SCRAPPY, FUNKY, GRITTY… PERFECT

RETREATS RUN BY WRITERS, FOR WRITERS

Michael Bourne

AS A young poet starting out, Desireé Dallagiacomo looked at prestigious writing retreats and conferences like the Vermont Studio Center and the Tin House Summer Workshop and thought: Nope, those places will never let me in. Dallagiacomo, who is of Choctaw and European descent, grew up working-class in Chico, California, and at the time, she did not have a college degree. She also specialized in slam poetry, often uploading her work onto YouTube, a format she didn’t believe would be respected by admissions readers accustomed to seeing publications in reputable literary magazines. “I was so scared of applying and being rejected, and then I felt like I was a fake poet, you know,” she says. “I was sure I wasn’t going to make it into these spaces, and so I…

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Poets & Writers (Digital) - 1 Issue, March/April 2025

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