Jess Franken is an essayist, poet, editor, and teacher.
She has work published with Seneca Review, Fourth Genre, River Teeth, Creative Nonfiction, and elsewhere; included on the Best American Essays Notable list; and nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net awards. Jess is especially interested in lyric essay, hybrid forms, prose poetry, speculative and experimental nonfiction, and other genre-queer work. She leads generative writing communities and works as a freelance writer and editor.
WRITING PROMPTS
A MORSEL
When Centurio senex guzzles mangoes, juice rivers down the canyons of his face into his spike-toothed mouth. Eyes: larger than I expected, faceted like tiger-eye gemstones. Ears: golden mittens, thumbs where the eyebrows would go: try it. And while you do, let me tell you (did you try it?) about his beard of drapey skin he pulls into a mask with goggles. Aviator with furry flap, he peekaboos his moist, pheromone-emitting chin. I was raised to find utility beautiful (Dutch farm folk) so I love his gumwad face: its funneling folds—collecting pulp, amplifying voice, circulating air, fine-tuning echolocation—a topography of usefulness.
“One-Hundred-Year-Old Man,” Bat Conservation International