitzer Center on Agent Orange in Vietnam

Colorado’s New Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebre

Most Rejected Books of All Time

Claire Dederer (photo courtesy Claire Dederer)

Claire Dederer’s essay “What do we do with the Art of Monstrous Men?”

Claire Dederer’s essay “Eclipsed: In our two-writer household, my husband's literary star shines all too brightly”

**

Tim Green’s Outstanding Rejection Letter

Dear Rosemerry— 

Thanks for sharing this. The subject matter is perfect for the series, but we receive over 100 poems every week, and I can only pick one (or occasionally two). This week I ended up choosing something else—check our website tomorrow morning to read it. 

This decision is, of course, no reflection on the importance of the event you were writing about, or of your response. It's great to read poets reacting in a meaningful way to current events, and very difficult to choose just one. 

I'm sorry that I can't reply individually, though many poems make me want to—reading all these every Saturday morning is a lot of work! We do have a closed Facebook group, where you can safely share your poems with each other, if you'd like—just join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/poetsrespond/

Anyway, don't hesitate to try again whenever you have another timely one—or to send general submissions any time. 

Best, 

Tim

In this bonus episode, Sarah Knight talks about the four kinds of yessers, how she went from overachiever to having a fully operational no muscle, how to build “the gates of hell no” and then cultivate your own private “okay corral,” the calming effects of pina coladas, how her daily tweets might help you discover and maintain your own boundaries, and more. **Please note that this episode contains language that may not be suitable for kids. (See title of Sarah’s book…)

Guest: Sarah Knight

JUST SAY F*CK NO! No is an acceptable answer. It’s time to start using it.

It’s only two letters long, but the word “no” can be one of the hardest words to say out loud. In this episode, we talk about why no is every bit as important a word for a creative as yes. We’ll talk about earthworms, the trifecta of yes, how to strengthen your no muscle and Christmas candles. Then we interview the international bestselling “anti-guru” Sarah Knight, author of the No F*cks Given guides and ask her these two questions: 1) How do you decide when to say no? And 2) What’s the best way to say no? We’re interested in your answers to these questions, too. 

Episode Notes:  

The Craft of Science Writing: Selections from The Open Notebook

Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems

Rosemerry’s book Charity: True Stories of Giving and Receiving

Rosemerry’s book Celebration: The Christmas Candle Book with Poems of Light

Veronica Dewey, costume designer extraordinaire

David Plotz’s trick for saying no (which he admits he stole from his wife, Hanna Rosin, and her friend, the writer Margaret Talbot)

Sarah Knight (photo of Sarah by Alfredo Esteban)

Sarah’s article Just Say F*ck No!

Sarah’s F*ck No page 

To buy her most recent book, F*ck No: How to Stop Saying Yes When You Can’t, You Shouldn’t or You Just Don’t Want To: visit Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indiebound. 

In this bonus episode, we continue our conversation with Thea Deley about creating on emotionally difficult topics. Thea talks about the one woman play she created about her struggles with her family and their religious belief system and about the issues that arise when addressing personal issues through art.

Thea Deley (photo of Thea by Mike Maxwell)

As Mentioned in the Podcast:

In this week’s podcast, we mentioned a poem I wrote about my dear friend Sally Estes when she was told she had three months to live. Here I am reading the poem. It’s also printed below.

They Say It’s the Best Bloom in Ten Years

         —Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

She wants to go see the bluebonnets, she says.

This is after she tells me they’ve said she has three months to live.

And I want to find her vast fields of bluebonnets,

acres and acres of white-tipped blue bloom.

And I want to send her more springs to see them in,

more days to live one day at a time. I want to remove

the pain in her belly, the pain that aggressively grows.

I want to make deals with the universe. Want to say no

to the way things are. I want to tell death to wait.

I want to tell life to find a way. I want to hug her

until she believes she’s beloved. I want to give her

the pen that will write every brave thing

that she’s been unable to say. There are days

when we feel how uncompromising it is, the truth.

How human we are. There are days when the bluebonnets

stretch as far as the eye can see. There are days

we know nothing is more important than going to see them,

a billion blue petals all nodding in the wind, teaching us to say yes.

—forthcoming in Hush, Middle Creek Publishing, 2020

Engaging in a creative project can be hard enough when the subject matter is fun. But what about when it’s emotionally taxing, too? In this episode, we talk about many techniques for working with topics that make us uneasy—from changing perspective to creating rituals. Then we talk with Thea Deley, speaker, writer and improviser, and ask her two questions: 1) When do you know you are ready to write about something difficult—what is the role of perspective, and 2) How do you navigate stories that might hurt someone? We are interested in your answers to these questions, too!

Episode Notes

Christie’s farewell to David Corcoran on Last Word on Nothing

Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions, by James W. Pennebaker, PhD

Pablo Neruda: Tonight I Can Write

American Psychological Association: Writing to Heal

Harvard Health Publishing: Writing About Emotions May Ease Stress and Trauma

Thea Deley (photo of Thea by Mike Maxwell)

Christie’s ode to Holiday Mathis, “I Know Astrology Is B******t, But I Can’t Stop Reading My Horoscope.”

**

Simple Tools

         —Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

I am so grateful for the rubber spatula,

the way it sits quietly in the drawer

yet is always ready for action—

is game to scrape the walls of the blender

or to fold chocolate chips into cookie dough.

It evens and swirls the frosting on cake

and welcomes the tongue

of a child. In a sharp world,

it knows the value of being blunt;

it knows that to smooth is a gift to the world.

Some people are knives, and

I thank them. Me, I want to belong

to the order of spatulas—those

who blend, who mix, who co-mingle

dissimilars to create a cohesive whole.

I want to spread sweetness, to be a workhorse

for beauty, to stir things up,

to clean things out. I want to be useful,

an instrument of unity, a means, a lever for life.

first published in Braided Way, 2019

In this bonus episode, Sherry Richert Belul, happiness coach and founder of Simply Celebrate, talks with us about co-founding Secret Agents of Change, how even the way you walk to the office can be playful, and how it is that she came to find herself a happiness coach. 

Want to make sure you receive every bonus episode? Subscribe to our newsletter!

What does play have to do with creativity? Could a hula hoop help you finish your book project? In this episode, we argue about what is play, anyway—is it something you set time aside for? Or something that is always available to you? And how might it help your creative life? Then we are joined by author and happiness coach Sherry Richert Belul to get her take on our two questions: 1) How does play inform your creative process? and 2) What’s an example of a project that has been shaped by play? We’d love your feedback on these questions, too!

Episode Notes:

Meet our new production wizard, Rob Dozier

Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination and invigorates the soul by Stuart Brown, M.D.

Playing at Work: Organizational Play as a Facilitator of Creativity, dissertation by Samuel West

Christie’s spam poetry on Last Word on Nothing

Rosemerry’s collaborative book of three-line poems, Even Now

Snark Week: The Wrath of the Sloth on Last Word on Nothing

Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

Sherry Richert Belul and Simply Celebrate

Say It Now: 33 ways to say I love you to the most important people in your life

Secret Agents of Change Facebook Group

***

Wild Rose Shops for a Bathing Suit

         —Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Not the full-coverage shorts.

Not the black one-piece

with the ruffle around the hips.

She wants to show off some skin.

She doesn’t care who’s looking.

Or who’s not.

She’s got flesh and a lot of it.

A woman needs weight in the world.

Damn, she is getting hot just thinking

about the way the sun likes to touch her.

She finds a strapless bikini

in her favorite color, brilliant magenta.

Barely a bottom. Perfect.

Another suit in hunter orange.

She plans to be swimming with sharks

and wants them to know she is there.

God, she loves shopping for bathing suits.

She could do it all day with that long tri-fold mirror

that knows she gives squat

about who’s the loveliest of all,

but dang, how could she not notice

how great it is to have hips, like hers,

how fine to have some real meat to swing around.