Embedded Files
Think I could pass as a quirky writing teacher?
For the majority of my adult life I've either attended or worked at a university ... or both. Continuing education and lifelong learning are my prime ambitions. Of course, educational opportunities are ubiquitous, but I'm one of those nerds (geeks? IDK) who responds well to a more formal setting. Here are samplings and snippets of a few of my pieces published in university journals ... which didn't have anything to do with my work or study there; I was just more aware of submission deadlines!
For the majority of my adult life I've either attended or worked at a university ... or both. Continuing education and lifelong learning are my prime ambitions. Of course, educational opportunities are ubiquitous, but I'm one of those nerds (geeks? IDK) who responds well to a more formal setting. Here are samplings and snippets of a few of my pieces published in university journals ... which didn't have anything to do with my work or study there; I was just more aware of submission deadlines!
RESERVOIR
You can’t spend your teenage summers
working at a state reservoir recreation facility
without learning something about human behavior
(or wondering whether there is really anything
to be learned).
Seen from the beach: countless cars dispensing
their young, parents and guardians fleeing
as quickly as quick can, their
manipulative little brats flirting
for attention, pretending to drown
so we muscled and buxom lifeguards
must hold them close to bring them ashore.
Staffing the entrance gate, campers and RVs guided
by the honor system to stop and pay, the whole gamut
of customers behind the wheels. From relaxed retirees
to grumpy, road-weary ready-to-be-homers, to
um, was that guy not wearing pants?!
Drawing the short straw to work the restroom crew …
I won’t insult your intelligence by reliving those details
(yes, as bad as you can imagine, so why go there?)!
Lunch breaks with the other khaki shirts:
games of Euchre, tall tales (and plenty of short ones, too),
homemade Rice Krispie treats, and occasional grasps
of buttocks long before we knew anything
of workplace harassment.
Trying to hold steadfast to my innocence,
my youth, my friendships,
myself.
—Julie Ann Baker Brin, as published in Mikrokosmos, Vol. 70
Mikrokosmos Vol. 70, Spring 2024
Editor: Clarence Carvel (Albury)
Senior Poetry Editor: Hannah Bartlett
Cover art: Lauren Arterburn
Art Director: Juan Gallardo
ISBN: 9798322664949
WSU's Mikrokosmos, Vol. 68
Sneak peeks/excerpts of three poems published in :
Mikrokosmos, Vol 68, 2022
AGENDA 20--
The days of the calendar deceive: neat squares nestled
side by side, uniform, a perfect grid where everything ...
POWER. STEERING. FLUID.
... Memory is a medium
a bit too viscous
for any vehicle ...
WOBBLY
The table wobbles
Is the problem with the table,
the floor, or me? ...
—Julie Ann Baker Brin (excerpts)
Special thanks to Luke Ulatowski, Editor-in-Chief
More info: http://mikrokosmosjournal.com/
ALSO: included in my full-length book (as full-length pieces, of course): The Sigh and Flutter, Anamcara Press, 2026
CALLING APOLLO
sneak peek/excerpt (1st verse):
Of course there are technical difficulties. We expect
them all ways: crossed cables channeling the babble
of mysterious tongues, making eternal
feedback, static in the message. We lose
control, disconnect from the motherboard, cannot
fathom the volume of eleven dimensions. Then:
... (continued in the publication; purchasing info below) ...
—Julie Ann Baker Brin, as published in
Archaeopteryx: The Newman Journal of Ideas (Volume 2), 2014
To purchase this volume:
Special thanks to Dr. Bryan D. Dietrich, Editor
ALSO: included in my full-length book (as a full-length piece, of course): The Sigh and Flutter, Anamcara Press, 2026
NU's Sheridan Edwards Review, Vol. 17
we are
(sneak peek/excerpt)
light waves, slowed down
fossils, sped up
somewhere between
the stars
and ...
... (continued in the publication) ...
—Julie Ann Baker Brin
Winner, 2009 Sr. Madeleine Kisner Prize in Poetry, as published in NU's Sheridan Edwards Review, Volume 17. Editor in-Chief: Aaron Sullivan; Poetry Editor: Rachelle Pohlman, Poetry Judge: Sonya Taaffe
ALSO: included in my full-length book (as a full-length piece, of course): The Sigh and Flutter, Anamcara Press, 2026
SKYWRITER
These words I write with my whole
body, my whole machine.
Punctuating air on air,
daring such vast space.
I dizzy with the yaw of “S,”
and pitch of “H,” anticipating
acceleration of “O”—racetrack to
the rush and lift of “W.”
My old tin can fuselage on display;
its few brave passengers
gasp, clutching for walls.
Then straightaway we descend
to see my work. “Ooh,” we say,
admiring, then start to point
out mistakes: that splotch
in the “M” or the glitch in the “E;”
I should have let up on the stick.
But now we’re grounded, our risky
endeavor a dream of the clouds …
and it all just blows into blue.
—Julie Ann Baker Brin, poetry finalist (runner up), as published in NU's Sheridan Edwards Review, Vol. 18
NU's Sheridan Edwards Review, Vol. 18
(Cover art by Cat Connolly)
NU's Sheridan Edwards Review, Vol. 18
(back cover)
BOOK OF YOU
Could you please give me the book
of you—may I have it? I’ll buy it if I must.
Or borrow it? For just a day. Or maybe three.
So fairly bound, as Juliet would sigh,
though I know it contains no vile matters.
Oh that I would rip out my own pages
just to read your story. But here are my volumes,
cracking in the binding, slumping on the shelf,
cloth-covers molding, dust jackets torn.
I am just so, so very tired of this
dust-coated library, the negligence
of assistants, and that aging checkout clerk.
—Julie Ann Baker Brin, poetry finalist (runner up), as published in NU's Sheridan Edwards Review, Vol. 18
METACOGNITION MACHINE
My body probably shouldn’t be
left alone when my brain thinks
about itself; new things must be
happening in the universe
when it does:
fractals swallow fractals,
mirrors reflect mirrors,
explosions, explosions, explosions.
How strong is the human
skull? It’s impossible, fragile:
just a curtain
over a window
in a summer breeze.
—Julie Ann Baker Brin, poetry finalist, as published in
Newman University's Coelacanth, Vol. 1. To purchase:
https://www.amazon.com/Coelacanth-1-2012-Annie-Lessard/dp/1475009682
NU's Coelacanth, Vol. 1
(back cover) ISBN: 9781475009682
NU's Coelacanth, Vol. 3
(back cover) ISBN: 9781497357310
MOSAIC
You only knew
a mosaic of me;
design broken into
jagged pieces that
you arranged; a bit
of brightness hidden here
and there, held together
by chemical force; and excess
glass left for scrap.
—Julie Ann Baker Brin,
poetry finalist, as published in
Newman University's
Coelacanth, Vol. 3
SOMETIMES SOULS
(excerpt/sneak peek)
Sometimes souls are sticky.
You have to scrape them
off with a metal spatula.
Or soak them in the sink
overnight—which, of course,
your housemate hates.
Sometimes souls are fleeting.
You have to retrofit them
with a GPS transponder. Or, ...
... (continued in the publication) ...
—Julie Brin, as published in NU's Coelacanth, Vol. 5
ALSO: included in my full-length book (as a full-length piece, of course): The Sigh and Flutter, Anamcara Press, 2026
NU's Coelacanth, Vol. 5 (front cover)
Editor-in-Chief: John Denny
NU's Coelacanth, Vol. 5
(back cover) ISBN: 9781530702879
To purchase through Bookshop:
I say to you, flower
I've seen your sex organs
under a microscope—
I know your pollen well,
blurt-flirting about;
so huge like spikes and voodoo—
armadillos at a convention,
scattering to get to that
other part of you
I've seen how you shake it all,
waving those tentacles to gather
bees, bats, birds
—whatever satisfies
I know your family and
your chemicals and everything
that makes you work.
But I couldn't guess
what you are saying to me
—Julie Ann Baker (Brin)
As published in KU's Kiosk, Vol. 13
(at least a gazillion years ago)
KU's Kiosk, Vol. 13
There are more where those came from, but these are probably enough for now. If anyone besides my relatives are reading this and you disagree, feel free to send a note which is highly likely to get lost in my inbox to juliebrin at gmail dot com or find me on social media. (Your note is more likely to be seen if accompanied by a "pay a friend" bank transaction. I mean, formal education is expensive. Wink wink.)
There are more where those came from, but these are probably enough for now. If anyone besides my relatives are reading this and you disagree, feel free to send a note which is highly likely to get lost in my inbox to juliebrin at gmail dot com or find me on social media. (Your note is more likely to be seen if accompanied by a "pay a friend" bank transaction. I mean, formal education is expensive. Wink wink.)
See the page menu at the top for more. Thanks for visiting my portfolio site! —Julie Ann Baker Brin | Contact me: juliebrin@gmail.com
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