The University of Mississippi has named Joshua Kryah its newest Summer Poet-in-Residence.
Each summer the university hosts one poet to write on campus as well as work with a few classes. Kyrah, who is originally from St. Louis, applied for the position in 2010 after hearing about the program from a fellow friend and poet, Jake Adam York, who was the Poet-in-Residence in 2009.
“He had only wonderful things to say about the residency, so I thought I’d apply,” Kyrah said. “I was the runner-up my first time applying in 2010, so I thought I’d apply again the next year. No dice. I didn’t apply in 2012 but then thought I’d give it another shot this year.”
Kryah had applied to the program twice before and both times had been a finalist; this year he applied again with a new work sample which made him stand out.
“Josh’s poems are amazing and we chose him this year because his project sounds so fascinating,” said Beth Anne Finnely, associate professor of English and director of the MFA program.
This is the first time Kryah has been to Oxford and Ole Miss but he loves it. He is staying right off the Square so he can get a chance to interact with Oxonians.
“I’ve been having a great time,” Kyrah said. “I’ve been to the farmer’s market, eaten at Snackbar, listened to music at the Grove, gotten crawfish from Dixie Crawfish Company and gone to two plays as part of the Oxford Shakespeare Festival — ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ and ‘Macbeth.’ Unfortunately, the observatory on campus isn’t open while I’m in town. But I plan to visit the blues archive soon.”
Not only is Kyrah taking in the amazing environment but he is working on a new poetry project as well. He is currently working on poems about the life and work of another poet, British peasant poet John Clare.
“It’s a verse drama that loosely chronicles Clare’s life as a peasant, as a poet, and later as an asylum dweller,” Kyrah said. “I’ve spent the last few years researching and documenting certain aspects of Clare’s biography and his poems. Now I’m figuring out how to absorb and elide this research into the poems.”
Another reason Kyrah was able to get the residency because of his teaching skills. One of the requirements is that poets meet with classes. He has taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and is now leaving George Mason University to become a member of the creative writing faculty at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Kryah said that he has already gained so much from being here and having the freedom to write and relax.
“Right now I’m just enjoying getting things done and in order before the upheaval begins,” he said.
He has two poetry collections: “We Are Starved” (2011), published by the University of Colorado Press as part of its New Mountain West Poetry Series, and “Glean” (2007), selected for the 2006 Nightboat Books Poetry Prize.
For people looking to hear some of Kyrah’s work he will be doing a reading at Off Square Books at 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 26.
