Superheroic Sonnet Cycles-- A Poetry Reading
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Artist Statement
My proposed presentation, "Superheroic Sonnet Cycles-- A Poetry Reading," offers audiences a rare intersectional look into the state of poetry in 2017. My poetic work with the heroic sonnet form illustrated overlapping concerns with traditional form and contemporary content while revealing a liminal state in the writing process as my newest book project takes shape while I pursue my PhD at the University of Denver after completing an MFA at the University of Montana in 2015.
These poems forge new paths through queer identity, landscape, Beyoncé, familial bonds, the 2016 presidential election, and lyricism. Those modern motifs exist within the traditional sonnet form-- more specifically within the heroic sonnet cycle architecture. The heroic crown is an intricate form composed of fifteen sonnets, wherein the last line of one poem becomes the first line of the following poem, interlocking the discreet sonnets into a unified work. The cycle culminates with a final sonnet, made up of the first line of each of the preceding fourteen poems.
Though the medium of my presentation requires nothing more than my voice, I am confident these poems will leave you breathless. This work is both urgent and timeless. It must be heard and it cannot go unsaid. I look forward to share my new work with the University of Montana community, which has been so generous with me and so formative to my own poetics.
Superheroic Sonnet Cycles-- A Poetry Reading
UC Ballroom
My proposed presentation, "Superheroic Sonnet Cycles-- A Poetry Reading," offers audiences a rare intersectional look into the state of poetry in 2017. My poetic work with the heroic sonnet form illustrated overlapping concerns with traditional form and contemporary content while revealing a liminal state in the writing process as my newest book project takes shape while I pursue my PhD at the University of Denver after completing an MFA at the University of Montana in 2015.
These poems forge new paths through queer identity, landscape, Beyoncé, familial bonds, the 2016 presidential election, and lyricism. Those modern motifs exist within the traditional sonnet form-- more specifically within the heroic sonnet cycle architecture. The heroic crown is an intricate form composed of fifteen sonnets, wherein the last line of one poem becomes the first line of the following poem, interlocking the discreet sonnets into a unified work. The cycle culminates with a final sonnet, made up of the first line of each of the preceding fourteen poems.
Though the medium of my presentation requires nothing more than my voice, I am confident these poems will leave you breathless. This work is both urgent and timeless. It must be heard and it cannot go unsaid. I look forward to share my new work with the University of Montana community, which has been so generous with me and so formative to my own poetics.