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PHD STUDENT JOINS RANKS OF TOP NEW AMERICAN POETS

When Eryn Green graduates from the University of Denver in June, he will have a Ph.D. from the creative writing program in one hand, and a prestigious poetry award in the other.

As winner of the 2013 Yale Series of Younger Poets for his book Eruv, Green is now counted among a distinguished group of American poets who have received the award since 1919.

"Since I was a much younger writer, the Yale Series has always been the paragon of exciting new writing to me," said Green. "Poets that I absolutely admire, including our own Bin Ramke [DU professor of English], have won this prize before me, and to be counted in their company is humbling and unbelievable."

The award celebrates the most prominent new American poets by bringing their work to the attention of the larger public. Yale University Press will publish Green's book in April 2014.

Unknowingly, Green began writing his book while pursuing his doctoral studies at DU.

"For a long time I didn't realize I was writing the book that ended up becoming Eruv. Poems that appear in the manuscript were written as recently as six months ago, and as long ago as three years. Almost all of the work in the book was written while at DU," he said.

Wilderness is a predominate theme throughout Eruv, as attested by Carl Phillips, judge of the award competition: Eruv "reminds us how essential wilderness is to poetry—a wilderness in terms of how form and language both reinvent and get reinvented. Meanwhile, the sensibility behind these poems points to another wilderness, the one that equals thinking about and feeling the world—its hurts, its joys—deeply and unabashedly, as we pass through it."

"I think about wilderness in multiple senses when I am writing," Green said. "On the one hand, the natural world has always been a source of immense beauty and inspiration to me in its presentation of sublime forms and inscrutable activities. On the other hand, I often think about what wilderness or, rather, wildness, means in the act of poetic composition."

"At the end of the day, the natural world doesn't listen to me—I don't tell a tree how to grow, and I don't instruct birds how to migrate. This awareness reminds me to remain humble in my writing, and to do my best to check my ego at the door before I start a poem," he added.

Why "Eruv"?

"An eruv is a mediating enclosure that allows observant Jews to leave their homes on the Sabbath when doing so otherwise would be prohibited," noted Green. "It is generally constructed by attaching wire between trees, lampposts, and buildings to surround a Jewish community. The construction of an eruv allows observers to consider a public space as an extension of their inner home. Put simply, an eruv allows the inside to go out, and the outside to come in."

"Much like an eruv, a poem has always felt to me to be a means of extending my inner person out into the world, and perhaps more importantly, a way of clearing a space in my heart and mind for the outside world to fill. A poem feels very much like a doorway to me."

Green became interested in reading, writing and teaching poetry while attending the University of Utah. He said that DU's reputation as a bastion of adventurous, experimental, and ethically-minded poetry was well known to him during his MFA studies.

"Eleni Sikelianos, a professor in the DU creative writing program, was a visiting writer at Utah during my time there, and I was fortunate to have several conversations with her that convinced me the reputation was well-deserved," said Green. "The opportunity to work with poets like Eleni and Bin Ramke, who I have always admired, as well as fiction writers and literature professors whose work had long impressed me sealed the deal."

"Eryn is a total delight, bubbling over with enthusiasm and intellect," said Sikelianos. "I have no doubt that he will continue to do great things in his writing, and to mark the literary community with his efforts."

After graduation, Green hopes to become a full-time professor in a graduate program for creative writing. He also will be touring in support of his book and continuing to write.

"Poetry is not the exclusive property or province of poets and everyone has access to the same inspiring universe that drives the creation of most poems," said Green. "Everyone should feel free to read poetry, write it themselves, or simply live their days in a way that feels poetic to them."