Dispatch #101
Panel Discussion: Pitching During the Pandemic On August 17 we held this panel with three WGA Screenwriters where we asked them the question: How has COVID-19 Changed the field of Creative Writing, […]
Dispatch #100
Pandemic Poetry: Poetry of social movements In May, 2023, we hosted this amazing event in-person on the poetry of the pandemic. We focussed on the social movements during the Pandemic and the […]
Dispatch #099
Pitching During the Pandemic How has the Coronavirus Pandemic and its surrounding cultural turbulence affected a generation of creative writers, specifically Hollywood screenwriters, and how will it continue to affect storytelling in […]
Dispatch #098
Messages by Pete Mladinic In the city messengers in long black coats scuttled across an avenue. Lizard asked Uncle Baxter what were the messages. You are alone, as I am; we are […]
Dispatch #097
Disco by Colleen Curlin Ever since we locked the doors, a little orange sequin follows me around the house. Shining up at me from the closet floor, ready to twirl for the […]
Dispatch #096
Pandemic Halloween by Ethan Stanton Magic princesses wandered the empty street while cold witches at the door pointed in justice to their signs reading as indicated by the stated policy of the […]
Dispatch #095
Dispatches from Quarantine Presents Kristina Wong & Rebecca Solnit in Conversation San Francisco, CA – San Francisco Creative Writing Institute Presents: Dispatches from Quarantine: Kristina Wong in Conversation with Rebecca Solnit How […]
Dispatch #094
First Person Lonesome: Writing About the Covid-Experience How does one write about the experience of COVID? It’s universal–the virus has covered the world, but it is also particular. Some of us were […]
Dispatch #093
Making Sense of Pandemic Era as a Writer – May 12, 2023 – So yesterday, May 11, was the day that Covid-19 Public Health emergency in the United States ended. I sit […]
Dispatch #092
Capital Philosophy by Drew Pisarra I forget when Reality became a genre, ‘though I do recall when Lies were recast as Alt Facts. As for what’s Sane that’s always been up for […]
Dispatch #091
The Year I Quit Teaching by ruth crossman I spent the Fall of 2019 working six days a week at two different colleges on opposite ends of San Francisco while frantically applying […]
Dispatch #090
Sixty Percent by Juli Lasselle The ableds are complaining. They’re doing analyses on the effects of Covid-19 lockdown isolation or close quarters with their families: the depression, the strain on relationships, the […]
Dispatch #089
INCOMING: THE GAME by Michael Brownstein The sun beckons us outside, a spring wind waves its hand, so we go–leaving the fortress into the world of confusion, disharmony, angst, and fear. Our […]
Dispatch #088
TIME by Aimee Suzara Thinking and writing about the sacrifices of motherhood and the loss of a writer’s most precious resource: TIME. First, of course, I chose to be a mother, and […]
Dispatch #087
INTERVIEW WITH THE VIRUS by D.S. Black Good day C.V. every day I’m still alive’s a good day Good day Crown-Virus Esquire—not to curry favor if such a thing were even possible […]
Dispatch #086
Village Talk by Mj Pramik Posted May 13, 2020 I’d like to slap that smirk right off Paul Hudson’s face! Didn’t his friggin mother teach him some morals?! Sneering Paul thinks he’s […]
Dispatch #085
HOW TO BE HUMAN – Letting Go by Elisa Stancil From the early days of this sea change April 2020 Yesterday a package arrived from China, elastic I sourced from Etsy months […]
Dispatch #084
So Long to a Sorry Year by Barbara Kazdan I feel blah. Not sad. Not anything. Think I’ve depleted my reserve of good cheer. Which for me is saying a lot. All […]
Dispatch #083
Third Wave by Brenda Gunn I stare at the sock and dust bunny peeking from just far enough under the couch; a solo Cheerio, strayed somehow from the breakfast table almost made […]
Dispatch #082
Dispatches Update By Alexandra Kostoulas Well, dear readers. Here I am. Back again after a long hiatus. I keep not adding to this blog. Keep hoping that the pandemic will be over […]
Dispatch #081
The evolution, April by J.I. Kleinberg For a while, in the first months of the pandemic, you feared your hands: that they might be the engine of your destruction, grab from the […]
Dispatch #080
The Revolt of the Homeless by Gary Beck The young patrol officer and the tired, cynical Sergeant slowly herded the homeless off the subway car. The young officer kept saying: “C’mon guys. […]
We Were Awarded a California Arts Council Local Impact Grant
Dear Readers, I’m pleased to announce that San Francisco Creative Writing Institute just received a Local Impact Award from the California Arts Council. State funds will support Dispatches from Quarantine: A literary blog […]
Dispatch #079
The Waiting Room by K.R. Morrison Sleeping awake in dream, I visited the waiting room of those always socially distanced One crew of ancestor slaves baked a cake for Saturn laughing they […]
Dispatch #078
Hallelujah by Rowena Choy Henry On the night before his inauguration I watched President-elect Biden and his wife and Vice President-elect Harris and her husband attend a ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial […]
Dispatch #077
Shadow by Mir Yashar Seyedbagheri Phil sees his shadow. I see shadows too. Older sisters, mothers, smiles, and hugs over Zoom. Shadows of I-love-yous, words crackling, and promises to see each other […]
Dispatch #076
Winter 2021 Alien Nations by Gerard Sarnat i. Otherness Plague tanka Entering Year II, mid-septuagenarian’s grown weary spending precious time sequestered — not hugging/ kissing loved, dying. * ii. West […]
Dispatch #075
Bald Rapunzel by Robert E. Petras Me—leaning over the balcony, Confined for a 14-day sentence To the garage apartment, Found guilty by nose swab, The negative positive of these times. My […]
Dispatch #074
Ghosts by Rowena Choy Henry At the beginning of the pandemic in New York City I felt a searing sense of deja vu when I heard the stories shared by the nurses […]
Dispatch #073
THE GUITAR MAN IN QUARANTINE by John Grey I’m wary of doorknobs and the breath of others but this wood I’d trust with my life. I’m nervous putting my hands most places […]
Dispatch #072
WHEN THE DARKNESS by Michael H. Brownstein Everything is tumbling to an end, a rock fall detour, water cascades, a glint of silver wash and obsidian. Soon darkness will no longer prevail. […]
Dispatch #071
Blue Mask Seas by Stephen Mead (for my Friend, Tom Stephany, taken by Covid on World AIDS Day 2020) They are so easy to picture: that ridge for the nose a wave’s […]
Dispatch #070
Platinum City by Hongri Yuan Translated by: Manu Mangattu Ah! Of iridescent gems of time The heavenly road you paved light！ In a kingdom of stars, I found my home. In the […]
Dispatch #069
Covid Pariah by Mark Tulin I am a Covid pariah, an uncomfortable outcast, an undesirable, a black crow, wild and untamed, solemn in a strange and foreign land where people don’t care […]
Dispatch #068
Covid Camouflage by Angie Bell oh what an odd masquerade with eyes that wrinkle in smiles while the real smile is disguised and we dance six feet apart ever hesitant longing to […]
Dispatch #067
CHANGE by Marlene Waldock Yesterday I walked freely In grocery stores Through the malls Today I am masked Afraid to talk to others Staying six feet apart Uncertain about the […]
Dispatch #066
Pandemic, 2020 by Pat Hanahoe-Dosch She woke in rain, the grief of an entire city, water and wind in the darkness. She burned, but rain could not extinguish her, […]
Dispatch #065
Ryoko by Katy Van Sant Ryoko came to our house on a rainy day. Everyone liked the rain at that time because it made us feel cleaner. The virus was everywhere and […]
Dispatch #064
And the Pleiades, Midnight By: Alexandra Kostoulas Moon has set and Pleiades: middle night, the hour goes by, […]
Dispatch #063
Shelter Journal by Sara Shelton Mann it’s when your shoes are filled with ice you know you took the wrong turn falling backwards and holding your breath, learning the piano you sit […]
Dispatch #062
Groundhog Day by Valerie Sopher after Ben Lerner the endless loop of living another sea-tossed sleep another morning lying in bed penciling in Sudoku squares another sheltering day of can’t get over […]
Dispatch #061
A Shadow on the Wall by Thaddeus Howze Have you ever wondered ifyou’ve died and no one told you? You’re going through the motionsbut nothing in your life changes… A series of […]
Dispatch #060
3 Poems The Routine of Space by Angela Costi Honour the time not made from the list of work nor the menu of food nor the drama of screen nor the soaping […]
Dispatch #059
tools at hand by Peggy Morrison It seems like the beginning of the end of the world heart heavy with spooky darkness forests consumed by orange flames massive plumes of smoke rising […]
Dispatch #058
Silver Lining by Norma Smith My animal sleeps, eyes open, on her gray sheepskin pad beside my desk. She’s curled up, snoring gently. Both of her two-leggeds have stayed home with her […]
Dispatch #057
Night and Day. Covid, October 21 by Penelope Blair Late in the evening I read an email from my poetry friend It sounds reluctant, and casual despite the potential for panic She’s […]
Dispatch #056
Lower-Class Artist Imagines by Tongo Eisen-Martin Grip my heart tighter, Lord Help me write on this sleeve… like listening to Nina Simone later in life The poet takes over for his former […]
Dispatch #055
2 Poems by Andres Cordoba the heart keeping me alive When spiders build webs it is from the center out. They are fishermen in their wordless devotion, traversing gaps far too large […]
Update on Dispatches from Quarantine
December 7, 2021 Dear Writers & Readers: After a series of setbacks which caused an almost year-long hiatus in our publishing cycle, we pleased to announced that Dispatches are back! We have […]
Dispatch #054
Zarina Zabrisky 9/11: I have mentioned before that I was booked to fly United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, from Newark to San Francisco, with my family. It crashed in […]
Dispatches from Quarantine 
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