Aimee Nezhukumatathil named "Young Poet to Watch"

Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Associate Professor of English, Aimee Nezhukumatathil was recently named one of the 15 "Young Poets to Watch" by former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove. This list of poets Ms. Dove is following "with great hope" was in conjunction with her Feb. 19th appearance on the PBS show Moyers and Company, hosted by Bill Moyers. (http://billmoyers.com/content/rita-dove’s-list-of-young-poets-to-watch/)

Professor Nezhukumatathil's poetry was recently included in the anthology, Villanelles (Random House, 2012). This collection is the first of its kind--a comprehensive collection of the best of the villanelle, a poetic form whose popularity ranks only behind that of the sonnet and the haiku. With its intricate rhyme scheme and dance-like pattern of repeating lines, its marriage of recurrence and surprise, the villanelle is a form that has fascinated poets since its introduction almost two centuries ago.

Many well-known poets in the past have tried their hands at the villanelle, and the form is enjoying a revival among poets writing today. The poems collected here range from the classic villanelles of the nineteenth century to such famous and memorable examples as Dylan Thomas's "Do not go gentle into that good night," Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art," and Sylvia Plath's "Mad Girl's Love Song." Here too are the cutting-edge works of contemporary poets, including Sherman Alexie, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Rita Dove, Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, and many others whose poems demonstrate the dazzling variety that can be found within the parameters of a single, strict form.

On Feb. 25-26, Nezhukumatathil was one of the headlining authors at Iowa State's Symposium on Wilderness and the Creative Imagination with Daniel Woodrell (author of Winter's Bone), Rolf Potts, and Anthony Doerr. She will give a reading and speak on the intersections of poetry and the environment during this environmental literary festival.