With household names like Faulkner, Welty and Wright, Mississippi literature is not just nationally but internationally known and respected. Combined with a rich musical heritage, the state’s literature is one of the many facets that afford it a high cultural rating. A survey of genres, however, reveals that many of the writers for whom the state is recognized have tended to work in the more immediately visible genres of fiction (both novels and short stories) and nonfiction, often leaving their sister (and some would say first) art form — poetry — less acknowledged. This presentation aims to right the imbalance, introducing audiences to a solid representative sampling of the state’s better and lesser-known poets. Covering primarily the 20th and 21st centuries, the audience is led on a geographic tour of the state. Featuring poets such as Etheridge Knight, who wrote powerful poems while incarcerated, or adoptee/transplant poets such as Frank Stanford, author of one of the greatest Southern long poems in history, Dr. Morris explores how their Mississippi roots and experiences informed their work. He brings contemporary (including living) poets into the discussion, such as Beth Henley, Beth Ann Fennelly and Natasha Tretheway. The presentation concludes with a brief discussion of where the art may yet go, and points to universities and writing programs that today nurture the majority of the state’s poets.
