An Anthology for Creative Writers A Garden of Forking Paths

by Anstandig, Beth; Killough, Eric

• ISBN13: 9780131135017
• ISBN10: 0131135015
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-15
• Publisher: Pearson
• More Book Details

Summary

1. An Anthology for Creative Writers: A Garden of Forking Paths is a multi-genre literary anthology with extensive selections of contemporary poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction, alternative forms, and essays about writing and the creative process. 

The text also features activities and other apparatus for the composition of original work. 

 

 

To learn more, visit The Creative Café online.  In the Creative Café you can:

• Watch video clips of contemporary writers discussing their writing process
• Hone your own writing techniques
• Learn insider tips on getting published…. and much more. 

The Creative Café is packed with resources for the aspiring writer, including various links to literary journals and the nation’s top writing programs.  Go to www.prenhall.com/creativecafe

Table of Contents

An Introduction to the Text	xi
SECTION ONE More Than Just the Truth: Creative Nonfiction	1	(124)
I. Discussion of the Genre	3	(2)
II. A Quintessential: "The Undertaking"
by Thomas Lynch	5	(8)
III. Reading Selections	13	(108)
Mitch Albom
"The Ninth Tuesday: We Talk About How Love Goes On"	13	(5)
Dave Barry
"Borrrinnng!"	18	(2)
Charles Bowden
"Tortoises"	20	(6)
Bernard Cooper
"101 Ways to Cook Hamburger"	26	(7)
Andre Dubus
"A Woman in April"	33	(3)
Lars Eighner
"Austin to Tucson: Hitting the Road"	36	(18)
Vivian Gornick
from Fierce Attachments 47
Donald Hall
"To Read Fiction"	54	(3)
Jim Harrison
"Eat or Die"	57	(4)
Linda Hogan
"Walking"	61	(2)
Nick Hornby
"Home Debut"	63	(4)
Mary Karr
from The Liars' Club	67	(13)
Tony Kushner
"American Things"	80	(4)
Ursula K. Le Guin
"The Creatures on My Mind"	84	(3)
Barry Lopez
"Children in the Woods"	87	(2)
Nancy Mairs
"On Being a Cripple"	89	(9)
Chris Offutt
from The Same River Twice	98	(8)
Sharman Apt Russell
"Not a Butterfly"	106	(4)
David Sedaris
"The Youth in Asia"	110	(6)
Sarah Vowell
"Shooting Dad"	116	(5)
IV. Catalysts	121	(4)
1. The Autobiographical Object	121	(1)
2. Pushing a Metaphor to Its Limits	122	(1)
3. Finding Humor in Heartache	123	(2)
SECTION TWO Telling Tales: Short Fiction	125	(162)
I. Discussion of the Genre	127	(2)
II. A Quintessential: "A Private Landscape"
by Melissa Pritchard	129	(8)
III. Reading Selections	137	(147)
Kim Addonizio
"In the Box Called Pleasure"	137	(7)
Sherman Alexie
"Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play The Star-Spangled Banner' at Woodstock"	144	(6)
Donald Barthelme
"A Shower of Gold"	150	(6)
Ron Carlson
"Bigfoot Stole My Wife"/"I Am Bigfoot"	156	(5)
Angela Carter
"The Quilt Maker"	161	(12)
Michael Chabon
"The Little Knife"	173	(5)
Philip K. Dick
"Beyond Lies the Wub"	178	(6)
Chester Himes
"Prediction"	184	(5)
Gish Jen
"Who's Irish?"	189	(8)
Denis Johnson
"Work"	197	(5)
Doris Lessing
"The Story of Two Dogs"	202	(16)
Susan Minot
"Lust"	218	(7)
Walter Mosley
"Pet Fly"	225	(10)
ZZ Packer
"Brownies"	235	(15)
Grace Paley
"Friends"	250	(9)
Francine Prose
"Talking Dog"	259	(10)
Mark Richard
"Strays"	269	(4)
Muriel Spark
"The First Year of My Life"	273	(5)
John Updike
"How Was It, Really?"	278	(6)
IV. Catalysts	284	(3)
1. Sitting on a Bench	284	(1)
2. A Fish out of Water	285	(1)
3. Mind Traveling: A Solitary Adventure	285	(2)
SECTION THREE Making Lines: Poetry	287	(66)
I. Discussion of the Genre	289	(2)
II. A Quintessential: "Thinking About the Poet Larry Levis One Afternoon in Late May"
by Charles Wright	291	(4)
III. Reading Selections	295	(53)
Ralph Angel
"Love's That Simple"	295	(1)
Marvin Bell
"These Green-Going-to-Yellow"	296	(1)
Eavan Boland
"This Moment"	297	(1)
Michael Burkard
"I Entered a House"	298	(1)
Scott Cairns
"Interval with Erato"	299	(2)
Hayden Carruth
"Of Distress Being Humiliated by the Classical Chinese Poets"	301	(1)
Lucille Clifton
"11/10 again"	301	(1)
Kwame Dawes
"Libation"	302	(1)
Norman Dubie
"For Randall Jarrell, 1914-1965"	303	(1)
Russell Edson
"The Fall"	304	(1)
John Engman
"The Building I Live In Is Tipping Over"	304	(1)
Tess Gallagher
"Each Bird Walking"	305	(2)
James Galvin
"Against the Rest of the Year"	307	(1)
Jack Gilbert
"Tear It Down"	308	(1)
Albert Goldbarth
"This Cartography"	309	(1)
Beckian Fritz Goldberg
"Being Pharaoh"	310	(3)
Linda Gregg
"The Letter"	313	(1)
Jim Harrison
"Rooster"	314	(1)
Bob Hicok
"AIDS"	315	(2)
Jane Hirshfield
"The Kingdom"	317	(1)
Tony Hoagland
"Jet"	318	(1)
Lynda Hull
"Counting in Chinese"	319	(1)
David Ignatow
"At eighty I change my view"	320	(1)
Denis Johnson
"The Veil"	321	(1)
Carolyn Kizer
"To an Unknown Poet"	322	(1)
Bill Knott
"The Misunderstanding"	323	(1)
Ruth Ellen Kocher
"Poem to a Jazz Man"	324	(1)
Yusef Komunyakaa
"Believing in Iron"	325	(1)
Stanley Kunitz
"Day of Foreboding"	326	(1)
Larry Levis
"The Poem Returning as an Invisible Wren to the World"	326	(1)
Thomas Lux
"The Man Inside the Chipmunk Suit"	327	(1)
Clarence Major
"The Swine Who's Eclipsed Me"	328	(1)
William Matthews
"A Happy Childhood"	329	(5)
Christopher Merrill
"Three Boats"	334	(21)
Jane Miller
"Poetry"	355
Naomi Shihab Nye
"Blood"	336	(1)
Adrienne Rich
"Amends"	337	(1)
Tomaz Salamun
"I Have a Horse"	338	(1)
Jeannine Savard
"Transfer"	339	(1)
Dennis Schmitz
"About Night"	340	(1)
Charles Simic
"Dream Broker"	341	(1)
William Stafford
"Not Very Loud"	342	(1)
Jean Valentine
"Silences: A Dream of Governments"	343	(1)
Bruce Weigl
"Anniversary of Myself"	344	(1)
David Wojahn
"Cold Glow: Icehouses"	345	(1)
C.D. Wright
"only the crossing counts"	346	(1)
Al Young
"Desert Footage: Three Dissolves"	347	(1)
IV. Catalysts	348	(5)
1. In Search of the Image	348	(1)
2. The Narrative Poem	349	(1)
3. The Newspaper Poem	350	(3)
SECTION FOUR Evolving Worlds and Disoriented Words: Experimental Writing	353	(54)
I. Discussion of the Genre	355	(2)
II. A Quintessential: "The Colonel"
by Carolyn Forché	357	(3)
III. Reading Selections	360	(43)
Kim Addonizio
"Survivors"	360	(1)
Cathryn Alpert
"That Changes Everything"	361	(2)
Tom Andrews
"Cinema Write	363	(1)
Donald Barthelme
"The Glass Mountain"	364	(4)
Michael Benedikt
"The Meat Epitaph"	368	(1)
Kenneth Bernard
"Sister Francetta and the Pig Baby"	369	(2)
Marilyn Chin
"The True Story of Mr. and Mrs. Wong"	371	(1)
Michael Chitwood
"Hard Surface Road"	371	(1)
Lydia Davis
"This Condition"	372	(1)
Stephen Dixon
"Flying"	373	(2)
Russell Edson
"Ape and Coffee"	375	(1)
Molly Giles
"The Poet's Husband"	375	(1)
Timothy Kelly
"Babe Ruth Pointing"	376	(1)
Jamaica Kincaid
"Girl"	377	(1)
Philip Levine
"Travelling Music"	378	(1)
Gordon Lish
"Fear: Four Examples"	379	(2)
Steve Martin
"Cows in Trouble"	381	(1)
Michael McFee
"The Halo"	381	(1)
E. Ethelbert Miller
"Changing the Channel"	382	(1)
Rick Moody
"Primary Sources"	383	(7)
Michael Ondaatje
"7 or 8 Things I Know About Her—A Stolen Biography"	390	(2)
Michael Palmer
"A Word Is Coming Up..."	392	(1)
Francine Prose
"Pumpkins"	393	(1)
Bruce Holland Rogers
"Murder, Mystery"	394	(2)
Charles Simic
from Dimestore Alchemy	396	(2)
Gary Snyder
"The Ship in Yokohama"	398	(1)
Jerome Stern
"Morning News"	399	(1)
James Tate
"Distance from Loved Ones"	399	(1)
Elizabeth Tomes
"Sleep"	400	(1)
Charles Wright
"The Poet Grows Older"	400	(1)
David Young
"Four About Metaphysics"	401	(2)
IV. Catalysts	403	(4)
1. This Is Just to Say: The Poem Disguised as a Letter	403	(1)
2. The Interrupted Radio Broadcast: The Nonfiction Collage	404	(1)
3. In the Midst: Short-Shorts, Flash Fiction, and Prose Poems	405	(2)
SECTION FIVE The Mapmaker's Unmade Map: Writing About Writing	407	(146)
I. Discussion of the Genre	409	(2)
II. A Quintessential: "Memory and Imagination"
by Patricia Hampl	411	(11)
III. Reading Selections	422	(127)
A.R. Ammons
"A Poem Is a Walk"	422	(5)
Richard Bausch
"So Long Ago"	427	(6)
Charles Baxter
"Shame and Forgetting in the Information Age"	433	(13)
Eavan Boland
"Poetic Form: A Personal Encounter"	446	(3)
Jorges Luis Borges
"Borges and I"	449	(1)
Jacob Bronowski
"The Reach of Imagination"	450	(7)
Rosellen Brown
"Don't Just Sit There: Writing as a Polymorphous Perverse Pleasure"	457	(11)
Bernard Cooper
"Marketing Memory"	468	(7)
Mark Doty
from Still Life with Oysters and Lemon	475	(7)
Russell Edson
"Portrait of the Writer as a Fat Man: Some Subjective Ideas or Notions on the Care and Feeding of Prose Poems"	482	(7)
Donald Hall
"Goatfoot, Milktongue, Twinbird: The Psychic Origins of Poetic Form"	489	(7)
Jane Hirshfield
"Poetry and the Mind of Concentration"	496	(18)
Richard Hugo
"Writing off the Subject"	514	(5)
Erica Jong
"My Grandmother on My Shoulder"	519	(6)
William Matthews
"A Note on Prose, Verse, and the Line"	525	(1)
Thomas McGrath
"Language, Power, and Dream"	526	(6)
Roger Rosenblatt
"I Am Writing Blindly"	532	(2)
Michael Ryan
"Tell Me a Story"	534	(7)
William Stafford
"A Way of Writing"	541	(2)
Luisa Valenzuela
"Writing with the Body"	543	(6)
IV. Catalysts	549	(4)
1. Gift Memories: A Meditative Essay on the Recollection of Borrowed Images	549	(1)
2. The First House of Memory: Images in Hiding	550	(1)
3. I and I: Addressing the Self	550	(3)
Index	553