Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s At the Drive-In Volcano won the 2007 Balcones Prize.
Nezhukumatathil was born in Chicago to a Filipina mother and a South Indian father. She attended The Ohio State University, where she received her B.A. in English and her M.F.A. in poetry and creative non-fiction. She was the 2000-01 Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing at UW-Madison and is now associate professor of English at State University of New York-Fredonia, where she teaches creative writing and environmental literature.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil on the web:
Website: http://aimeenez.net/home.html
Blog: http://aimeenez.blogspot.com
About At the Drive-In Volcano
About Tupelo Press: https://www.tupelopress.org
When Aimee Nezhukumatathil visited the ACC campus, she led a workshop with creative writing students based on the following exercise. We're grateful for her permission to share the exercise here.
First, read the poem "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia."
(http://www.slate.com/id/2094134/)
Next, explore the Phobia List and, from their extensive collection, choose a phobia that intrigues or inspires or terrifies you, perhaps one you aren't familiar with.
Now try your hand at writing a persona poem from the vantage point of someone who has that phobia. For example: write in the voice of someone who suffers from photophobia, the fear of light. You can take it a step further by placing your persona in a situation where there's bound to be a natural tension. For example, imagine what would happen if someone with photophobia attended a fireworks show or a carnival, or happened to see a shooting star?
Alternately, you can simply write about the phobia itself, as Nezhukumatathil did in "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia." Think of how Nezhukumatathil relates the fear of long words to her own name. Imagine what metaphors your chosen phobia might inspire. And what universal truths can be learned from examining a particular phobia in this way?
2006 Balcones Creative Writing Center Award Winner
Lorna Dee Cervantes