Amy Robinson offered sessions on May 8 & 22.
Amy Robinson is co-owner and Sr. Editor/Poetry Editor at Apparition Literary Magazine, and former column editor at Fierce & Nerdy. She is a certified Amherst Writers and Artists writing workshop facilitator and has led workshops for Writing Pad L.A. & Write In Ventura & App Lit patrons. Her poetry & spec. fiction has been in Strange Horizons, Pearl Magazine, & Flash Fiction Press. She lives in a small house beside the ocean with her husband, and procrastinates on Twitter @Amyqotwf.
From Amy
I have been leading off-brand workshops for the past decade, but I was still a little nervous as this was my first set of workshops since going through the facilitator training in February of this year. It’s always a little scary to walk into a room with internet strangers to poke at your creativity!
True to all my AWA experiences, the attendees were generous, open and some sublime writing grew out of the prompts. I left both sessions I facilitated (and the other handful I attended) feeling buoyant and connected and joyful. As a bonus, I had some new poems and words in my notebook. I also learned a few things (i.e. include screenshots of where to find the mute/unmute buttons and the chat icon in the pre-workshop instructions). Will definitely participate as both facilitator and attendee next year!
Jump to Christie Turano’s piece.
Jump to Brenda Jacobsen’s piece.
Jump to Elizabeth Wolf’s piece.
Jump to Lori Greenstone’s piece.
You Are No Longer Required To Believe… by Christie Turano
….that this moment is the only one left and you have to get it ALL done.
….that there is only one hour once a week for art.
….that there is only one thing to write about-“What did you do this summer?”
….that there is only one star to wish upon.
….that you always need someone to carry you in order to go places
Untitled by Brenda Jacobsen
You are no longer required to believe the voices of your parents, especially after they are gone.
You are no longer required to believe the critic who says you are not enough. You are no
longer required to believe you must be fill everyone’s needs
You are no longer required to believe you are all-knowing in front of your children.
You are no longer required to believe that your sense of worth comes from what you do.
You are no longer required to believe.
Now is the Time of Trees by Elizabeth S. Wolf
After it died branches of the small devout tree
resembled clasped hands, reaching skywards,
towards what I did not know. I was
too intimidated to cut it down
mid- prayer, so it stayed, gently decaying,
until the snow fell heavy and wet
dropping the trunk. Come thaw
I had it chopped and dried for firewood.
I tried to replace the pious tree
with one from my childhood memory,
a dogwood that threw out wild pink blossoms
outside my bedroom dormer every spring.
But either I bought the wrong sapling
or the older tree was not yet satisfied.
The newbie neither dies nor thrives.
It puts out stingy green leaves every year,
sparse, and some stay nearly white, as if
it knows there should be flowers and yet something stunts it still.
Untitled by Lori Greenstone
It should be mentioned
that footsteps in the hallway
don’t mean someone is stalking you,
or even waiting,
breath held,
poised to jump
and scare.
And it might be best
to mention
that those same footsteps
you heard
night before last
were not your husband’s
or your stepfather’s–god rest his soul.
He no longer wears
those heavy heeled leather boots
laced halfway up
his foreshortened shins.
No, those are not the footsteps
you think you heard.
And yet, they could be.
Listen again–
hear the cadence.
Yes, they could be his–
soft,
bare foot,
fleeting.
Run see.
Thank you for joining us for Write Around the World!
For the rest of the summer, watch our blog! We are sharing writing from AWA’s yearly marathon fundraiser, which happened this year all-online throughout the month of May.
We offer this series in appreciation for the incredible community of writers and workshop leaders that sustain us. If you’re inspired and would like to be part of the fundraiser, please donate!