MERLE GEODE
Education
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
MFA, Poetry (in progress)
University of Wisconsin, Madison
BS, Zoology (2008)
UW Madison Writing Fellow
University of California, Los Angeles
BA, History, 2000-2003 (transferred)
UCLA Daily Bruin Senior Staff Writer and Assistant News Editor
Fellowships, Residencies, & Grants
Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Individuals (poetry), 2023
Tofte Lake Center MN Artist Residency, July 2022
Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Individuals grant (visual art), 2022
The Loft Mirrors & Windows Fellowship, 2019-2020
University of Wisconsin, Madison Writing Fellows Program 2007-2008
Employment
Graduate Assistant, UMN Twin cities, Minneapolis, MN—Aug. 2019-May 2020, Sept. 2022-present
Design syllabi, lead discussion, and create course materials for undergraduate creative writing courses (approximately 25 students). Courses include: “The Essay” (ENGW 3071, asynchrononous online) and “Introduction to Creative Writing” (ENGW1101, in-person and online).
Self-Employment
Writing Mentor, MN State Write Like Us, Hybrid—Sept. 2021-April 2022
Mentored eight BIPOC writers enrolled across five Twin Cities area community colleges for the inaugural year of the MN State Write Like Us program. Students met with me twice a semester for 45 min. to talk about their writing, writing practice, and dreams for themselves as a writer. I supported with individualized resource-sharing based on each student’s interests, genre/s, and goals. Distributed local and national resources and grant opportunities for BIPOC writers, and made myself available for additional student meetings by request. Interviewed with one of the national authors in the line-up, Tommy Orange, in front of a live and virtual audience. Over the course of the academic year, we mentors gave a total of 8 guest craft talks/readings across all five community college campuses.
Instructor, Roots. Wounds. Words. Inc., Online—Jan.-Feb. 2022
Designed and led two storytelling/writing courses for “Roots. Wounds. Words. Inc.,” a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that “offers visionary literary arts programming including educational workshops, storyteller performances, publication opportunities, and a writers’ retreat” for BIPOC writers: 1) “Lived, Embodied, & Inherited Stories,” a 4-week workshop which merged ancestor connection and contemplative writing; and 2) “Houses for Spirits: Poems of the Ecstatic & Divine,” a 2-day poetry workshop, the title of which was inspired by a Joy Harjo interview.
Multidisciplinary Artist, Minneapolis, MN—April 2013-present
Create multidisciplinary healing art using shamanic healing methodology, visual art, and ritual while working with the needs of the client. Custom 2D mixed media commissions include work for local authors (for personal use) and I am also illustrating my first picture book (supported by the MSAB grant.)
Writer, Madison, WI—July 2009-April 2016 & Minneapolis, MN—Jan. 2019-present
Write freelance features and essays for various publications (including Twin Cities Daily Planet and Twin Cities Pride Magazine) to especially uplift BIPOC and LGBTQ+ voices. I also maintained a Patreon blog with several monthly entries from Sept. 2021-Sept. 2022. My work in Madison is under my previous name, Marcelle Richards, and I was primarily a food & features writer, restaurant critic, and recipe columnist in a journalistic context for Isthmus Publishing and Our Lives Magazine.
Selected Publications
Poetry
“A Body Keeps the Score, In Parts,” Poetry Onl, Aug. 6, 2021, https://www.poetry.onl/read/merle-geo
“Azaleas,” Lyricality, May 16, 2021, https://lyricality.org/2021/05/16/azaleas-by-merle-geode/
Essays
“One’s a Crowd,” MN Artists, Walker Art Center, Dec. 4, 2020, https://mnartists.walkerart.org/ones-a-crowd
Journalism: Cover stories (under previous name, “Marcelle Richards”)
“Ford Tough: The no-frills eastside gym is a crucible for change”, Isthmus Publishing, Madison, WI, Jan. 5, 2017
“Women flourish in farming: Shunning traditional gender roles, they
“Behind the scenes at L’Etoile: Landing an internship is the chance of a lifetime, but lessons aren’t just about food”, Isthmus Publishing, Madison, WI, Dec. 8, 2011
*Additional articles are available at isthmus.com (84 total) and ourlivesmadison.com (16 total).
Anthologies
“Dear Mister”, in Love Always: Partners of Trans People on Intimacy, Challenge & Resilience, ed. by Jordan Johnson and Becky Garrison (Feb. 2015)
Readings & Panels
Ray Gonzales appearing at Milkweed Books, featuring José Felipe Ozuna, Merle Geode, Kathryn Savage, and Michael Torres, Milkweed Books, Minneapolis, April 2023
MN BIPOC Writers: Queer Love, online, Feb. 2023
Freeing Refrains: What Liberates You? What Binds You?, Points of Light Music, online, March 2022
The Art of Ancestral Healing, Midwest Mixed, online, Oct. 2021
“Narcissicus conducts a White House press briefing in first person plural” (video), Queer Voices, Quatrefoil Library, online, April 2020
Readings with Queer Asian Writers, Moon Palace, Minneapolis, MN, Dec. 2019
Mill City Reading, Magers & Quinn, Minneapolis, MN Sept. 2019
UMN English at the State Fair, MN State Fair, Minneapolis, Aug. 2019
Great Twin Cities Poetry Read, Moon Palace Books, Minneapolis, MN, April 2019
Five Writers, Five Minutes, Five Watt, Five Watt Coffee, Minneapolis, MN April 2019
Read & Response: An Open Mic, Subtext: A Bookstore, St. Paul, MN, June 2018
Great Twin Cities Poetry Read, Moon Palace Books, Minneapolis, MN, April 2018
The Moth, storyteller and volunteer, Madison, WI, July 2016-April 2017
Rambling House, The Seanchaí: Kerry Writers Museum, Listowel, Co. Kerry, Ireland, Feb. 2016
ArtWrite Collective: Drink It In, Cafe Zoma, Madison, WI, July 2015
Craft Development
The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, MN
Intermediate Poetry, Sun Yung Shin, July 11-Aug. 15, 2018
Memoir: The Wealth of Presence and Absence, Sun Yung Shin, July 11-Aug. 15, 2018
Queer Poems of Protest, Chavonn Williams-Shen, Aug. 2018
Social Media and Online Networking for Writers, Kris Bigalk, July 2018
Creative Writing for Writers of Color and Indigenous Writers Series; David Mura, Diego Vázquez, Jr., Vanessa Ramos, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Heid E. Erdrich, Hadiya Shire, Sun Yung Shin, Chavonn Williams Shen, 2018-2019
Going The Distance: Poetic Sequences and The Long Poem, Danez Smith, May 2-24, 2018
Picture Book Workshop; Molly Beth Griffin, March 29-May 2, 2018
Witness and Wonder: The Writer’s Work, Karen Hering, April 7, 2018
Your Book Starts Here: Learn to Storyboard Your Book!, Mary Carroll Moore, March 30, 2018
Other Locations/Online
Craft Seminar: The Thief of Lives: Autobiographical Fiction, Part 1 and 2, Alexander Chee, Shipman Agency, online, June 21 and July 12, 2022
Intro to Korean Bookbinding, Steph Rue, San Francisco Center for the Book, online, Nov. 14 2021
Portals of Pleasure, Body Trust Circle, Bodhi Manda Zen Center, Jemez Springs, NM July 19-23, 2017
Introduction to Artists’ Books, Matt Runkle, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA, June 18, 2017
Storytellers Camp, Toronto Storytelling Festival, Toronto, ON, CA March 29-31, 2017
27th Annual Writers’ Institute, Madison, WI April 14-17, 2016
Community & Healing Work
Janggu drum student, Jangmi Arts (Korean Dance, Drum, Music and Art Studio), Minneapolis, MN, June 2020-present
Shamanic practitioner, Trans Equity Summit, City of Minneapolis Dept. of Racial Equity, Inclusion & Belonging, online, Oct. 3, 2021 and Sept. 16, 2022
Shamanic practitioner/grief ritual facilitator, Grief and Ritual: Asian American/Sex Worker Solidarity Vigil, Longfellow Gardens, Minneapolis, MN, April 11, 2021 (post-Atlanta shootings)
Founding member, LGBTQ+ Narratives, Outreach LGBTTQ+ Outreach Center, Madison, WI, 2009-2012
Performance & Public Art
Artist/Performer, Bubbler at Madison Public Library “‘Night Light’: Past, Present, Future, featuring Tarot Art Show: ‘Reimagining the Tarot Deck,’”: one of 150 artists from across the country chosen participate. I offered a live tarot bingo game during opening night, Madison, WI, April 2017
Organizer/Artist, Strength Stones, Orlando, FL, 2016-2017: hand-painted stones by the public, sent from Madison, WI to Pulse Nightclub, where they were put at the memorial for mourners to pick up, hold, take with them.
Arts+Literature Laboratory Watershed Reading Series: Performative divination and human tarot spread, Madison, WI April 15 2016
Merle 하늘 Geode 