Poetic Craft and Theory: Micro Brews—Prose Poems, Flash Fiction, & Very Brief
Essays/English 716-001
Wed. 5-7:40p
Fall 2012
Maurice Kilwein Guevara
maurice@uwm.edu
I welcome all students who are open to growing as writers, readers, and teachers.
I’m quite excited about this course, in part, because its focus on formal brevity/precision
requires each of us to think hard about what is essential about a narrative as well as a
lyrical moment. The form forces us to think radically about the making of a vessel (recall
Faulkner’s “a shape to fill a lack”), and we’ll want to have a few editorial blue pencils
ready to excise anything that is superfluous. One of our goals will be to view our early
drafts with a cold eye and, although we may be attached to the cleverness of a particular
phrase, we need to hear the ghost of Bill Faulkner whispering: “In writing, you must kill
your darlings.” Another aspect that will make this critical and creative exploration
engaging is that we’ll look at three ostensibly distinct micro brews: the prose poem with
its connection to the lyric; flash fiction with its family resemblance to the short story; and
the very brief essay with its note-like length and its multiple obligations to history, to the
lyric, and to a tale well told. In terms of course requirements, there will be weekly
readings, discussions, writings, as well as one class presentation and one culminating
project that will include some formal research. We will also do writing exercises most
every class.
I aim to foster a supportive and insightful community of writers. Students usually find my
classes imaginatively and critically wakeful. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re in Creative
Writing or one of the other plans in English or in the School of Education or Nursing, etc.
What matters is that you’re committed to being part of a genuine community of literary
writers.
As to required texts, probably the following:
SAGA/CIRCUS by Lyn Hejinian. $15.95 (CIRCUS is really fun in that it’s an
experimental micro-novel.)
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PROSE POEM edited by Brian Clements and Jamey
Dunham. $26.00
HINT FICTION edited by Robert Swartwood. $13.95
FLASH FICTION FORWARD edited by James Thomas and Robert Shapard. $15.95
and one of the following two books (I haven’t yet decided):
IN BRIEF: SHORT TAKES ON THE PERSONAL edited by Judith Kitchen and Mary
Paumier Jones. $14.95
or
SHORT TAKES: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS WITH CONTEMPORARY NONFICTION
edited by Judith Kitchen. $15.95
Hope to see you in the fall!
N.B. Perhaps you already know this classic micro brew by Ernest Hemingway:
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”