Professor of English and acclaimed author, V. Penelope Pelizzon, celebrated the release of her collection of poems,: “A Gaze Hound That Hunteth By the Eye,” with a poetry reading sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and the Barnes & Noble Bookstore. Taking place on Thursday, Feb. 22, Pelizzon exclaimed that the collection is “fresh off the press,” which allowed her to distribute autographed copies to purchase at the end of the event.
Her introduction was made by Creative Writing Director Sean Forbes, who raved about her contributions to the field, this university, and his career. Credits were also given to Ellen Litman, Associate Director of Creative Writing and Sophie Buckner, Graduate Assistant Director, for organizing and promoting this event.
Transforming her unique expeditions to Syria, Namibia, South Africa and Italy into poetry creates a concise yet detailed perspective on those regions through an American lens. Additionally, her new collection is her first publication in the last decade, so you can bet it is chock-full of potent experiences that can resonate with people from other parts of the world. Other published works of hers include her awarded “Nostos” and “Whose Flesh Is Flame, Whose Bone Is Time,” and impressively, she has taught English here at UConn since 2002, working part-time in the aforementioned countries during this time.
“Blue Hour” can be universally understood by burnt-out students who are tasked with work they have no desire to complete, although its sentiments more accurately apply to those in office jobs. To deal with not being “somewhere else, or someone different” in moments of dead-end job despair, people procrastinate, confiding in vices such as the internet and caffeine to keep sane. Acuteness of wasted time is observed by the omniscient narrator. “Light slips further into shadow,” yet there is a silver lining to the suffering. There is no fulfilling life for those who grow complacent, doing things they have to do instead of pursuing what they enjoy.
Pelizzon elaborated on how her works carry different meanings as the social climate changes. “Sentimental Education” was written before any legislation on abortion was rising, describing the speaker’s compulsion to get an abortion, comparing themselves to a dog that pulls at its leash until it gets what it wants. She also likens the acts of young love to a Russian jet maneuver, now accidentally political, until the speaker marries their spouse. As the smoke clears, a once destructive argument for the relationship is now one-sided, as the husband becomes indifferent to his spouse’s rage, her words “canine and carnassial.”
The characteristics of dogs applied to humans are not as frequent as her use of alliteration, highlighted by the readings, as the sounds suspend in the still space. Pelizzon also views scientific language that is considered “non-poetic” and “chalky” as a challenge to include in her writing. It is certainly off-putting, but with the use of alliteration and other techniques, it makes for interesting poems that the reader is tasked with interpreting for themselves.
Pelizzon’s interests in smells and sensations are made apparent by way of : “Orts and Slarts,” featuring many witty lines about flatulence and warts, including the familial element of her young nephews enjoying the results of others’ bouts of indigestion. The poem transitions into distrust of so-called food-safe packaging and the potential cross-contamination derived from the long-winded process of food going from the source to the table. The speaker warns that “your Epipen is not a gun” in the case of allergic reactions, pulling together a message from “leftover scrap,” as is the definition of orts.
An interesting and unconventional story comes from the initially innocuous diaspora of Gypsy moths to Bedford, Mass.achusetts in the 1880s. They were introduced into the region to create silk that was more nimble to work with, yet decades later, the invasive species is known for destroying trees. This byproduct sounds devastating on its own, but with Pelizzon’s descriptions of oak trees’ “vast estates,” anyone with an eye for beauty would be saddened to see branches on the ground, the “skeleton” too often left behind by the Gypsy moth invasion.
Overall, the environmental influence on Pelizzon’s work is heartfelt and focused, enlightening readers (and listeners) to pay attention to what people ingest and the substances that surround us post-Industrial Revolution.
Creative Writing students Donal Healey and Jamie Whitworth markedly enjoyed the event. Donal, in his fourth semester, stated: “I liked it. It was wide in range, so I was caught off-guard, but I really liked all of the nature and pollution things, because I’m an Ecology major.” Riffing off her closing thoughts, Jamie said he appreciates how Pelizzon writes “without a purpose” and how that spontaneous writing process makes the final product “sound more enjoyable.”
In an email by the Creative Writing Program, they informed that Pelizzon will also be giving a reading at the Chaplin Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1 PM for a fundraiser. More information is available on the library’s website.