On Wednesday, October 8th, Bennington College welcomed poet, playwright, novelist, and translator Joyelle McSweeney to read for the third installment in the Poetry at Bennington series. She read excerpts from her collection Death Styles.
McSweeney is the author of 10 books of poetry, drama, and prose. She is a current John S. Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, as well as a recipient of the Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is the co-founder of Action Books, an international press of poetry and books in translation. She currently teaches at the University of Notre Dame.
McSweeney’s poetry is described by professor Michael Dumanis as being “anarchic and prophetic.” The poems in her most recent collection, Death Styles, deal with a vast array of themes: loss, TV detectives, ducks, hiding, and River Phoenix, all read with an emotive and frenetic recitation. She outlined her rules for creating the poems inside: write daily and follow any inspiration to its end, no matter how embarrassing.
After the reading, there was a brief Q&A. She spoke about the musicality of her writing—her poetry is very lyrical and her method of delivery is musical, some poems sounding akin to a sort of rap. She said that the musicality is inherent in her work and that her readings are even choreographed to a degree. Her unconventional style of reading drew some negative response after her first reading, but she finds criticism necessary. Her advice: “Let it be weird… Let yourself get it wrong because you may be getting it right.”
The next literature evening is a reading by National Book Award finalist Jonas Hassen Khemiri. The next (and final) installment in the Poetry at Bennington series is a reading from poet Ishion Hutchinson on Wednesday, November 12th.
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