re·ta·ble

Amanda Sapir, All Souls Procession 2011. By Lisa O’Neill

Here in Tucson, the air has turned and it is finally beginning to feel like fall. We are also in the season of Dia de los Muertos, the time when the living pay homage to the dead. And so it couldn’t feel more appropriate that for our second the dictionary project presents! reading tonight the word is:

re·ta·ble  (ˈrē-ˌtā-bəl)  n.  [Fr., contr.  <  *reretable; rere (see REAR) + table (see TABLE)], a raised shelf of ledge above an altar for holding altar lights, flowers, etc.

Tonight the readers bringing their offerings, all inspired by the bibliomanced word “retable,” are:

Kimi Eisele,  a Tucson-based multidisciplinary artist who writes, dances, choreographs, teaches and engages the community through art practices and performances. She recently completed her first novel. As the co-director of NEW ARTiculations Dance Theatre, she has directed community-dance projects about such issues as food, water, and public space. She has taught creative writing and movement in schools, communities, and institutions for over a decade.
favorite word right now: ocean
I love the vastness of the actual thing, when I get to see it, which is often only fleetingly.
detested word right now:
I don’t detest many words. and it’s hard to dislike a word for the word’s sake without getting all caught up in what it means. Take “barf” for instance. It’s not a bad word, inherently. But then…don’t you just hearing someone barfing? And then you smell it and then you see the barf. So I guess it’s kind of a great word because it works so well for what it does. Anyway, I’m going to go with “urine.” Because I so hate the smell of it on city walls and sidewalks, especially when the sun’s out. Pee is such a nicer, benign, less smelly word.
 
 
Sarah Kortemeier, who holds an MFA in Creative Writing: Poetry from the University of Arizona. Recently, her work has appeared in Ploughshares, Folio, Sliver of Stone, and Spiral Orb; she has also been a finalist in the annual Gulf Coast and Tennessee Williams Festival Poetry Contests. Sarah is a former journalist, educator, actor, and musician, and has lived and worked in Europe and Asia. She currently serves as a library assistant at the University of Arizona Poetry Center.
Favorite word: creamery
Least favorite word: cunt (I hate this word so much I don’t really want it on the Internet anywhere near my name, but it’s probably better to be honest than to make up something that sounds safer)
 
 
Kristi Maxwell, who eats words. Her books include Re-, Hush Sessions, and Realm Sixty-four.
My favorite word: perhaps
My least favorite: no
 
 
Ted Mcloof, who teaches fiction at the University of Arizona. His fiction has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Minnesota Review, Monkeybicycle, Sonora Review, Gertrude, Hobart, and elsewhere. He’s very cool and very handsome and he’d like to buy you a drink.
Favorite word: picayune
Least favorite word: literally
 
 
Kristen E. Nelson, who is the author of Write, Dad (Unthinkable Creatures Press, 2012). She has work forthcoming in Denver Quarterly, and has published work inDrunken Boat, Tarpaulin Sky Journal, Trickhouse, and Everyday Genius, among others. She is a founder and the Executive Director of Casa Libre en la Solana, a non-profit writing center in Tucson, Arizona; a production editor for Tarpaulin Sky Press; and an editor for Trickhouse. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Goddard College and teaches writing.
Favorite Word: “marmalade” for the music in it
Least Favorite Word: “juxtaposition” because of it’s overuse in my undergraduate reading series a million years ago
 
 
Johanna Skibsrud, who is the author of a collection of short fiction, This Will Be Difficult to Explain and Other Stories (Norton 2012), the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize winning novel, The Sentimentalists (Norton 2011) and two collections of poetry, Late Nights With Wild Cowboys and I Do Not Think That I Could Love A Human Being (Gaspereau Press, 2008, 2011). Originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, Johanna lives in Tucson, AZ, where she is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arizona and is working on a second novel.
Favourite word: and
Least favourite word: but
We will be posting videos and updates after the reading for those of you unable to be with us in person.