The Weekly Atticus (09/15/2018)

Look With A Thousand Different Eyes | The Weekly Atticus

September 15, 2018

A recap of the week at Atticus Review, along with some extras.

Dear ,

Last week, I heard a writer express doubt that he would be able to achieve the kind of personal essay writing he aimed to because he had lived a life of relative ease, bereft of the drama he deemed necessary to achieve great writing. I admit I was a bit perplexed by this idea, but I can also see how some writers might mistakenly believe that intense suffering is required to produce great art. I think I was most surprised by this attitude because it belittles the depths of experience we encounter every day, the moments that compose the glory and tragedy of our lives.The writer Philip Graham recently wrote about how moments cast shadows, and to see these shadows we must try to look at these moments in different ways. “Some shadows are obvious, while others wait for us to notice them,” Graham says. I often tell my students that I try to consider moments and experiences by looking at them “with a thousand different eyes.” What I mean by this is that to write fully and deeply requires some training—to look up close, far away, and from the strangest angles—to interrogate what we think we know. This takes time, and a certain measure of fearlessness, to find our way into these dark corners of our memories.Maybe it’s because of the images seared into my younger, impressionable mind, but I can't help but default to Robin Williams as John Keating, the unconventional teacher from the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. Keating asks his students to stand atop their desks to see the world from another perspective. "Just when you think you know something, you have to look at in another way,” he says. “Even though it may seem silly or wrong, you must try." I’ve probably viewed this scene at least twenty times, but the truth of it is no less valuable today than it was decades ago. The drama of life lives in the details—the tilt of a lover's head, in the valley and peaks of how a question is posed, in the muted static of silence—while the immensities of moments are bound by the wilderness of memory. As writers, it is our job to excavate these moments, and it may require a new way of seeing. My hope is that when we write, we have the courage to look anew, and the audacity to step into the shadows. Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here.Dorothy BendelManaging Editor

ATTICUS NEWS

Atticus Review is happy to announce our second annual Flash Fiction Contest judged by Mary Miller. First Prize: $500. Deadline: 10.29.2018

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

FERAL TOWN by Adam Gustavson

BOOK REVIEW: HUMAN NATURE IS STRANGEA Review of ALLIGATORS AT NIGHT by Meg PokrassReview by Mary Thompson"The stories in Alligators are for the most part dark and weird, yet strangely believable. They touch on contemporary issues such as the complex world of internet dating...We end up with a sense of sadness and confusion at the growing non-intimacy of modern day encounters and relationships."READ ON

FICTION: MUSHROOMS ARE LIKE SECRETSby Kathryn McMahon"The morels always reminded Nuala of brains, as if the fungi wore them on the outside like thinking caps, which was what her mother said she needed."READ ON

POETRY: THE STAGES OF GRIEF AND OTHER LIESby Carolee Bennett"In the forest with the night creatures, I resolveto let grief in..."READ ON

CNF: THIS IS ALL WE NEEDby Jennifer Todhunter"Our condo is no more than four hundred square feet, yet it houses seven emergency personnel. They ask me questions, but all I see is the clench of your jaw, the twitch of your body, your eyes rolling inside your head."READ ON

MIXED MEDIA: ADAPTATIONS TO EXTREMESA videopoem by Marilyn McCabe"...how every single cell of us can learn to live with lack..."READ ON

FILM: GLENN CLOSE SAVES THE WIFEA review of Björn Runge's THE WIFE by Emily Moeck."If Glenn Close’s steel-eyed, pitch-perfect performance could alone carry a film, then The Wife would be one of the season’s best."READ ON

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