I spent many years studying piano – a fact that I think is quite apparent in my poetic style, as my poems have such a preoccupation with sound and rhythm. I’ve heard people point to the influence of Gertrude Stein in my work, and while I’m definitely a fan, I think my style is less Stein and more aural, as I often hear the words before I really think about them. So yes, my poetic style is definitely musical and this book certainly includes lyric poems, but I also wanted to engage in more experimental forms – partly as a way to address the threads of grief and death that run through the work, and partly as a way to explore the imagined voices created here. Or perhaps I’m simply preoccupied with grief, and death, and also breath.
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Renée M. Sgroi holds a PhD in Education from the University of Toronto, an M.Sc. in Creativity and Change Leadership from SUNY Buffalo State, and works as a post-secondary educator. A runner up in the UK’s 2020 erbacce poetry prize, her debut poetry collection, life print, in points, was published that year by erbacce-press. Renée’s poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies including Pinhole Poetry, The /temz/ Review, The Windsor Review, The Beliveau Review, Lummox (U.S.), Prairie Fire, The Prairie Journal, Fresh Voices, and many others. Renée is a contributing editor to Arc Poetry.
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In a Tension of Leaves and Bindings is available now, here or from your favourite indie bookstore.
