Pulitzer winner Jericho Brown speaks at JH Writers Conference

JACKSON, Wyo. — Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jericho Brown delivered a memorable performance at the Center Theater last Friday during his keynote address for the Jackson Hole Writers Conference . His ability to manipulate sound, tone and rhythm to shape the words and emotion being delivered—whether read or recited—was dynamic and engaging.

Also a Whiting Award and a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard, Brown admitted to being nervous before readings, even nauseous, though this wasn't detected a bit otherwise. He spoke and delivered his poems with frankness, peering on contemporary culture, spirituality, sexuality and racial identity with a dose of Southern-isms. He opened with "Prayer of the Backhanded," seemingly a tense reflection on his Louisiana upbringing and relationships with Christianity and his father. Other highlights included "Labor," cuddling-inspired "Stand," confronting race and class with "Say Thank You Say I'm Sorry," and a personal favorite, "Autobiography," recalling both cruel and funny phrases used during his childhood. He also read a few "Duplex" style poems, a form that Brown invented which subverts older poetic forms such as pantoum, the sonnet, and the ghazal.

Burmese American poet Maw Shein Win opened the show with a handful of her works, including selections from her third book, Percussing the Thinking Jar, such as "Small Finches" and "Towards an Earthly Pole." She also read short, stream of consciousness "thought logs."

The ticketed but free event closed with a Q&A between audience and Brown in which he opened up about his process and offered insights about staying inspired.