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Jenn McCreary, 2013 Pew Fellow. Photo by Colin Lenton.

Questions of Practice: Jenn McCreary on Finding Form

Questions of Practice: Jenn McCreary on Finding Form

Finding a “form to contain [the mess]” is one way that 2013 Pew Fellow Jenn McCreary describes her motivation for writing poetry. An avid note-taker, she tasks herself to find forms for disparate ideas.

Poet and Pew Fellow Jenn McCreary discusses her writing process. Filmed at The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in April 2014, in honor of National Poetry Month.

McCreary’s collections have centered on the woman’s role in the “heroic quest”: as healer and caretaker (:a doctrine of signatures:, Singing Horse Press, 2002); mother and lover (:ab ovo:, Dusie Press, 2009); and maiden, witch, or crone (& now my feet are maps, Dusie Press, 2014). Since 1998, she has co-edited ixnay press with poet Chris McCreary, publishing chapbooks and journals of new and experimental writing. worrywort, McCreary’s collaboration with 2011 Pew Fellow Pattie McCarthy, was recently published in 2014 by Little Red Leaves Textile Editions.