UC EVENTS

From the Fringe: Long Poems, Hybrid Forms and Women Poets

Kimberly K. Williams

Date\Time: Monday 1 August 2022, 1-2pm , online or in-person

Abstract

This presentation examines one unexpected finding that came from my PhD research. Women poets have been writing and publishing long poems using hybrid forms and mixed modes for over the last half a century (at least) in surprising and engaging ways, exploring and pushing the boundaries of poetry, especially long forms, working initially steadfastly from the margins and the fringes, reclaiming historical voices and narratives, all while pushing and exploring the boundaries of the long poem in several directions through their innovations.

This presentation will examine some of these poems and poets, looking at choices that the poets have made in composing--analysing how different forms and their unique combinations are employed in service of poetry in general and the long poem in particular.  It will also explore and discuss the application of techniques, considering how their work, which once began at the fringes, is now transforming poetic form.

Some of the poets whose work will be presented and examined include Anne Carson (Can), Diane Glancy (US), Charmaine Papertalk Green (Aus), Susan Howe (US), Alice Oswald (UK), and M. NourbeSe Philip (Can). This presentation is meant to be part discovery and part analysis, looking at the historical development over several decades in the hope of bringing some of these works to greater attention, and also pondering why many women poets have been following this impulse to use hybridity in the long form long enough now that many find themselves transforming the form. 

Speaker bios

Kimberly Williams is the author of three books: Still Lives (Life Before Man, forthcoming in September 2022), Sometimes a Woman (Recent Work Press 2021) and Finally, the Moon, (Stephen F Austin State University Press 2017). She has a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas El Paso and a MA in English from Case Western Reserve University. Kimberly is a research fellow for the Faculty of Arts and Design and is also the current director of the Poetry on the Move festival.

This seminar is hosted by the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research (CCCR) 
Faculty of Arts and Design 
Contact for any questions: cccr@canberra.edu.au