tamie parker song
long-form compositional improvisation!
If you're not prepared to risk your entire reputation every time you write, then it's not worth your audience's time. -Jose Rivera
“Prairie Whale” was published in the Spring 2023 issue (the “Reverence” issue) of Brink Literary Journal.
“Disobedience” was published in the Spring 2022 issue of Selkie Zine. It can be found here.
“The Fifth Direction” can be found in the August issue of Terrain.org, here. This essay won the 2020 Terrain Editor’s Prize for Nonfiction. It was also nominated for a Pushcart and was a finalist for Best of the Net 2022.
"I am a split clay pot and the wind's blowing over my ribs: Dispatch from the Field," can be found in the May 2018 issue of The Selkie Zine, here.
"Thirteen Ways of Killing the Captain's Son" can be found in the fifth issue of The Selkie Zine, here.
"Spit/Reef" can be found in the December 2016 issue of The Selkie Zine, here.
"Knots Used in Fishing" can be found in the second issue of The Selkie Zine, here.
"Manhandled" was originally published in the Fall 2015 issue of New Ohio Review, and was subsequently shortlisted Best American Essays 2016. It can be found here.
"David the Green Dragon Goes to the Opera," can be found here, in the Spring 2015 issue of Literal Latte.
"Sleep" can be found in the Spring 2015 (Vol. 32) issue of Emrys Journal (print only), which can be ordered here.
"Picking Raspberries" is found here, in the Fall 2014 issue of The Baltimore Review.
"Hook and Sway" is here, in the 2013 issue of terrain.org, published under the name Tamie Marie Fields, the name I was born with.
"Silvers," is here, in the December 2012 issue of Cirque Journal, also under Tamie Marie Fields.
“Making the Church More Accessible to Folks Under 35” is here, as a April 19, 2011 blog post for the Forum for Theological Exploration.
“Twenty Steps to a Renewed Church” the most viral thing I’ve ever written, is here, as a April 9, 2011 blog post for Forum for Theological Exploration Blog.
Tamie on Bear Island, 2022.
“I think of artists like scientists. Just like scientists, we begin with a question, something we don’t know. We go into our studio and research that question…The scientific method works on material questions. The artistic process works on questions of culture, questions of thought.
…the Entertainment Industrial Complex has decided we should all consume the same limited, repetitive cultural diet. Over and over, we see the same five stories. The same three bodies. The same four kinds of relationships….[Artists] provide the wide spectrum nutrition that the soul needs and the Entertainment Industry ignores….Entertainment distracts our attention. Art focuses it. Entertainment is important, it allows us to check out, to give our attention a rest. I love action movies. But I don’t watch them all the time. Like eating sweets, too much distraction can be toxic. Art is not cultural broccoli, something you hate but should consume. Art offers pleasure, the rich and deep sensations of laughter, change, and investment. Entertainment does not.”