Silence in Poems with Jessica Cuello (via Zoom)
In On Lies, Secrets, and Silence, Adrienne Rich writes that “it is always what is under pressure in us, especially under pressure of concealment–that explodes in poetry.” A pressurized, internal language resulting from restriction, repression, and denial can bring about an explosion of language that exists on the level of utterance or trance. In work by Lucie Broido, Kim Hyesoon, and Fanny Howe, among others, we’ll look at poems that contend with silent speakers. We will discuss the role of repression, silence, and female hysteria in poems. How does song, lyric, and beauty emerge from what has been held in and kept hidden? The class will include writing prompts designed to call on our interior voice and listen for an internal language that names the unnamable.
NB: This class will be taught on Zoom and will be capped at 15 students. Registrants will receive the Zoom link to the email address they use to register. It will arrive immediately after registration so please check your spam folder if you do not receive it. It will also be sent the day before class as a reminder. Please review the course policies page before registering for any classes. Please email [email protected] with any questions.
Jessica Cuello’s most recent book is Yours, Creature (JackLeg Press, 2023). Her book Liar, selected by Dorianne Laux for The 2020 Barrow Street Book Prize, was honored with The Eugene Nassar Prize, The CNY Book Award, a finalist nod for The Housatonic Book Award, and a longlist mention for The Julie Suk Award. Cuello is also the author of Hunt (The Word Works, 2017) and Pricking (Tiger Bark Press, 2016). Cuello has been awarded The 2022 Nina Riggs Poetry Prize, two CNY Book Awards, The 2016 Washington Prize, The New Letters Poetry Prize, a Saltonstall Fellowship, and The New Ohio Review Poetry Prize. In addition, Cuello has published three chapbooks: My Father’s Bargain (2015), By Fire (2013), and Curie (2011). In 2014 she was awarded The Decker Award from Hollins University for outstanding secondary teaching. She is poetry editor at Tahoma Literary Review and teaches French in CNY.
