Robin Behn

Robin Behn

Professor Emerita

Education

  • MFA, Creative Writing, University of Iowa, 1984
  • MA, English, University of Missouri, 1982
  • BA, Creative Writing, Oberlin College, 1979

Research Areas

  • Creative Writing

Bio

Robin Behn is Professor of English and teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing. Her books of poetry are Paper Bird (Texas Tech University Press), winner of the Associated Writing Programs Award Series in Poetry; The Red Hour (HarperCollins), Horizon Note (University of Wisconsin Press), winner of the Brittingham Prize; Naked Writing (DoubleCross Press), The Yellow House (Spuyten Duyvil), and Quarry Cross (Plume Editions).

She is co-editor of The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach (HarperCollins), and editor of Once Upon a Time in the 21st Century: Unexpected Exercises in Creative Writing (University of Alabama Press). A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the state arts councils of Illinois and Alabama, and the New England Review narrative poetry prize, her work appears in the Pushcart Prize anthology, Best American Poetry, and many literary journals.

Behn is a graduate of Oberlin College, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and The University of Iowa. At The University of Alabama, she has been the recipient of the Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award and an Arts and Sciences Leadership Board Fellowship, as well as a Community Service Engagement Award for her direction of the Creative Writing Club for high school writers.

An active collaborator, she has exhibited poems/paintings with visual artist Mirjana Ugrinov and played flute and penny whistle in Waxwing Band, with whom she performed her “fiddle tune poems.” She has taught courses on Creativity and Cognition with psychology professor Beverly Roskos, and on Artistic Collaboration with dance professor Sarah Barry and printmaker Sarah Marshall.  Recently, Behn wrote the libretto for a new opera, “Freedom and Fire: a Civil War Story,” composed by Amir Zaheri and directed by Paul Houghtaling.

Selected Publications

Books Authored

  • Quarry Cross (poems). Plume Editions, 2018.
  • The Yellow House (poems). New York: Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2012.
  • Naked Writing (poems). Tuscaloosa: DoubleCross Press, 2008.
  • Horizon Note (poems). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.
  • The Red Hour (poems). New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
  • Paper Bird (poems). Lubbock: Texas Tech UP, 1988.

Books Edited

  • Once Upon a Time in the Twenty-first Century: Unexpected Exercises in Creative Writing. University of Alabama Press and GFT Books, 2018.
  • The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach. With Chase Twichell. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

Articles and Essays

  • “Notes on Notes,/: Punctuation and Poetry,” Words Overflown by Stars. Ed. David Jauss. Writers Digest Books, 2009
  • “”In the Music Room,” Planet on the Table: Poets on the Reading Life. Ed. Sharon Bryan and William Olsen. Sarabande Books, 2003.
  • “The Early Days of Her Conversion.” Sister to Sister. Ed. Patricia Foster. Anchor Books. New York: Doubleday, 1995. 17-30. Rpt. in The Washington Post Magazine, December 3, 1995: 30-51.
  • “A Confusion of Plums: Williams’ ‘To a Poor Old Woman.'” Occident CII (1988): 208-209.

Poems in Journals

  • “Tuscaloosa and Beyond,” Crazyhorse, forthcoming 2018
  • “Blue October,” The Cape Rock, 2017
  • “The Old Feeder,”The Cape Rock, 2017
  • “The Stanzas Combine at Dusk,”The Cape Rock, 2017
  • “Palette,”The American Journal of Poetry, v.2, 2017
  • “The Wildness,” The American Journal of Poetry, v. 2, 2017
  • “Still Life with Box Turtle and a Box of Chocolates,” Still Life with Poem, Literary House Press, 2016
  • “Garden Path Project,” Plume Anthology Series 4, 2016.
  • “In My Dog Dream,” Eleven Eleven, California College of the Arts, 2015.
  • “Dream of the Cat on Three Legs,” Eleven Eleven, California College of the Arts, 2015
  • “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,” Plume, forthcoming.
  • “The List,” Plume, December 2014.
  • “Gifts,” Plume, December 2014.
  • “Leaving Church,” Seminary Ridge Review. Gettysburg PA, 2014.
  • “It is Not Always Possible to Fall in Love in Blackberry Season,”TAB: The Journal of Poetry and Poetics, 2013. Includes audio.
  • “The Shining,” TAB: The Journal of Poetry and Poetics, 2013
  • “In a Vodka Vein,”Plume Anthology Series 2, 2014.
  • “Vigil. Summer. Alabama.” The Offending Adam 060.3, May 2011.
  • “Here at the Scene,”Plume, October 2011.
  • “Two Rivers,” The Cafe Review, Spring 2010.
  • “Elegy and Lament,” Upstreet, June 2009.
  • “Yellow Pilgrimage,” Spirituality and Health, 2010.
  • “Elegy: Cook County,” Breathe: 101 Contemporary Odes, C&R Press, 2008, 26-27.
  • “Shatter,” Kenyon Review, Spring 2009.
  • “My Hair,” Poetry, June/July 2008.
  • “Luxurious,” Cafe Review, Summer 2008
  • “For Reba in Moonlight,”Cafe Review, Summer 2008
  • “Yellow Mustang,”Cafe Review, Summer 2008
  • “Unabashed,”Cafe Review, Summer 2008
  • “Reading in the Yellow House,” Third Coast, Fall 2006, 139.
  • “The Yellow House as God,” Third Coast, Fall 2006, 140.
  • “Lyric Year,” Caffeine Destiny, March 2006.
  • “Yellow House Isogloss,”Caffeine Destiny, March 2006.
  • “Epistle to Unrelenting Days,” Crab Orchard Review, 10/2 (Summer/Fall 2005).
  • “Contained,” Diner 5/2 (Fall/Winter 2005), 48-49.
  • “Yellow Morning,” PMS poemmemoirstory, Spring 2006.
  • “The Floating Room,” PMS poemmemoirstory, Spring 2006.
  • “A Pattern Language,” The Manhattan Review, Fall 2005.
  • “The Green Field,”The Manhattan Review, Fall 2005.
  • “Above the Attic of the Yellow House There is Another Set of Stairs,”The Manhattan Review, Fall 2005.
  • “Chandelier,”The Manhattan Review, Fall 2005.
  • “Distances of the Yellow House,”The Manhattan Review, Fall 2005.
  • “Waves,” Columbia: A Journal of Arts and Letters 41 (Spring 2005), 80-81.
  • “Yellow Doors,” Volt, 2006.
  • “Yellow House, Last Words,”Volt, 2006.
  • “Old Distance Woman Has Asked the Yellow House for a Book,” Cue: A Journal of Prose Poetry 2/1(Winter 2005), 30-31.
  • “Where the Horse Went,” Cue: A Journal of Prose Poetry 2/1 (Winter 2005), 32-33.
  • “House Why Don’t You Have,” Cue: A Journal of Prose Poetry2/1(Winter 2005), 34.
  • “Antihelion: Conception of the Yellow House,” New Orleans Review, 30/2 (Fall 2004), 155.
  • “The Yellow House Gives Art Book Tour Number One,” Field 71 (Fall 2004), 60.
  • “Tour Number Two,” Field 71 (Fall 2004), 61
  • “Horse Between Tours,” Field 71 (Fall 2004), 62.
  • “Tour Number Three,” Field (Fall 2004), 63.
  • “Interview with Frequently Misspelled Words,” The Diagram 4.4, thediagram.com, 2004.
  • “Inventory at Dusk,” Poetry London, Fall 2004.
  • “The Other Muse,” Mid-American Review (Spring 2004).
  • “Below the Cellar of the Yellow House There is Another Set of Stairs,” Born Magazine, (Autumn 2003).
  • “Pursuit of the Yellow House,” Triquarterly (Spring/Summer 2004).
  • “The Yellow House Alone in Snow,” Triquarterly (Spring/Summer 2004).
  • “Of the Two Muses,” Perihelion II/7 (2003).
  • “Hydrangea,” Perihelion II/7 (2003).
  • “The Yellow House for Sale,” Perihelion II/7 (2003).
  • “Autumn Cafe,” Perihelion II/7 (2003).
  • “Station in White,” Indiana Review 25/1 (Spring 2003), 191-192.
  • “Aspirations of the Yellow House,” Crazyhorse, 121-122.
  • “The Yellow House Writes a Story for the Boy,” The Journal (Fall 2003), 128.
  • “Red and Black Days,” The Journal (Fall 2003), 129.
  • “Elegy for the Difference Between Reading and Being.” American Literary Review XII/2 (Fall 2001): 18–19.
  • “On Thursday She Began Saying Everything At Once.” Spoon River Poetry Review XXVII/1 (Winter/Spring 2002): 17–18.
  • “Elegy and Request.”Spoon River Poetry Review XXVII/1 (Winter/Spring 2002): 17–18.
  • “Glove.”Spoon River Poetry Review XXVII/1 (Winter/Spring 2002): 16.
  • “Frame.”Spoon River Poetry Review XXVII/1 (Winter/Spring 2002): 19–20.
  • “To Brain on Brain’s Last Day.” Crab Orchard Review 7/1 (Fall/Winter 2001): 35–36.
  • “Interlude: Still Still.” Crab Orchard Review 7/1 (Fall/Winter 2001): 37–38.
  • “Postlude.” Bellingham Review XXIV/2 (Fall 2001): 133–134.
  • “Vigil: Dwindle.”Bellingham Review XXIV/2 (Fall 2001): 131–132.
  • “Ballad in Fall.” Kenyon Review XXIII.1 (Winter 2001): 65–66.
  • “Elegy for Lessons.”Kenyon Review XXIII.1 (Winter 2001): 66–68.
  • “Dark Yellow Poem.” Ploughshares 26/4 (Winter 2000–01): 35–36.
  • “Grey Poem.” The Cortland Review 12 (August 2000).
  • “Prelude for Penny Whistle.” The Iowa Review 31/2 (Fall 2001): 85–86.
  • “Thought is Allowed.” The Iowa Review 31/2 (Fall 2001): 87–88.
  • “Slide.” Field 32 (Spring 2000): 5–6.
  • “Double Elegy in Spring.” The Southern Review 35.2 (Spring 1999): 202–204.
  • “Whether or Not There Are Apples.”Kenyon Review XXI.2 (Winter 1999): 79–80.
  • “Still Life.” Kenyon Review XXI.1 (Winter 1999): 78–79.
  • “The Call.” Third Coast (Spring 1998): 22-24.
  • “The Difference Between Writing and Music.” Colorado Review XXV (Spring 1998): 4-5.
  • “Wolf Story.” New Letters 63.1 (Fall 1997): 20-22.
  • “The Other Side.” New Letters 63.1 (Fall 1997):18-19.
  • “On Being Asked My Opinion About an Autopsy.” Iowa Review (Spring 1998): 187-188.
  • “The Scientist.” Field 57 (Fall 1997): 107-108.
  • “The Swim.” Field 57 (Fall 1997): 109-110.
  • “Sylvia’s Starlings.” Field 57 (Fall 1997): 111-112.
  • “Five O’Clock,” “Windy Popples, Late October.” Iowa Review (Spring 1994): 75-76.
  • “The Bassoonist,” “French Horn,” “The Saving Grace of Mozart.” Iowa Review 22.2 (1992): 41- 48.
  • “Grackles,” “On Giving My Father a Book About Roses.” Field 47 (Fall 1992): 78-82.
  • “Those Unitarian Sundays.” The American Voice 26 (Spring 1992): 110-11.
  • “The One Girl on the Soccer Team,” “The Experiment.” Crazyhorse (Fall 1992): 30-34.
  • “The Paperweight.” The Spoon River Quarterly XVII.3-4 (Summer/Fall 1992): 51-52.
  • “Vision Near Ice,” “Ten Years After Your Deliberate Drowning.” Indiana Review 14.1 (Spring 1991):20-23.
  • “Five O’Clock in Your Childhood.” The American Voice 23 (Summer 1991): 88-90.
  • “Slow Movement in G.” Denver Quarterly 26.1 (Summer 1991): 9-10.
  • “The House in the Clearing.” The Ohio Review (Fall 1991): 38-39.
  • “Husbandry,” “Midwestern Villanelle.” The Iowa Review, 20.3 (1990): 33-37.
  • “The God Hole.” Ploughshares, 16.4 (Winter 1990-91): 142-143.
  • “Aubade.” The Missouri Review, XIII.2 (1990) 48-49.
  • “The Name of God.” Agni Review, 31/32 (1990): 182-183.
  • “The Oboist.” New England Review, 13.1 (Fall 1990): 86-87.
  • “Maybe the Jay.” Poets for Life: 76 Poets Respond to AIDS. New York: Crown, 1989. 25-27.
  • “Etiquette.” The Iowa Review, (Summer 1988): 119-20.
  • “Letter Via Stars.” The Iowa Review (Summer 1988): 120-21.
  • “Recovery.” The Iowa Review (Summer 1988): 123.
  • “Quintet for Flute and Strings.” The Iowa Review (Summer 1988): 121-22.
  • “Fogging the Bees.” The Ohio Review (Fall 1988): 82.
  • “World.” Quarry West, 25.118 (Fall 1988): 118.
  • “Angels.” Poetry, CLII (May 1988): 90-91.
  • “Birch Island.” New Letters (Spring 1988): 59.
  • “Dear Sky.” 5 A.M., (Winter 1988): 3.
  • “In That Year,” “The Waders.” Denver Quarterly, 22.4 (Spring 1988): 10-15.
  • “Not East.” New Letters (Spring 1988): 58.
  • “Open Heart.” Poetry, CLII (May 1988): 88-89.
  • “The Angel in Sandusky.” Gambit 21 (1987): 9.
  • “Land’s End.” Denver Quarterly (Fall 1987): 18.
  • “Leavetaking in Winter.” Denver Quarterly (Fall 1987).
  • “To the City of San Cristobal de las Cases.” Indiana Review 10.3 (Spring 1987): 82-83.
  • “Vestigial Kisses,” “Two Waves.” Gambit 21 (1987): 10-11.
  • “The Earth’s a Little Lighter.” The Iowa Review 16 (Winter 1986): 6.
  • “Elegy for the New Year.” Farmer’s Market 3 (Spring/Summer 1986):43.
  • “Light on Water.” Whetstone 3 (Spring 1986): 56-57.
  • “Paper Bird.” The Iowa Review 16 (Winter 1986): 4-5.
  • “Poem Against Regret.” Whetstone 3 (Spring 1986): 55.
  • “Winter Poem.” Farmer’s Market 3.2 (Spring/Summer 1986): 44-45.
  • “Four Years After Your Deliberate Drowning.” Poetry CXLV (March 1985): 337.
  • “Last Page.” Tendril 79 (1985): 19-20.
  • “Over 102nd Street.” Ironwood 13 (Spring 1985): 150-151.
  • “Whole-Body Count.” Ironwood 13 (Spring 1985): 152.
  • “After Love.” Crazyhorse 26 (Spring 1984): 42-43.
  • “Geographies,” “Living with Sister.” American Poetry Review 13/14 (July/August 1984): 21.
  • “Night Sail off Raber.” Antioch Review 42 (Summer 1984): 329.
  • “Off Shore.” Catch 16 (Fall 1984): 30-31.
  • “To Rise So Suddenly.” The Georgia Review XXXVIII (Winter 1984): 824.
  • “Distinguished Flying Cross.” Field 29 (Fall 1983): 76.
  • “The Drowned Among Us.” The Missouri Review VII (Fall 1983): 54-55.
  • “The First Angel.” Field 29 (Fall 1983): 75.
  • “Late Search.” The Seattle Review 4.2 (Fall 1981): 9.

Poems in Anthologies

  • “Three Horses,” When She Named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry By American Women, ed. Andrea Hollander Budy, Autumn House Press, 25.
  • “Unabashed,” When She Named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry By American Women, ed. Andrea Hollander Budy, Autumn House Press, 24-25.
  • “My Hair,” When She Named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry By American Women, ed. Andrea Hollander Budy, Autumn House Press, 24.
  • “Hydrangea,” When She Named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry By American Women, ed. Andrea Hollander Budy, Autumn House Press, 26.
  • “Elegy: Cook County,” When She Named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry By American Women, ed. Andrea Hollander Budy, Autumn House Press, 26-27.
  • “The Floating Room,” Observable Readings 2006-2007. St. Louis: Observable Books, 2008.
  • “Yellow Morning,” “Pursuit of the Yellow House,” “The Name of God,” and “Above the Attic There is Another Set of Stairs,” Evensong: Contemporary Poems of Spirituality. Ed. Chad Prevost and Gerry LaFemina, Bottom Dog Press, 2006.
  • “Contained,” Verse Daily. January 20, 2006.
  • “In Dreams She is Permitted to Return to a Room,” “Inventory at Dusk,” “The Yellow House Checks Out an Art Books and Gives Tour Number One,”
  • “Below the Cellar of the Yellow House There is Another Set of Stairs,” www.poetrymagazine.com, Summer 2005.
  • “Interlude: Still Still.” Third Rail: An Anthology of Poetry About Rock & Roll. Ed. Jonathan Wells, MTV Books/Pocket Books, April 2007.
  • “Waves.”  Verse Daily. October 14, 2005.
  • “The Yellow House Gives Art Book Tour Number One.” The Eye of the Beholder: A Poets’ Gallery. Ed. Maurya Simon and Elizabeth Aamot, forthcoming.
  • Thirteen poems in American Alphabets: Twenty-five Contemporary Poets, ed. David Walker, Oberlin College Press, 2006.
  • “Pursuit of the Yellow House.” The Pushcart Prize XXX: Best of the Small Presses, 2005.
  • “Antihelion.” Verse Daily.
  • “Inventory at Dusk.” Poetry Daily.
  • “Interlude: Still Still.” Poets of the New Century. David R. Godine, 2001.
  • “Whether or Not There Are Apples.” Poets of the New Century. David R. Godine, 2001.
  • “Elegy for Lessons.” Poets of the New Century. David R. Godine, 2001.
  • “Slide” Poetry Daily. Featured poet on August 14, 2000.
  • “Interlude: Still Still.” Poets of the New Century. Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 1996. 323-24.
  • “Midwestern Villanelle.” Hard Choices: An Iowa Review Reader. Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 1996. 323-24.
  • “In That Year.” Articulations: the Body and Illness in Poetry. Ed. Jon Mukand. Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 1994. 4.
  • “French Horn.” The Pushcart Prize XVII: Best of the Small Presses, 1993/1994. 463-465.
  • “Midwestern Villanelle.” The Best American Poetry. Ed. Charles Simic and David Lehman. New York: Macmillan, 1992.
  • To Rise So Suddenly.” Keener Sounds: Selected Poems from the Georgia Review. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987.
  • “Paper Bird,” “Open Heart,” “Floating Gallery,” “After Love,” “Geographies,” “Four Years After Your Deliberate Drowning,” “The Drowned Among Us,”
  • “Drownproofing Lesson,” “Unopened,” “Last Bird,” “To Rose So Suddenly,” Benchmark: Anthology of Contemporary Illinois Poetry. Urbana: Stormline P, 1988. 2-18.
  • “To Rise So Suddenly.” Benchmark: Anthology of Contemporary Illinois Poetry. Urbana: Stormline P, 1988. 2-18.
    “Geographies.” The Creative Process: Ten Years at Ragsdale. Lake Forest: The Ragsdale Foundation, 1986. 33.
  • “To Rise So Suddenly.” The Anthology of Magazine Verse and Yearbook of American Poetry. Los Angeles: Monitor Book Company, 1985.