"to poet is to make"
Aimee Nezhukumatathil
All that inspires, esp. because "“Love will heal / What language
fails to know”
― Eavan Boland
Shareen K. Murayama
“Ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: 'Must I write?' said Rilke.”
“You’re going to live forever. You’ll never be alone. You’ll be on your 17th marriage, outlive all your husbands and wives.” - when someone truly gets you
I'm an English major, a creative MFA-er, a poet, a widow, a high school teacher, a fourth-generation Japanese-Okinawan American living 2,500 miles away from the continental USA, a she-her pansexual who occasionally attempts to push paint w/ h20, adheres to my weekly vitamin sea regimen, & aspires to be a better human-bean.
Poets who inspire me: W.S. Merwin, Ellen Bass, Naomi Shihab Nye, Prageeta Sharma, Jill Osier, Wendy Xu, Harryette Mullen, Charles Simic, Layli Long Soldier, Tracy K. Smith, Claudia Rankine, TC Tolbert, Jose Hernandez Diaz, Aimee Nezhukumatatahil, Hala Alyan, Diannely Antigua, Jenny George, K-Ming Chang, Jihyun Yun, and so many more.
You can find me @ambusypoeming on IG & Twitter.
Email: shareenmurayama@gmail.com
scholarships et cetera
October 2022
Prospect Street Writers House
North Bennington, Vermont
March 2022
Mendocino Coast Writers' Conference Masters Class with Faith Adele
Jan. 2022
Bereket Writers Workshop Invitation
August 2021
Flight School for Poetry
Sponsored by Flypaper Lit
2016-2017
Fulbright Distinguished Educator Fellow Alternate
Aug. 2015
Ashbery Home School for Poets, New York
July 2015
National Endowment for Humanities Scholar
Asian Americans in Film & Literature
New York
March 2015
Spring Creek Collaborative Artists Retreat, Oregon
Nov. 2014
National Board Certification Teacher
Hawai`i
Education
M.F.A. Creative Writing, Oregon State University
Prof. Diploma Secondary Education, English, University of Hawai`i
B.A. English, University of Hawai`i