Erica Wright

Online Poetry Tutorial

For the past four years, I have been teaching a poetry tutorial through New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. I love working one-on-one with students on individual poems as well as projects. This summer, I will be offering the tutorial online! The tutorial runs from June 3rd-August 5th. Here is a link with more information. The application deadline is this Wednesday, May 15th. I am also happy to answer any questions via e-mail. Please see my About page for contact information.

(A topiary from the Atlanta Botanical Garden's summer exhibit.)

Reading Recommendations

If you're looking for a new book, the Guernica staff recommends collections this month.

 

New Books in Poetry

John Ebersole and I talk about the violence of rural life, proposals to strangers, and jackals in mythology over at New Books in Poetry. It's a podcast, so have a listen or poke around the archives to find conversations with Samuel Amadon, Matthew Pennock, et al.

 

The Luminous, Grieving Mind

Allison Benis White answers a few of my questions for Guernica, offering insights on poetry’s ability to help us mourn, converse with the dead, and “transcend the biographical.”

 

Happy National Poetry Month!

Brett Fletcher Lauer, Deputy Director of the Poetry Society of America, graciously answers a few of my questions for Guernica.

A Random Wednesday Recommendation

While conducting research for my essay on the Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival, I watched a PBS American Masters documentary on Richard Avedon. The photographer said, "I think I do photograph what I’m afraid of. I think I have photographed what I was afraid of. Things that I couldn’t deal with without the camera. My father’s death. Madness. And when I was young, women.” And later, "By photographing what I was afraid of, I explored and learned and laid the ghost.” These sentences stuck with me, but the whole program is worth a watch.

Here's his famous image of thirteen-year-old rattlesnake skinner Boyd Fortin.

 

A Few Critters

I look forward to writing about the Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival in Claxton, Georgia. The first three photos are from my favorite conservation group in attendance, The Orianne Society.

Central American Indigo

Florida Kingsnake

an angry rattlesnake

Sulcata Tortoise

 

More Ways to Find Me

In honor of the Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival tomorrow in Claxton, Georgia, I've started a Twitter and an Instagram. I don't know how to use either.

Twitter: @eawright
Instagram: ericaawright

And It Begins: Groundhog Day 2013

One of my 2013 goals is to write about festivals in Georgia, my new state of residence. The possibilities are enticing, to say the least: The Moonshine Festival, The Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival, The Redneck Games. Where's a lady to start? Well, there actually aren't too many January and February celebrations, and I missed The Possum Drop (a New Year's Eve special in Tallapoosa). So a dear friend, my boyfriend, and I headed to Lilburn at 6am last Saturday to watch General Beauregard Lee decide our fate—winter for six more weeks or spring just around the corner? For the answer, you'll have to wait for the essay or use your Google skills. In the meantime, here are some photos of our morning at the Yellow River Game Ranch. No, I'm not wearing a moon suit; it was a bracing twenty degrees!

      
     
  

Serpentariums and Possum Drops

What a treat to answer questions over at Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides blog for Writer's Digest. I must confess that I didn't make it to The Possum Drop, though. Maybe next year?

Click this link for the interview.

I have a photograph of a possum in an Atlanta parking lot, but it's blurry, so here's an alligator from the aquarium instead.