Aaron Baker
Associate Professor
Bio
Teaching Philosophy:
As writers, we immerse ourselves in the work of our forebears while remaining alert to our own perceptions and instincts. This is the process whereby each writer begins to discover a unique voice. There is fluidity to a writer’s progress, I believe, which can be facilitated but not fully controlled by a teacher. I stand ready to suggest a student read a new writer or try a new approach, but in the end my students will navigate according to their own inner compasses. As their teacher, I hope to encourage a faith in this exciting but sometimes difficult process.
Education
- BA, Central Washington University
- MFA, University of Virginia
Research Interests
- Poetry Writing
- Contemporary American Poetry
Publications/Research Listings
Book:
- Mission Work (poetry, Houghton Mifflin, 2008)
Recent Publications:
- New England Review: “Fairhill Farm,” “In Articulo Mortis,” “Rife Machine,”
- “Back Forty”
- New South: “Highlands Cross”
- Ninth Letter: “Cottonwood, “First Language”
- Poetry Northwest: “Babel,” “The Infernal Regions,” “Honeycomb”
- Shenandoah: "The New Religion"
- Missouri Review: “Dark Matter,” “February Nocturne,” “Rural Especial Scene,”
- “The Old Nerve,” “After”
- Mississippi Review: “Late Pastoral”
- The Rumpus: “Anax Junius”
- 32 Poems: “The Shallows,” "Deism"
- Memorious: "A Field Guide to the Moths of North America"
Awards
- Glasgow/Shenandoah Prize for Emerging Writers (2009)
- Katherine Bakeless Award for a First Book of Poetry (2008)
- Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing, Stanford University (2001-2003)