Absence is not empty; it is an active, echoing space. It implies something that was once there, defined by the shape left behind—the lingering dent in a favorite armchair, the lilt of a voice that still persists, the wet gravity of the unsaid or the missing.
In this virtual class, we’ll examine and discuss writing that illuminates absence on the page. Through generative exercises and sharing, we’ll explore ways to add, remove, and illuminate absence on the pages of our work – prose or poetry – to create curiosity and capture the attention of our readers.
Jessica Danger is an Assistant Professor of English, the Director of Education at Dead Reckoning Collective, and Joshua Tree Writers Retreat Co-Founder. She holds an MFA from Bennington College, where she was also awarded the Nonfiction Alumni Fellowship in 2025. She was nominated for the Lucy Grealy Nonfiction Prize, a finalist for the Iowa Review Nonfiction Prize, and also for the 2024 Literary Awards. Her work has been published widely, including in The Sun and Oh, Reader, and her memoir, No Heroic Measures, was published in Spring 2026 by the Santa Fe Writers Project. She lives in Southern California with her husband, Keith Dow, and their family. She’s online at Jessica-Danger.com.
–April 15, 2026: “There Is A Road In This Poem” with Denton Loving
–June 13, 2026: “Reinventing Our Prose” with Davin Malasarn and K-Ming Chang
