Jen Ashburn

Poet and Creative Nonfiction Writer

A woman with dark short hair wearing a flower-print blouse and black cardigan in front of a stone wall
A woman with dark short hair and glasses wearing a white jacket. Two buildings and a car in the background.
A woman with dark short hair wearing a flower-print blouse in front of a galvanized steel wall.

Latests Posts

  • A Week at Jewel Vinsota

    I’m recently back from a week-long self-made writer’s residency. I found this wonderful airbnb, Jewel Vinsota, just outside of Smithsburg, MD. The owners are artists and historical preservationists. Their artwork is everywhere, and I mean everywhere, on the property. Everyday, I discovered something new! They had art supplies on hand that guests could use and musical instruments (guitars, musical spoons, a keyboard, a steel tongue drum, a three-string dulcimer). I’ve done do-it-yourself residencies before, but this B&B was by far the most creative and restorative environment I’ve encountered. Here are a few pictures.

    Windows looking out onto a forest with lights overhead, a short table and stool in front.
    The sunroom. This is where I spent most of my time.
    A desk in the foreground, with windows looking out onto a forest in the background.
    The work desk (I spent a lot of time here, too).
    A modern art outdoor sculpture with a woman's body painted blue with white circular lines, a deer's head, a cape made out of metal, and something that looks like a bow and arrow.
    One of the sculptures from the trail that’s in back of the property. It’s approximately 1.8 miles with a few additional spurs and loops. A little rugged in places (bring good shoes), but well worth the effort.
    A horizontal tree trunk with metal sheaths embedded on top to look like dragon scales.
    Also from the sculpture trail.
    Close up of a mushroom.
    Aside from the sculptures, the trail was nice just as a place to be outdoors and get a little exercise. Here’s a closeup of some fungus (don’t ask me what kind). I find it quite beautiful and other worldly.

  • Essay in Vox Populi

    Many thanks to Michael Simms and Vox Populi for publishing “A Long Unraveling”, an essay about my mother.

    "I did not know that the tether between us...
    would thin to almost nothing, like a thread of honey 
    slipping from a spoon."