The Blog

Graham Foust's TO ANACREON IN HEAVEN AND OTHER POEMS

Ted Mathys

There is a well-worn creative writing cliché that a writer must “find” her voice. The Internet drips with advice for the aspiring writer looking to do this, some of it reading like self-help lit for those trying to professionalize. In a blog post titled “Find Your Poetic Voice” on the Writer’s Digest website, for example, Laurie Zupan writes: "I realized that what I didn’t have was a clear, working definition of poetic voice. So I set out to find one—with the goal of honing my voice and the hope that...I’d land myself in a graduate program." Books on poetic craft also traffic in this language. W.W.

2016–17 Internships at The Iowa Review

TIR staff

The Iowa Review (TIR) seeks three UI undergraduate interns for the academic year 2016–17 (one intern with an interest in fiction, one with an interest in poetry, and one with an interest in creative nonfiction) as part of a partnership with the Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates (ICRU). Please note that we are currently not offering a summer internship.

Qualifications

Candidates must be University of Iowa undergraduates, have a UI GPA of 3.33 or above, be entering their junior or senior year, and be English majors. They should be able to work independently and should have a strong interest in literary writing, editing, and publishing.

Duties

Interns will work 5-10 hours a week from August 22, 2016, through May 12, 2017 (University breaks not included), and receive a scholarship of $2,000 ($1,000 per semester).

Dana Spiotta's INNOCENTS AND OTHERS

Michael Magras

In Film According to François Truffaut, the great director of The 400 Blows and Jules and Jim says, “I always preferred the reflection of life to life itself. If I chose books and films, from the age of eleven or twelve, it’s because I preferred to see life through books or films.” Truffaut wasn’t the only one who felt this way. For some people, film isn’t just a passion. It’s the prism through which they view the world.

From the Archive: Larry Levis's "The Secret"

TIR staff

I have just painted a luminous
green moth on the inside of
your thigh. We talk,
stare into the fire,
become unimportant.

I go out quietly,
shutting the door.
Wait with my big hands in my pockets.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Watch the shadows of fish bellies twisting
over the bottom.

There's something I'm not telling.

David Gessner's THE TARBALL CHRONICLES

Jeremy Griffin

As a native of Louisiana, I followed closely the events surrounding the 2010 BP oil spill. I remember the grisly footage of the black oil jet spurting up from the floor of the Gulf, and I recall the succession of fruitless strategies put into effect until finally the breach was contained. But most of all, I remember the feelings of frustration this evoked in residents, who were virtually powerless against the 68,000-square-foot slick decimating the ecosystem.