We are all allowed to grow and experiment with different things. Remembering that there is not just one audience, but several (ideal, actual, and potential), can be liberating.—Evie Shockley

Evie Shockley

Evie Shockley’s most recent book of poetry, the new black, won the 2012 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry. She is also the author of a half-red sea, two chapbooks, and a critical study, Renegade Poetics: Black Aesthetics and Formal Innovation in African American Poetry. She is Associate Professor of English at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

This quote comes from Evie Shockey’s post,“The Audience Is Present, Part III,” on The Poetry Foundation’s blog Harriet. At the AROHO Retreat, Evie spoke to us about audience. I’ll share some of what she said in my next post. In the meantime, enjoy these links:

• Read “The Sunday Poem: Evie Shockley,” Michelle Aldrege’s review on Gwarlingo of the new black to get a sense of the power and beauty of Evie Shockley’s poems. This review also includes five poems that you won’t want to miss!
• Read two poems by Evie Shockley at Bombblog.

See more quotes about writing here.