November Featured Poet: Alison Townsend

This month: Tennessee Tech's Women's Center sponsors a very special reading by esteemed poet Alison Townsend. This event was curated by Martha Highers of Under the Sun. Townsend will travel from Madison, Wisconsin, to read.

Alison Townsend is the award-winning author of two poetry collections, The Blue Dress and Persephone in America, and a volume of prose, The Persistence of Rivers. She is a professor emerita of English at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater.

Writing about her work for the Kenyon Review, Townsend says, "The natural world is my greatest source and resource. Even when I lived in cities, such as Los Angeles or Madison, it was what I gravitated to, probably because I grew up in rural places. Gardening is also important to me, for the way it grounds me and takes me outside myself . . . Family relationships and my life as a woman also fuel my work. They were especially important in my first two books of poetry, The Blue Dress, and Persephone in America."

As always, Sawmill Poetry will also feature an open mic. Poetry, spoken word, dramatic monologue, short prose, and more are welcome. Songs? Yes, songs! Arrive by 6:45 to sign up.

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