MFA Alumni Eric Acosta releases debut Book – Motion Flesh
Eric Acosta (MFA ’20) released his debut book – Motion Flesh this summer. Motion Flesh, a collection of poetry and flash fiction was published by Chat Rooms Press. Eric’s new work had a celebratory release party at Common Area Maintenance in Seattle.
Several University of Washington Bothell MFA community members were in attendance – MFA Faculty Jeanne Heuving, Amy Hirayama (MFA ’20), Sky O’Brien (MFA ’20), Emily Mundy (MFA ’20) (host of the poetry seance), Harry Lee (MFA ’20), Ashley Skartvedt (MFA ’20), Reed Lowell (MFA ’19), Woogee Bae (MFA ’19), Simon Wolf (MFA ’21), Emma McVeigh (MFA’23) and Noor Alnaaz (MFA ’24). Additionally, Greg Bem, a local poet and Ensemble Unnamable music group performed on the night.
In Eric’s words, “Motion Flesh is a collection of writing I’ve done over the last two years. It’s all writing I did after my thesis, and also the first collection I’ve ever worked on sober… Motion Flesh represents a journey of recovery. I was in therapy. I wasn’t drinking. The first time I’ve created sober in over ten years. At the time, what I was most proud of with my thesis Virgo was that I had managed to take the “I” out of every poem. With Motion Flesh I learned to put the “I” back in. I was finally communicating with my whole self. I was learning to be vulnerable. And what I find very special about Motion Flesh, is that through no attention to thematic direction, all the poems deal with a self finding self, or a self learning that there is more self, or of a self blossoming into awareness of new self. The release event was more than I could’ve ever hoped for. I feel really lucky. My journey through recovery is why the release party was so special. I could feel everyone’s support in the room. And the support wasn’t only for me. My performance series Unpoetry has brought a lot of artists into the same spaces, and you could feel there was a connection between everyone there. This was our community.
Eric Acosta has been immensely involved in Seattle’s creative community including organizing his twice monthly reading series ‘unpoetry’, amongst other community collaborations, and performances.