Maureen Seaton (photo credit: Emily Blank)
Managing Editor Lisa Ampleman: The prose poem was born in rebellion, from surrealistic parents. It grew up nourished by juxtapositions, associative movement, a direct statement followed by a non sequitur. It studied intermediate lyrical techniques and the controversy between ragged-right or force-justified text in graduate school. And here, in Maureen Seaton’s hands, it takes on advanced cultural studies, examining contemporary American attitudes toward sexuality and place. This poem’s deception is its supposedly simple syntax, which leads to a beautiful lyric moment at the end.
To hear Maureen read her poem, click below:
I Was Banned in Trinidad, Colorado
I became a polygamist. I became a cross stealer. I became a channeler, a prophet. I was accidentally mixed up. I was illegally situated. I was living in the subjunctive. I was boundaried by barbed wire. I became a scatological classic. I was born in Teaneck. I became a tale of homoerotica. I became a homo in the midst of war and nightlife. I became a ghost note. I was thrice divorced. I wore the smile of a whore. I was thrice aborted. I was a collection of video clips. I was an alluring view. I was a memory of ruined grace.
Maureen Seaton‘s most recent collection is Fisher (Black Lawrence Press, 2018). Her awards in poetry include the Lambda Literary Award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and a Pushcart prize. A memoir, Sex Talks to Girls (University of Wisconsin Press), also garnered a “Lammy” and was reprinted in paperback (May, 2018). She teaches at the University of Miami.
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