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Abstract
Encounters focuses on interactions with family, friends and strangers, and my perceptions of them. "Imprint," a poem about a child experiencing the natural world, introduces the collection with a warning not to forget the common, that it contains truths to be remembered and discovered. This thought carries readers into the rest of my collection. Diverse in subject matter, the poems range from the lighthearted to confessional and serious.
Romantic Poet William Wordsworth and former Poet Laureate Billy Collins have both influenced my poetry. In reading Wordsworth, I like the way he takes the common subjects and "throw[s] over them a certain coloring of the imagination," making the usual seem unusual. "Amishland Cow Tipping" exemplifies my incorporation of this idea when the pushed cow tips, allowing it to see the world in a fresh way. When interactions with the world disrupt our sphere of comfort, we, too, view the world differently, gaining both empathy and insight. Billy Collins encourages me to establish coordinates of when and where, which assist the reader in entering my poems. His thoughts on what constitutes poetry, how it moves from one line to the next, also permeates my writing as evidenced in the double triolet "Weighing the Future." Each line develops the tension, the struggle, and then the turn. While I want my poetry to be entertaining and enjoyable, I hope that it leaves my readers encountering the world in a new, fresh way.
