Sabbatical Times: March 2018

This sabbatical will allow me to pursue my creative writing full time for a semester, Fall 2018, and finish two scholarly projects. For Project One, I will collaborate with Barbara Waterman-Peters for an initial gallery show of her twelve paintings alongside my sixteen poems. In a discussion, Barbara said she would approach several galleries to host our show: the Mulvane Art Gallery, the Sabatini Art Gallery, or as last resort her gallery Studio 831 in NOTO. This project, Topeka Renaissance, will celebrate and reflect on how Topeka is growing as a city, as a collection of communities, and as a center for the Arts. For Project Two, I will finish writing a chapbook-sized collection of poems. I will write a poem a week for a total of sixteen poems. Fatherhood will be the primary focus of the poems with the subthemes of mythology, baseball, films, and masculinity. The poems will both reveal and speak out against toxic masculinity, as well as holistic ways of living in the world as a voice for positive cultural change. Producing this chapbook will also increase my body of knowledge and skills in teaching creative writing classes like Advanced Poetry Writing, Experimental Poetry, Writing Poetic Memory, and Contemporary Poetic Forms. For publishing the chapbook, I will first approach Kattywompus Press which published my chapbook, My Graphic Novel.

Project One will be an Interdisciplinary Study combining poetry with art. This collaboration between English and Art will be a creative endeavor. Project Two will involve the creation of a collection of poems. I have received recognition as a poet on the national, state, and local levels. I was honored to include positive blurbs for my books The Sum of Two Mothers and My Secret Wars of 1984 from nationally-known poets including Amy King, CA Conrad, Allison Cobb, Tony Trigilio, and Susan M. Schultz. Both books were so well-received and carried at many bookstores around the country, that My Secret Wars of 1984 sold out twice from the independent bookseller book distributor Small Press Distribution. The experience I will gain and the work I will produce from the sabbatical hopefully will add to such recognitions.

These projects will enable me to teach additional courses in English. From Project One, a new interdisciplinary course team-taught with a member from the Art Department can break new ground with its focus on creative collaborative work, such as my experience with Barbara Waterman-Peters. Project Two will also enhance my teaching as I will develop a life experience in creative writing course. Finally, these projects will directly benefit the University. In our conversation about Project One, Barbara suggested we first approach the Mulvane Art Museum about a show for our project. For Project Two, I will share my poetry with students in classrooms and on-campus poetry readings to open up discussions on its themes and approaches to diversity and inclusiveness.

I have developed my craft as a poet for over twenty years. I am honored to have published books of poetry on the national level with The Sum of Two Mothers, My Graphic Novel, and My Secret Wars of 1984 which The Kansas City Star selected as a Best Poetry Book of 2015. On the local level, my most recent book of poetry Fast-Food Sonnets was given a 2017 Kansas Notable Book Award. I was awarded the Troy Scroggins Award this year by the Topeka Human Relations Commission for my poetry’s themes of diversity. Also, I am deeply thankful to have my poetry nominated for a Pushcart Prize, selected as runner-up in contests, and published in many distinguished, national literary magazines such as Denver Quarterly, Indiana Review, and 1913: a journal of forms.

For Project One, I emailed Barbara Waterman-Peters to ask if she would be interested in the project. She emailed back, “Yes! I would be honored to work with you on a collaborative project! If you had indicated Fall of this year [2017], I couldn't have, but Fall of 2018 is grand!” We met at PT’s at College Hill to discuss our project further on May 9, 2017. Barbara and I brainstormed the two phases of our project: Plein Air and Exquisite Corpse, two artistic approaches. We planned the Topeka spaces, as well as our work during Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons. Barbara noted, we did not want to ground too many details about our project as we will be open to the creative process. She said, “the work becomes what it will be through the process of being patient and open,” that the artistic process is, “a dance, then something magical. If we put too firm a framework around it, it would be cheating it for what it will be.” For Project Two’s work: as I plan to use the sabbatical to write sixteen high-quality, publishable poems for this project, I will use the time leading up to the sabbatical to write six poems to include with two existing ones. This total of twenty-four poems (2 + 3 in Fall 2017 + 3 in Spring 2018 + 16 Fall 2018 sabbatical) will give me a high-quality, publishable number of poems for the chapbook.

I will brainstorm, write, revise, and edit two poems each week over sixteen weeks: one for Project One and one for Project Two. Two poems will be completed each Friday. A working implementation table summary for each of the sixteen weeks:

	Mornings	Afternoons
Mon	Project 2 Writing	Project 2 Writing
Tue	Project 2 Writing	Project 1 Work Alongside Barbara
Wed	Project 2 Revision	Project 1 Work Alongside Barbara
Thu	Project 1 Revision	Project 1 Work Alongside Barbara
Fri	Project 1 Poem Revised and Completed	Project 2 Poem Revised and Completed

To summarize my processes: in Project One, I will be making a true collaboration with Barbara in the artistic approaches we are using, as well as finding time to write, revise, edit, and complete poems; while in Project Two I will have the time, space, and silence to write, revise, edit, and complete poems.

The locations for Project One, the immersion of various Topeka locations to create poems alongside Barbara, also need the time and space often away from campus. The location for Project Two, anywhere far from the campus and my homelife demands, is also needed for quiet writing and reflection.

Sabbatical Times

Dennis Etzel Jr.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Myth

Virgin

Poems

Sotelo, Analicia

To keep track

Monday, March 12, 2018

Other Projects

List of books / references

Hoopla

Sabbatical description