Emma Snyder The Body and its Gardens, a Creative Reading
My poems "How to Hunt for Wild Garlic," "New Growth," and "Waking" are all part of the collection "The Body and its Gardens," an exploration in the similarities of the physical body and the natural world. The poem "How to Hunt for Wild Garlic" is a story of a poisoning and betrayal by one's lover, their body then interred to be made anew in the work "New Growth." Finally the reincarnation occurs in "Waking," where the narrator is then brought back to relearn to be human. "The Body and its Gardens" is an extended story throughout its works of grotesque rebirth, and the beauty and horror of becoming something less than human. It is a promise that you will return, but you will do so with termites in your ribs and mulch under your skin.
Amelia Hamerlynck Hamburg, i love you but you deserve better: a poem by Amelia Hamerlynck
Hamburg, i love you but you deserve better is a poem I wrote mostly in English but with occasional German words, cultural references, and grammatical constructions. I stylize an aspect of German grammar by only capitalizing nouns on the page. I almost didn't submit this piece for workshop because I was convinced it is far too personal for anyone to understand but me; however, I received a lot of positive feedback from my peers who felt as though the poem's singularity and strangeness is a strength, and that its emotional power transcends the need for literal understanding. The question of how and why one incorporates foreign language into English poetry is complex; I hardly think I have answered it here, and consequently I often wonder about this poem's chance of publication. However, the web of idiosyncrasies makes this poem one of my favorites to unpack and explain, which suits the cerebral context of a research symposium quite well. It is also designed to be read out loud, more so than any other piece I have written thus far. It has the wild energy of a free-verse poem but is written in verse. This is meant to produce a manic or hysterical quality in honor of the heartbreak and pain from which I wrote the piece, although the details of that heartbreak and pain remain somewhat vague in order to allow room for imagination.
Mia Vance We Make Magnificence: Original Poems for Page and Stage
Much of my poetry is inspired by place. When the flow of ideas slows to a drip, typically all it takes is a trip, a drive, or a walk in the woods to refill the inspiration reserves and get me back to the writing desk. This past year, however, has drastically limited the scope of my movement – to the grocery store, around the neighborhood, and the rare treat of a drive around town. In other words, the poems that have developed over the last thirteen months – especially those developed within the Kidd Creative Writing Workshop Series – have shifted from a rhetoric grounded in place to one of shelter-in-place. Throughout this extended abeyance, my poetic attention has shifted to more complicated meditations on home and heritage, distance and family, longing and loss. This selection of shelter-in-place poems is presented in the spirit of sharing those works which have rung the loudest bells of truth in me, with the hope that they may ring a bell in others.
Sarah Kline The Green Kingdom": A Short Story by Sarah Kline
“The Green Kingdom” tells the story of a family of three – the daughter Amara, Mother Francis, and Grandmother Betha – in their struggles to love and connect with one another through their fundamental lifestyle differences. Amara, the daughter and narrator, reunites her estranged mother with her grandmother again, forcing them both to face their disagreements and stare forgiveness and understanding straight in the eyes. Through this, they are asked to confront their own demons and anger. Amara stands her ground to provide a center of balance between these two characters, commentating on lessons that nature provides around us specifically as taught by trees. “The Green Kingdom” asks questions of love, what it means to live and care for one another, while addressing the cycles of life and the way nature seeks to connect us all.
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