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(click an individual title name to access it directly) I am this White interior Walking down the canal in winter AN INTRO “…what i told meye/self…” Hidden identity The lady in red The flower Orange juice poesy Soulmates Oranges Mary Helen’s drama Our voices come out of the black Sweet & tasty grenade Plant words The last in line Another longstory Dyeing Evening song Self-portrait Neologisms in antiquity Cheeks flushed “Even my dead self…” The incident Triple-dog-dare Insect inferno Herpesviridae in perpetuity Freedom of ideas Dancing on the fire hydrant I “found” myself in the supermarket Everything that you left me piles up Concrete La selva (The Jungle) “nearing the sallow fen…” (EE) Invisible Based on a true story Father Sticky children Maddy O.’s first night alone in 54 years Kid-tested, mother-approved BIO Sunday sunrise THANK YOU Love entails nothing CONTACT Coney Island RESOURCES Small fires COLLAGE memories has been a truly satisfying experience. As stories and past discussions came to the foreground after This collection, cling as ink, is quite different from my so long, I really felt that information mattered, so this is previous three. It was 20 years ago that the 10th volume of definitely not just a straightforward book of my poems. the Miami University undergraduate literary magazine, Inklings, was published. I was the editor of this volume Inklings was a collaborative effort among staff and those who during the 1997-1998 school year; a junior and a creative submitted their work. Behind the scenes of the annual writing major fresh from being an editorial assistant and physical product, there were an abundance of steps assistant editor for the magazine in my sophomore year. I necessary to bring a quality edition to fruition. Some aspects was looking forward to forming a staff and working together that many are not aware of when it comes to constructing a to produce an edition of Inklings featuring some of the very university publication of this type include going through the best poetry, prose, and artwork on our campus. selection process, having to deal with the financial aspects of the organization (in 1998-1999 I was actually the business I started feeling an immense wave of nostalgia in 2017, manager!), making sure we publicized our magazine and remembering when I started as editor 20 years before. I events thoroughly (keep in mind, the Internet at the time recalled the experience, remembered more about the involved no social media and we put a lot of flyers around magazine publishing and editing process, reminisced over campus, put letters in mailboxes of English and Art certain anecdotes from staff conversations as well as some department staff to read or hand out to students). characteristics of the submissions that were chosen. I wanted to do a sort of tribute to that enchanting year. We had to meet many deadlines to ensure we got our submission details and event information on paper “table I have been writing so much this year and have a lot of tents” that were on the tables in many of the dining halls! I writing from past years that just needed to see the light of do not recall having a website except maybe a very small day. informational one-pager. I honestly don’t even remember getting submissions by email. I think every single written In this book, I have used the title of every single piece of submission had to be put in our organizational mailbox or artwork, poetry, and short fiction that we included in the dropped off at our office in the basement of MacMillan. For 1997-1998 publication, and in the same order. I have written the art portion of our submissions, we always asked that they a poem for each of these 45 titles. Some poems have be submitted on a slide. We would look at these on a screen absolutely nothing to do with the original work of the same via a projector during a few meetings where submissions title, some have a similar feel or tone or in other ways were being discussed! More portable works of art could be resemble the original, and some are just poems I already presented to our mailbox or in person. Our art directors wrote that needed some revising but fit perfectly with a title photographed all of the selected art. I can’t remember if we still in need of a companion poem. Many poems were written used a scanner to add the art into the final layout. Probably expressly to fit the title as well. not during 1997-1998! Having 2 art directors during this particular timeframe helped us drum up so much more For each poem, there is a write-up that provides a little more content for the magazine. information about my poem. I also comment on the original Inklings written or visual work and the respective author or I can say that the assistant editor and I spent a lot of time in artist from which I borrowed the title. I am not a fan of the computer lab or in the Inklings office working on the book explaining my poetry or requiring others to do so, but for this in Claris Works. I was originally a computer science major at particular series of poems, I wanted to tie in as much of the Miami (I still completed the minor) and in years since, the Inklings of 20 years ago without actually reinventing or majority of my working life has involved in-depth information showing it in heavy detail. Putting this project together and technology projects and various facets of computer software. revisiting the 1997-1998 issue to rekindle many fond Other than my more recent phones and various music gadgets, I have only known the ways of the PC. Using a Mac My penultimate year at Miami was definitely the most to compile the layout included a big learning curve, a lot of exciting. In addition to editing Inklings, I worked in Boyd Hall laughter, and the time when the lab was about to close for calling parents and alumni to raise money for scholarships, the night and the entire layout crashed (back then a message campus programs and organizations (I actually did this most would appear on the Mac with an icon of a bomb and shut semesters at Miami and did not enjoy it at all!). I was also itself down). The next day, I was able to spend hours with a selected alongside a few other undergrad creative writing few staff members and a friend in the computer lab in, I majors to take part in a one-week intensive graduate poetry think, MacCracken Hall. The file was severely damaged but workshop with visiting poet Stephanie Strickland. Why do I mostly it was a matter of taking deeps breaths, piecing the mention this mix of not-entirely-related experiences here? I formatting together and filling in the gaps where any text had was terrified of speaking in college and high school. I would been lost. take a lower percentage in most courses if discussion was part of the grade. Even in writing workshops I enjoyed, I was In the end we managed just fine. The book was printed so anxious and stressed about saying anything. I could write uptown and we chose a lightly-textured paper for the inner the occasional strong poem but not be able to have even a pages. The ribbing in the texture across the front cover casual discussion in front of everyone. added an extra bit of sensory uniqueness we had not yet seen to that point with the final product of any Inklings. Reading my poems aloud made me want to faint. I once had to memorize a poem for a class and had prepared for weeks. We awarded cash prizes for the staff’s overall favorite poem, I lost track, felt like I was talking inside out and backwards… story, and art. This was announced at our end-of-year I guess what I want to emphasize is that I started putting reading and artwork display upon publication of the myself more into situations I thought were uncomfortable but magazine. My recollection here gets a bit fuzzy and not just probably would enjoy if I could just relax or try not to because it was a long time ago. I was a staff member of overthink. That job I didn’t like so much was frustrating but it Inklings for 3 of my college years, with busy roles each year. also was the highest-paying job on campus and I was in a The whereabouts of readings and events and who’s who have situation where I needed to help contribute to my education become slightly hazy, but those are just bonus memories… financially. That weird job, the cool poetry experiences… I the real-deal stuff came in the hard work and camaraderie eventually came out of my shell and found a voice inside of and a group effort done very well. my writing. I continue to grow because I gave myself a nudge rather than keep hiding under the desk much longer. I So much of my interaction with staff and published writers also learned that constructive criticism can be beautiful! and artists was by the phone in my dorm room in Clawson Hall. It had a cord that didn’t stretch very far. We had regular I was not on the Inklings staff my freshman year (nor did I meetings but if I needed to get in touch I think I was calling submit to the magazine), but I actually did attend the everyone pretty often.

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