"[My work] seeks to embrace states of ambiguity and contradiction, transforming the everyday into the transcendent."
Jenn McCreary (b. 1972) believes that the poem is always "a dialogue and exchange between poet and reader; a breathing entity rather than a closed, coherent object that exists only within the confines of its own margins." Her collections have centered on the woman's role in the "heroic quest": as healer and caretaker (:a doctrine of signatures:, Singing Horse Press, 2002); mother and lover (:ab ovo:, Dusie Press, 2009); and maiden, witch, or crone (& now my feet are maps, Dusie Press, 2014). McCreary assembles her poems from a variety of source material, sifting and scratching out—a process that allows for "fortunate accidents." Since 1998, she has co-edited ixnay press with poet Chris McCreary, publishing chapbooks and journals of new and experimental writing. After a recent collaboration with visual artist SJ Hart, leading to a series of new poems and paintings, McCreary plans to pursue opportunities to work with artists from other disciplines, and to experiment with physical manifestations of poetry that free the text from the page. worrywort, McCreary's collaboration with 2011 Pew Fellow Pattie McCarthy, is forthcoming in 2014 from Little Red Leaves Textile Editions.
