Thanks, Thomas White, for asking me to do this mini interview! The full discussion will come out in four parts, every Friday, for a month. Cool idea!

Jennifer L. Knox : part one

Jennifer L. Knox is the author of four books of poems. Her poetry has appeared four times in the Best American Poetry series as well as in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and American Poetry Review.

Thank you, The American Poetry Review and Elizabeth Scanlon, for giving the perfect home to my essay on Iowa Bird of Mouth, featuring original art by Polyphony Bruna and Norbert Sarfield.

And speaking of thank yous: Vaughan Ashlie Fielder, Iowa Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Tyler Harms, Barbara Ching, KHOI Community Radio, Ames Public Library, Akwi Nji, Nicholas Manjoine, Colleen Bradford Krantz, Tracy Bohush, Ronna Lawless, Kathranne Knight, Larassa Kabel, Heidi Wiren Bartlett, Juan Felipe Herrera, David Lehman, Kwame Dawes, Iowa Young Birders, Story County Conservation, State Historical Society of Iowa, Jess Lancial, Erica Place, Jim Pease, Claire Krüesel, Heather Derr Smith, Molly McDonald, Meg Johnson, Nate Logan, Steve Rose, Iowa Raptor Project, Catherine Esposito Prescott, Iowa Youth Writing Project, Ames Tribune, Charity Nebbe and Iowa Public Radio, Cam Roberts, and all the fabulous poets who threw down and soc med IBOMers. That was FUN!

Uzi, the parakeet in question.

Thank you, Entropy and Janice Lee, for sharing this poem from my new manuscript! It's the perfect home for it!

The Birds: The Parakeet Has Nightmares

and slams herself against the bars of her covered cage-shrieking and flinging her wings till the box rocks. A cartoony blur, it sounds like there's another animal in there with her.

This was so much fun to write, but even funner(er?) to try the amazing pickles, jams and honey from The Pickling Poet! Thank you, Stacey Harwood-Lehman, for thinking of me!

A Peck of Pickles and Poetry [review of "The Pickling Poet" by Jennifer L. Knox]

As a poet and cook, the pickle/poetry connection is obvious to me. A poem preserves a moment. No matter what emotion of that moment (wonder, surprise, grief, love, etc.), in its preserved poem form, we can turn it over in our hands and watch the light pass through it.

I'm so proud of my students! They hit it out of the park!

LAS students serve as readers for Bicultural Fellowship

Growing up, Kartika Budhwar struggled to find literature that represented her "working-class, bilingual, and culturally fractured" experiences, she said. Now she writes her own stories as a graduate student in Iowa State's MFA program for Creative Writing and Environment (CWE).

Collin and I won last summer's Ames Library pub crawl. I got to say my favorite line all night: "Pardon me, I don't normally look this way—I've been Christmas shopping." Collin sweated through that acetate smoking jacket. Perhaps something cooler this year..."Lord of the Flies"? All we'll need is a conch shell and tattered British school boy uniforms.

Here's a little interview I just did with Brainerd Carey for WYBC Yale Radio! Thank you for having me on, Brainerd!

Jennifer L. Knox

Jennifer L. Knox is the author of four books of poems. Her work has appeared four times in the Best American Poetry series, as well as in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and American Poetry Review last summer.

I'm thrilled that a new essay (and an ooooooold picture) are up the Washington Post!

I'm honored be named the 2018 Bill Pelz Arts Advocacy Award winner by the Ames Community Arts Council. "The award is for that person who generates enthusiasm for Ames arts events by taking every opportunity to promote and encourage participation at any and all levels: as an audience member, as a performer or as a behind-the-scenes volunteer." Thank you, Jim Coppoc, for the nomination and ACAC for spotlighting area arts and artists!

The 2018 ceremony will be Sunday, April 22, 1:30 p.m. at Octagon Center for the Arts. t's free and open to the public. Afterwards, let's go sing some karaoke or something!

"Bill Pelz was one of Ames’ most enthusiastic arts advocates.  During his tenure as Mayor of Ames from 1974-1975, he hosted the first fund raising event for ACTORS to obtain its building on Abraham Drive.  As mayor, Bill created the Ames Community Arts Council.  Today there are six board members and six representatives of member organizations.  Originally this body acted as an advisory group to the city council for funding arts organizations with revenue sharing funds available from the federal government.  Then and now ACAC serves as a coordinating and advocacy organization for the arts in Ames."