Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Stacey Balkun, Festival Assistant

A graduate of Ohio State University’s MFA program for both poetry and creative non-fiction, Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of Miracle Fruit, At the Drive In Volcano, and a forthcoming collection from Tupelo Press.  A dynamic poet, Nezhukumatathil is active in both the worlds of teaching and touring—she has set out “to make sure that no student ever says ‘I never knew there were Asian-American poets’ again” (every other day).  Through poetry, she shares her life experiences in a way that is accessible to readers of all ages.  Nezhukumatathil feels that her teaching and writing influence each other: her best teaching days lead her to write, and her best writing days excite her to teach (How a Poem Happens).

Nature plays a huge role in Nezhukumatathil’s poetry.  Her poetry often examines life by linking “average” occurrences with scientific or biological information (see “Fugu Soup Blues” and “Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia”).  Much of Nezhukumatathil’s work is research-based, and every one of the many morsels about science or natural elements is true.  Nezhukumatathil feels she owes the reader accuracy within her poetry; although the poems are not truly autobiographical, the “trivia” bits are completely factual.  She often uses biology as a jumpstart when writing poems.  In an interview with Poetic Asides, she confides, “Mother Nature is the greatest poet of all. I just take my cues from her.”

Nezhukumatathil teaches creative writing and environmental literature at the State University of New York-Fredonia.  She encourages aspiring writers to “read often and a lot. Floss. Invest in a good pair of shoes and write letters more often. Listen to the paper take the ink when you sign your name” (Poetic Asides).  Read poems by Aimee Nezhukumatathil on 2^nd Avenue Poetry and Octopus Magazine.  Hear her poetry and Q&A’s on From the Fishhouse.

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Rebecca Gambale, Festival Assistant

Flip over Michael Cirelli’s debut collection, Lobster with Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and you’ll see an interesting combination: a blurb by The Best American Poetry editor and founder David Lehman, alongside one by Grammy-award winning rapper and producer Kanye West. Delve into Cirelli’s writing or see him read, and you’ll see why this could not be more appropriate.

This crossroad of culture is Cirelli’s circus; he sees an inseparable relationship between the literary and performative qualities of hip-hop and poetry.  This makes him not only an exciting poet to watch, but an accomplished writer on the page. Cirelli has been a National Poetry Slam individual finalist and, during his time on the West Coast, the only person to make all three Bay area slam teams in the same year, winning the finals in both San Francisco and Berkeley. On the East Coast, he has earned an MFA from the New School, where he studied with Lehman.

Penning sonnets about rappers such as Ol’ Dirty, Common, Talib Kweli and Kanye West, and writing answer poems to Walt Whitman and Jack Gilbert in the same collection, Cirelli brings together the worlds of hip-hop and academia through his unabashed love for the word. Equally inspired by music, he states in Poets and Writers, “Writing based on music has almost become a compulsion of mine…I could take a song…and spend hours trying to dissect each line, each metaphor, each double and triple entendre. The stuff of good hip-hop puts language in a rocket ship!” This approach to poetry puts Cirelli in the same category as the ancient poets, emphasizing that poetry is an oral/aural art. However, he makes no sacrifices in terms of form, as he gives careful attention to how his poems stand alone on the page.

Through his work, Cirelli embraces and also questions the lifestyle, imagery and issues of hip-hop culture. This is yet another crossroads, if you consider his Italian upbringing in Rhode Island and being told he looks “all Nascar,” mentioned in his poem “I Am Hip Hop”.  In his newest book, Vacations on the Black Star Line, based on an album by Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Cirelli explores the idea of race and privilege, also including a few pieces to rapper T-Pain, featured here on the online literary journal Segue.

But you don’t have to be familiar with the rap allusions to appreciate Cirelli. His carefully crafted poems candidly describe human experiences of all sorts; for instance, his poem “Dearest workshop” offers his take on a familiar writing workshop experience.

Perhaps what keeps Cirelli’s poetry fresh is his work with youth. Cirelli says in his piece in Segue (featured above) “I work with teens on a daily basis, so poetry is about so many things. For them (and me), it can be about saving lives.” He is the Executive Director of Urban Word NYC, a grassroots non-profit organization that provides free, safe, uncensored and ongoing writing and performance opportunities for New York City teens. Stated in their mission is the goal to “promote active literacy, critical thought, and positive social dialogue across boundaries of age, race, class, gender, culture, and sexuality.” Central to their operation is the idea that teenagers should speak for themselves, and they provide free writing workshops and college prep year round, in addition to teen poetry slams. Through his work with teens, Cirelli has also developed teaching curriculum using hip-hop, called Hip Hop Poetry and the Classics.

Please use the “Share your thoughts with us” box below to share other resources you may have found for this poet. In this way, we can build together a mini-wiki-encyclopedia on the 2010 Festival Poets.

Return in the weeks ahead as we continue to profile the 2010 Festival Poets

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The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10
For more information, visit the Poetry website.

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Rebecca Gambale, Festival Assistant

Teresa Carson’s Elegy for the Floater is an example of how poetry can help an individual to process and connect with a difficult past, while transforming the painful experiences into eloquent words on the page. This tension between pain and beauty is where poetry is made, and Carson wants to look you in the eye and show you that. She wants to remind you that after pain, art is possible.

In the book’s opening poems, the reader is quickly aware of Carson’s brother’s suicide, and through this hardship, Carson creates an intimacy with her audience. She speaks to the reader as her confidante, admitting “Listen even closer. I have to whisper this part: / his death was a relief.” We are given glimpses of her difficult childhood, born one child out of ten; we are privy to the rape which she kept a secret for so many years of her life.

Carson is dabbling in alchemy through her poems: they make the unflinchingly real undoubtedly poetic. She rallies against silence by taking the formative and often harrowing experiences of her past and turning them into brave and unabashed retellings, digging up the very real stuff that some would repress. There is never any doubt that the poet is the speaker in Elegy for the Floater.  Throughout the book, the complex feelings of these experiences take shape, and all the while there is never a sense of hopelessness or a cry for pity. There is a great humanness to which anyone can relate as she brings the reader into her most private stories.

It is no surprise that Carson’s work would translate seamlessly to realistic scenes on stage – Carson is a master of creating a connection between art and reality in her work. She is a graduate of the Sarah Lawrence MFA program, where she completed in both Poetry and Theatre. She has since adapted her second book, The Congress of Human Oddities, into a play. She has taken pain and, through her talent for drama and the well-crafted word, created art.

Raised in Jersey City, Carson has lived all of her life in Hudson County, New Jersey. She currently teaches at the College of New Rochelle. She worked in non-traditional-for-women technical jobs for a local phone company until retiring in 2003. She began her MFA shortly thereafter. Her book, Elegy for the Floater, is a part of CavanKerry’s LaurelBooks, a group of poetry and prose collections which confront serious psychological and/or physical illness. The titles in the series are part of a program where authors, physicians and psychologists hold panel discussions on the medical issues in the texts in order to raise awareness.

Please use the “Share your thoughts with us” box below to share other resources you may have found for this poet. In this way, we can build together a mini-wiki-encyclopedia on the 2010 Festival Poets.

Return in the weeks ahead as we continue to profile the 2010 Festival Poets

* * *
The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10
For more information, visit the Poetry website.

Follow the Dodge Poetry Festival on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Poetry Festival on Facebook
Join the Friends of the Festival (use the blue Donate button on our homepage)

Stacey Balkun, Festival Assistant

Jericho Brown was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, but feels he “did his growing-up” in New Orleans, where he worked as a speechwriter for the mayor.  While his old career may seem good preparation for that of a poet because both are considered writers, the two professions require different approaches.  In an interview with Robert Lee Brewer, Brown explains from experience that “a speechwriter goes into each speech knowing the message and figuring the best way to communicate the message as he goes” while a poet “figures ways of communicating and wonders if he has a message.”  Brown believes poems offer multiple interpretations of meaning, whereas speeches focus on driving specific messages.  To read the full interview, visit Poetic Asides with Robert Lee Brewer.

Brown’s poetry is rich with musical elements; the words fluctuate like notes on a blues scale.  Brown’s words become musicians in their own right, taking the reader on a melodic journey through the voices of several different musicians.  The language of “Track 4: Reflections” reflects the voice of Diana Ross; a diva who is immediately recognizable because of her desire “to reflect the sun.”  Another captivating persona poem in the collection is written from the perspective of famed performer Janis Joplin.  His collection Please opens with a poem that warns, “The woman with the microphone sings to hurt you” (“Track 1: Lush Life”), but these poems sing to please the reader.

Please replicates the format of a record album, with sections titled after iPod buttons and poems titled as track numbers.  This arrangement ties the collection together, despite the diversity of form and content of the poems.  In an interview on the web magazine Critical Mass, Brown articulates his belief that “the best singers showcase their talents by performing several kinds of songs for an album or during a show.”  To successfully perform in such a way requires a powerful voice and distinctive character.  Similarly, Please holds several poems that vary in form, length, and persona, but are all linked by Brown’s distinct voice.  This collection is the recipient of the 2009 American Book Award.

Other awards include a 2009-2010 Radcliffe fellowship.  Brown is currently working on his second collection of poetry, tentatively titled The New Testament.  Find his advice to aspiring writers and other audio recordings on From the Fishhouse.

Please use the “Share your thoughts with us” box below to share other resources you may have found for this poet. In this way, we can build together a mini-wiki-encyclopedia on the 2010 Festival Poets.

Return in the weeks ahead as we continue to profile the 2010 Festival Poets.

Photo: Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard University Staff Photographer