Who is the You? Identity and Perspective in Contemporary Poetry

Querencia Press

A 2-hour generative workshop facilitated by Erika Gill

In this 2 hour generative workshop participants will be exposed to poetry written in the second person perspective and explore the way identity and point-of-view intersect to deliver the reader an immersive experience. Erika Gill (they/them) lives, writes and builds community on unceded Tséstho’e (Cheyenne), Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, hinono’eino’ biito’owu’ (Arapaho), and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land in Denver, Colorado, where they do billing at a translations technology company. They also wait tables at a restaurant. In addition, they’re the Editor in Chief of Alternative Milk Magazine, an independent biannual literary and art magazine. In other lives, Erika has been a flight attendant, actor, elementary after-school program teacher, and a music journalist. They were born in Orange, California, and after a 5 year childhood stint in Oklahoma, they grew up longest in the upper Mojave Desert in Victorville, CA, which is notable only in being the filming location of The Hills Have Eyes.  Erika was a nontraditional university student who studied English with a focus on Literature, and did most of the minor coursework in French, Journalism, and Political Science at Loyola Marymount University. Erika has a long history of starting and abandoning fiction projects. They won the Victor Valley College Writing contest for Poetry in 2010 and placed second in Fiction in 2009 and 2010. Their poetry may be found in Rigorous, MORIA, Birdy, petrichor and others. Erika is the author of Lone Yellow Flower, a collection of poetry focusing on identity, human connection, nature and environmental themes, mental health, racism, resistance, and joy (Querencia Press, forthcoming). They live in Denver with their two cats, Delphine and Onyx, along with an unreasonable number of houseplants. Erika is a karaoke enthusiast, and enjoys trying new foods, reading about cryptids, and crocheting while watching kdramas. When capitalism allows, they enjoy painting and writing music and would love to release a music project some day. Erika can be found on the internet at <a href="https://www.erikagill.com" title="https://www.erikagill.com" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">erikagill.com</a> and on social media @invariablyso.

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