Alumni Spotlight: Charley Eatchel on Visual Poetics, Publishing, and Puppet-Making
By Sarah Tachau ’27
This month, The Words reached out to Mac English and Creative Writing alum, Charley Eatchel ’23, to talk about what they’ve been up to since graduation. Charley, an English major with a focus in literature, was highly involved in the editorial side of Chanter, in addition to serving as a dedicated English student worker manager and event planner. Since graduation, Charley delved into the Twin Cities literary community by working at Button Poetry for a year and is now nourishing their English skills as an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at The Ohio State University! We’d like to thank Charley for taking the time to share their creative adventures and wisdom with us.
What has life after Mac looked like for you?
After graduating from Macalester, I worked at Button Poetry as their Publishing Operations Assistant for about a year while applying for graduate programs. In Fall of 2025, I started my Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at The Ohio State University! Moving to Columbus has been an adjustment, but I’ve really been enjoying my program so far.
What books and other art forms have been inspiring you lately?
Experimental poetics and visual dynamic poetry have been a strong inspiration for me lately. Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictée is a classic and seminal experimental work. A more recent release that I can’t stop thinking about is Douglas Kearney’s I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always. Kearney’s visual poetics and use of collage are incredibly rich and deeply expansive for poetry as a genre.
Outside of poetry, I have been drawn to tactile arts that are centrally grounded in joy and empathy—which has returned me to the works of Jim Henson. The Muppets, The Dark Crystal, and especially Labyrinth have been very grounding for me, and exploring puppet-making and sculpture has been a rejuvenating process in these very difficult times.
During your time at Mac, were there particular classes, internships, or extracurriculars that have been informative for your post-grad life? If so, how?
For the publishing field, I was able to build very useful skills and learn some strong fundamentals through working with Chanter and Steve Woodward’s Intro to Literary Publishing class (these are also helpful now that I’ve joined the editorial team for OSU’s literary magazine, The Journal).
The classes I took with Prof. Michael Prior were very informative to my approach to creation and poetry as a practice. But even my literature classes (of which I took many more because I was not a creative writing major) honed my critical skills, deepened my understanding of craft and theory, and expanded my tools for approaching my writing.
If you could time travel back to your last semester at Mac, what advice or wisdom would you take along?
The last semester of undergrad is difficult and scary. You’ve just gotta keep trying, which can come with a lot of struggle, rejection, loneliness, etc. But pushing through, with care for yourself, for the importance of art, and for the love of others, is worth it.
Is there anything new on the horizon for you that you’d like to highlight?
Nothing in particular, at the moment. I’m just building my craft and producing more work. The next issue of The Journal is coming out soon, and we have some really amazing work getting published, so keep an eye out for that! I’ll be at AWP (the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference) in March with The Journal.
Are there any Mac traditions or places that you miss?
I’m always missing Old Main! Its comforting quirks and the absolutely wonderful people it houses :).
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
It’s been difficult to be away from Minnesota these past months. It will always be my home, and the strength of the community has been so important to see. You are important and loved and supported, even from those of us who’ve ended up farther away. Stay safe, fuck ICE, remember we’re stronger together.