Susan B.A. Somers-Willett
Susan B.A. Somers-Willett
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Susan is the author of two books of poetry, Quiver (VQR Poetry Series, University of Georgia Press) and Roam (Crab Orchard Award Series, Southern Illinois University Press), and a book of criticism, The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry (University of Michigan Press). In addition to her work being featured in periodicals such as Virginia Quarterly Review, The Iowa Review, Indiana Review, and Poets & Writers, Susan has enjoyed success as a poet on the page and the stage. She has featured nationally as a performance poet, has competed at three National Poetry Slams, and her work was a quarter-finalist for Philophonema's Lyric Recovery Festival at Carnegie Hall. About the role of performance in her work, Susan says:

There are those effects that you can only relate on the page, and those you can only relate by speaking. I try to honor and experiment with both media. It's true that some poems lend themselves better to performance than others, and I try to respect each poem's best venue, but I rarely find that my writing wants to stay on the page alone. It's lonely there.

Through reading and performance, I believe poetry can achieve new levels of intimacy and ecstasy, fulfilling poetry’s sonic and prosodic potential while still honoring textual nuance. It is the music of language—the odd and perfect turn of phrase, the rhythm of it ringing in my head for days—that compels my writing. Which is to say that how I speak the poem and what it says are, in my eyes, equally important.”

Poetry

What the Doctors Forget to Tell You About Morphine | Poets & Writers
Self-Portrait as Interstate 10 | Big City Lit
Darwin Strikes a Match
| Virginia Quarterly Review
First Sex | Virginia Quarterly Review
Cow Song | Verse Daily
The Effects of Light on a Woman's Body [text] [audio]| Robert Frost Foundation Award
The Jeanne D'Arc Poems | WOMB

Essays

"Can Slam Poetry Matter?" | RATTLE #27, Summer 2007

Interviews and Audio
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Poetry Foundation Cover Story: Performing the Academy [website] | 7 June 2007
Poetry Foundation Podcast [16K MP3] | 11 June 2007 (14 min.)
"Slam Past, Present, and Future," The Eclectic Word with Victor Infante [streaming audio] Blog TalkRadio | 17 August 2007 (1 hour)
Poetry Slam Incorporated Podcast [35K MP3] | March 2006 (30 min.)
Carbondale Nightlife Interview [PDF]| 5 April 2006
Robert Frost Foundation Interview [website] | Winter 2005