Aaron Baker

Associate Professor

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)