Some very modern poems by a now-famous poet, Shaina Phenix! Forwarded by Jill

[jill stockinger]

Dear Compadres,

These were sent to me by the teacher, Bob Stanley, as part of a class on modern poets.

See the attached. (Nedra and Bob Smith are also in this class!)

The poems are all by Shaina Phenix.

I thought I'd share them, to show "length of lines" does not MATTER in certain poems,

and how the use of BREAKS inside lines can be very effective, as a device and style.  

I think most of you will appreciate these. At least, I hope you do!  --Jill Stockinger

From the internet:

Shaina Phenix is a queer, Black femme poet, other-art-maker, educator from Harlem, NY. She holds an MFA in Poetry

from Virginia Tech and is the 2021-2022 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

01.16.24

The professor’s first collection of poetry spans five to six years’ worth of writing, centering the coming-of-age of Black femmes in Harlem, and credits a Hampshire professor for significant inspiration.

Hampshire College alum Shaina Jones, who uses the pen name Shaina Phenix, was featured in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine for her recently published book of poetry, To Be Named Something Else. 

When describing major influences, Jones cited poet Lucille Clifton above all others, crediting former Hampshire Assistant Professor of Poetry Aracelis Girmay for the introduction. “I’d like to give the universe some credit, to say that I would have found Lucille Clifton’s work, or it would have found me in some sort of way, but Aracelis handed me The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 at one of the worst moments in my life,” Jones says. 

“And while the poems didn’t cure the thing that was eating at me, they did hold my hand, hard. In so many more ways than this, Aracelis — her work, her teaching, her mentorship — made me feel possible, as both a human and a poet. Early in my relationship with writing, especially in academia, she encouraged me to experiment, to say what I meant even if everyone couldn’t understand it at first. She taught me about audience, about listening, about allowing the poem space to be what it needs to be and not what I mean for it to be. She taught me to notice how writable the things I carried were, even when they felt unworthy of writing to me.”   

Jones, an assistant professor of English at Elon University, has been lauded for her award-winning book which she published last year. Named one of New York Public Library's Best Books, 2023, and the winner of the 2023 Miller Williams Poetry Prize, the collection is a vibrant tribute to Black matriarchy and lineage — both familial and literary.

Jill!