Courtney O'Banion Smith
Courtney O’Banion Smith has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing-Poetry from Texas State University-San Marcos, and she is pursuing a Master of Arts in Theopoetics and Writing. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has appeared in various publications including Relief, Barren Magazine, and the Ocotillo Review. Her manuscript, In Fidelity, won the 2022 Catherine Case Lynne Award sponsored by the Poetry Society of Texas and is forthcoming in June. She currently lives in Houston where she and her husband care for two feral boys and one neurotic dog. Find her online at www.cobanionsmith.com and on social media @cobanionsmith.
Excerpt from Courtney's Manuscript, In Fidelity
A Mermaid's Love
After the image by Catrin Welz-Stein
My scales might as well have been a shimmering dress--
my fins, a bustle what with his top hat and sky-colored
coat of mismatched plumes sewn up the back, our chaste,
Victorian courtship. Magical. I confess I believed
he could fly. The first lie. The somber bird atop his hat,
silent accomplice, knew me for what I was, though. No,
no angel, but close enough. Like me, you probably thought
such a gentleman would hold my hand gently as I hovered
too close. His hands were soft, but I assure you,
his grip was firm despite his curved pinkie.
I might have seen his feathers were fake,
ridiculously large, that I was the only one of the three truly floating, but they knew how I longed for sun and air
so they let me fool myself. While he posed,
my modest smile and downcast eyes belied my hair
floating like dark smoke, my unseemly tale--
the very thing that made me glide as if water were sky.
Quickened by my imagination, his pretend wings
seemed to flutter, suggested soaring. Something
jangled in his pocket. Caught. He wanted me
to save him from drowning, to buoy him up to the trees, up
to the heights we all longed for. Yes, I wanted to
too. Man, bird, me looking away, we all clung
to our guilty, disparate dreams of flight.
Recommended Books for Aspiring Writers
I always strive to inspire people to pursue their passion for writing, whatever their preferred form or genre. Regardless of their experience level or personal writing goals, I treat all workshop participants the same because we can all learn from each other. I strive to create a safe space and nurturing environment for learning, exploring, taking creative risks, and sharing. One of the greatest tragedies of a workshop is when the writer puts away their work in a drawer never to be read or worked on again. I want workshop participants to leave filled with ideas to try and strategies to use when they get stuck. I want participants to leave so excited by what they learned that they can’t wait to get back to work on their writing.
Student Testimonials
"In Courtney's workshop on the persona poem, I discovered how assuming another identity, another perspective from which to write allowed me to break out my box-like narrative. I became more playful with language and image and was totally surprised where the exercise took me. It was a true creative treat!"
Excerpt from Courtney's Manuscript, In Fidelity
A Mermaid's Love
After the image by Catrin Welz-Stein
My scales might as well have been a shimmering dress--
my fins, a bustle what with his top hat and sky-colored
coat of mismatched plumes sewn up the back, our chaste,
Victorian courtship. Magical. I confess I believed
he could fly. The first lie. The somber bird atop his hat,
silent accomplice, knew me for what I was, though. No,
no angel, but close enough. Like me, you probably thought
such a gentleman would hold my hand gently as I hovered
too close. His hands were soft, but I assure you,
his grip was firm despite his curved pinkie.
I might have seen his feathers were fake,
ridiculously large, that I was the only one of the three truly floating, but they knew how I longed for sun and air
so they let me fool myself. While he posed,
my modest smile and downcast eyes belied my hair
floating like dark smoke, my unseemly tale--
the very thing that made me glide as if water were sky.
Quickened by my imagination, his pretend wings
seemed to flutter, suggested soaring. Something
jangled in his pocket. Caught. He wanted me
to save him from drowning, to buoy him up to the trees, up
to the heights we all longed for. Yes, I wanted to
too. Man, bird, me looking away, we all clung
to our guilty, disparate dreams of flight.
Recommended Books for Aspiring Writers
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
- A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
- The Art of Memoir by Mary Carr
- Poetry: A Writers Guide and Anthology by Amorak Huey and Todd Kaneko
- Craft in the Real World by Michael Salesses
- Wonderbook: The Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer
- Any of the Rose Metal Press Field Guides (flash fiction, flash CNF, prose poetry, and graphic literature)
- Gotham Writer’s Workshop: Writing Fiction
I always strive to inspire people to pursue their passion for writing, whatever their preferred form or genre. Regardless of their experience level or personal writing goals, I treat all workshop participants the same because we can all learn from each other. I strive to create a safe space and nurturing environment for learning, exploring, taking creative risks, and sharing. One of the greatest tragedies of a workshop is when the writer puts away their work in a drawer never to be read or worked on again. I want workshop participants to leave filled with ideas to try and strategies to use when they get stuck. I want participants to leave so excited by what they learned that they can’t wait to get back to work on their writing.
Student Testimonials
"In Courtney's workshop on the persona poem, I discovered how assuming another identity, another perspective from which to write allowed me to break out my box-like narrative. I became more playful with language and image and was totally surprised where the exercise took me. It was a true creative treat!"