Not out of want

Title from first page of PDF file (viewed November 24, 2010)Formal poetry was my entry into the art as an undergraduate, and it spurred me to study British literature upon coming to San Diego. When I began writing poetry as a graduate student, form was more a necessity than a stylistic choice; it was all I knew. Although my early verse could be characterized as imitative and ham-fisted, that apprenticeship has turned out to be extremely beneficial. It helped develop my ear as a poet, and will remain the bedrock of my poetics, no matter what direction my writing takes. The title poem of my thesis -- "Not Out of Want" -- is a seven-sonnet crown drawn from the lives of my maternal grandparents. My family shows up in a number of poems in this collection, which is reflective of how profoundly they've influenced my life. Early on in the MFA program, when I found myself struggling to establish my poetic voice and style, I leaned on childhood experience in the crafting of images. Memory became the impetus for much of my early work, and has been instrumental to my education as a poet. Relaying memory clearly depends upon quality sensory imagery. My Imagist studies and practices, along with the plainspoken language that I've always gravitated toward, have brought clarity along with the plainspoken language that I've always gravitated toward, have brought clarity along with the plainspoken language that I've always gravitated toward, have brought clarity along with the plainspoken language that I've always gravitated toward, have brought clarity to my poetics. The sonnet form has been particularly important to my poetry. Nearly three quarters of the poems in this thesis are sonnets, many of them imbedded within sonnet sequences. I studied sonnets extensively in my time as an MA student and MFA student at SDSU. The constraints and intricacies of the sonnet form have shaped my development as a poet in these last three years. The crown mentioned above and the twelve-sonnet sequence, "In a Twilit Field," were challenging endeavors that highlight the dramatic potential of a longer, poetic sequence. But within these sequences, it was important that each sonnet be self-contained. Sonnets demand a specific narrative plan and structure; they force poets to pare extraneous language, to pay close attention to the music of their verse. My poetry has begun to loosen up a bit in this, my second and final year of the MFA program. In a number of my more recent poems, I have been experimenting in tetrameter. At the surface, this break from my early work in pentameter might seem minor, but it has had a significant impact on my poetics: it has allowed for better manipulation of pacing and sound, and has enabled me to more stealthily stray from iambs to play with rhythm, while utilizing internal rhyme and assonance to reset the reader's ear -- to play with the reader's heartbeat. Considering the transformations I have undergone in my short time as a poet, I have no doubt that my poetic style and aesthetic will continue to evolve in the years to come. This manuscript reflects my initial steps into the poetic tradition. My work as an MFA student at San Diego State University is a testament to the poets whom I have studied closely -- Shakespeare, Milton, Frost, Heaney, Muldoon, Amichai -- poets whose music has become engrained in me. All thirty-one poems in this manuscript were written during my time in the MFA program at San Diego State. The guidance, support, and influence of my instructors and fellow poets at SDSU have opened up possibilities for my art that I never knew existed