Jasper Oliver


Master of Fine Arts in Writing

Writing is speaking for posterity. Speaking is a mixture of performing and listening. Performing involves playing tricks, doing moves, and baring your heart. Listening involves letting the world enter and change you. When I write I am playing a trick on you and also myself. A trick can make fun, but it can also create magic. I am doing somersaults and headstands that I learned from reading. I am recalling the energy of the beats, the spirit of the surrealists, the heartache of literature, the weirdness of fantasy, the power of satire, the fruit blender of postmodernism. I am repeating the bits I rehearsed while I was out on a long walk passing happy dogs and blossoms. I am uttering. I am saying, “Here is a little piece of me, friends. How about this one?” I’m trying to say the brave and vulnerable things that lead us to one another.