Jennifer L. Knox

Jennifer L. Knox
Born
Lancaster, California
Alma materUniversity of Iowa,
New York University

Jennifer L. Knox (born 1968) is an American poet.

Life

She was born in Lancaster, California, she received her BA from the University of Iowa, and her MFA in poetry writing from New York University. She has taught poetry writing at Hunter College and New York University.[1]

Her work appeared in Gulf Coast,[2] zine scene.[3] Her poetry has appeared in the following anthologies: The Best American Poetry (2011, 2006, 2003 and 1997); The Best American Erotic Poems: From 1800 to the Present; Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to Present and Free Radicals: American Poets before Their First Books.

Her first book of poems, A Gringo Like Me, was published in 2005 by Soft Skull Press. A second edition was printed in 2007 by Bloof Books.[4] In addition her second and third books were published by Bloof Books.[4][5]

Childhood

Jennifer L. Knox grew up in the Mojave Desert. Her father was an accountant and mother, a speech therapist. Her father was from Nova Scotia, and being from Nova Scotia she explains he had a very satirical sense of humor, Nova Scotians share the British love of understated, self-deprecating satire.[6]

Influences

Knox names poets Richard Hugo, Denis Johnson, James Galvin, Wallace Stevens and James Tate, and fiction writers Italo Calvino and Kenzaburō Ōe as great influences.[7]

Style

The poetry of Jennifer L. Knox is very bold and real. Her poems are filled with humor, pop culture, and quite frequently, profanity. She delves into the pop culture of modern America today without censorship. Knox makes use of strong diction, hyperboles, and metaphors.

What's striking about Knox's work is that she seems willing to say almost anything, which sounds like it could be self-indulgent but which in her hands turns into a powerful, idiosyncratic account of American culture.[8] She has described her reader as "a man, dressed like a woman, is over 40 but wider than a mile, 9 feet tall, all that, is a Camaro owner ... happily answers all telephone surveys" [9]

"In workshops, my poems were often described as “sarcastic” and “ironic”—but neither label ever made sense to me. I'm not being sarcastic, and irony is, like, The Gift of the Magi, right?"[6] She has since been described to employ Menippean satire.[10]

Books
  • Jennifer L. Knox (1 January 2005). A Gringo Like Me. Soft Skull Press. ISBN 978-1-932360-98-1.
  • Drunk By Noon Bloof Books, 2007, ISBN 9780615163550 [11]
  • Wir Fürchten Uns Lux Books, 2008, ISBN 3939557315, 9783939557319
  • The Mystery of the Hidden Driveway Bloof Books, 2010, ISBN 9780982658710
  • Days of Shame and Failure Bloof Books, 2015, ISBN 9780996586801[12]

Poetry

References
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-04-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. http://zine-scene.com/?q=issue5/Knox
  4. Bloof Books
  5. Blackbird Archive
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-03-18. Retrieved 2011-10-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-30. Retrieved 2011-10-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. John Findura. "Drunk By Noon a review". Jacket 35. Jennifer L. Knox is able to cut through to a large audience because she is writing without an audience in mind, or, more precisely, because she is not limiting herself to any particular audience.
  12. Rooney, Kathleen (2015-12-24). "'Days of Shame & Failure,' by Jennifer L. Knox". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-18.
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