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K-State Today

October 25, 2017

Poet Mary Cisper to read from her work on Thursday

Submitted by Karin Westman

Mary Cisper

On Thursday, Oct. 26, poet Mary Cisper will read from her work at 5:30 p.m. in the Cottonwood Room at the K-State Student Union.

Cisper is the author of the poetry collection "Dark Tussock Moth." It was selected by Trio House Press for the 2016 Trio Award and was published in 2017.

With expertise in chemistry and visual art as well as literature, Cisper completed her Master of Fine Arts in poetry at Saint Mary's College of California. Her poems and reviews have been published in various journals including Denver Quarterly, Hayden's Ferry Review, Terrain, Water-Stone Review, Newfound, FIELD, Omniverse and Fourteen Hills.

Elizabeth Dodd, university distinguished professor of English and creative writing, is teaching Cisper's poetry in her course this semester.

"Cisper's poems are rich and lush and dense. They contain the universe and its transformational power: as one of her poems recounts, everything is the 'Raw Material' for something else, including her own poetry," Dodd said.

Katherine Karlin, associate professor and director of the Program in Creative Writing, values Cisper's interdisciplinary approach to her art.

"Mary Cisper shares her frame of reference — and her vocabulary — with a long tradition of naturalists, and yet her poetry is intensely personal. Her language is at once vibrant and erudite, and constantly reminds us that we operate on a planet that is hurtling toward the unknown," Karlin explained.

More information about Cisper's work is available at her website.

Cisper's reading is sponsored by the English department. The event is free and open to the public. A book-signing will follow the reading.

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