The creativity and craft of many poets inspires me. Among contemporary poets, Dara Weir, Layli Long Soldier, Paul Tran, Natasha Trethewey, Kay Ryan, Marie Howe, Tony Hoagland, and Laurie Ann Guerrero are some of my favorites. A few of those who are no longer with us but who continue to inspire me are Mary Oliver, Tony Hoagland, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, and Denise Levertov. Both these lists could be much longer.
My work tends more toward the lyric than the narrative. I enjoy writing formal poetry, though I am not strictly a formalist.
My B. A. in English provided an excellent foundation in literature, and I’ve benefited immensely from workshops with poets, among whom are Hoa Nguyen, Scott Wiggerman, Ellen Bass, Alexandra Oliver, Marie Howe, Dean Young, and Susan Bright. The University of Iowa’s Extension program gave me my first taste of a deeper study of poetry, and it’s my great good fortune to currently be enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program at Pacific University, where I’ve studied or spent time in workshop with with Paul Tran, Frank X. Gaspar, Eduardo C. Corral, Joseph Millar, Shara McCallum and Kwame Dawes.
cindyhuyser 