peers

They say, sometimes, it's not the professors that make the program, but the peer relationships you build. They said this is what you take away from it the most, those relationships, the community (and, of course, that time spent dedicated to writing).

Last night, at my Intermedia manuscript building class, Katie Leo came in to talk about her chapbook, Attempts at Location. From her cohort, four poets have formed a collective, Line 45 poets, and they have a reading approaching at The Loft.

Katie is a second year MFA student at the U of MN; we were talking about community and cohorts and she told me Sun Yung Shin would be in my cohort. (You mean as a student? Yes. Not as an instructor? I know, isn't it amazing?) This is the poet whose book, Skirt Full of Black, I reviewed for CutBank.

You can imagine now, how my jaw dropped, how unutterably unworthy I felt in that moment. (Am I in over my head?)

Of course, I have to remind myself: I am friends with Eireann too. Whose book is nominated for the Minnesota Book Award.

Perhaps there is a spectrum, and I've caught myself at the end, am clinging on. Perhaps in three years, I will look back and see where I began, see where I am now. Perhaps one day, you will find my words in the shape of a book. Until then, I will surround myself with those who have done so already and I will bask in learning opportunities.