"Each poem can emerge as an insistent act when it does not simply describe existing certainties, but develops new forms, tones, and images that transvalue and transform."
Frank Sherlock (b. 1969) views poetry as a call to action and a tool for encouraging interactions and conversations within public spaces. Primarily self-taught, Sherlock has studied at Temple University, and he counts years-long correspondences with poets Cid Corman and John Taggart as important parts of his literary education. He considers himself a literary cartographer, with past works that delve deeply into implications of place and event. The City Real & Imagined (Factory School, 2010), written with 2011 Pew Fellow CAConrad, is an ode to the public spaces of Philadelphia, while Ready-to-Eat Individual (Lavender Ink, 2008), co-authored in New Orleans with poet Brett Evans, serves as witness to the city's efforts to heal after Hurricane Katrina. Other books include Over Here (Factory School, 2009) and Space Between These Lines Not Dedicated (ixnay press, 2014). Sherlock has read at various universities and poetry centers throughout the country. He visited Latin America in 2013 to support Por Aquí, a Spanish-language collection of his work translated by Carlos Soto-Roman, to be published by Chile's Das Kapital Press in the fall of 2014. He is currently the 2014-2015 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia.
