We Who Are About To Die : Alyse Knorr

Alyse Knorr is an assistant professor of English at Regis University and editor of Switchback Books. She is the author of the poetry collections Mega-City Redux (Green Mountains Review 2017), Copper Mother (Switchback Books 2016), and Annotated Glass (Furniture Press Books 2013), as well as the non-fiction book Super Mario Bros. 3 (Boss Fight Books 2016) and the poetry chapbooks Epithalamia (Horse Less Press 2015) and Alternates (dancing girl press 2014). Her work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Denver Quarterly, Columbia Poetry Review, The Greensboro Review, and ZYZZYVA, among others. She received her MFA from George Mason University.

Where are you now?
I live in Denver, where I teach English at Regis University.

What are you reading?
I recently finished Monica Youn’s “Blackacre” and now I’m reading “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin.

What have you discovered lately?
Lately I’ve been discovering the beauty of mathematics. Growing up I was always pretty afraid of math, since it didn’t come easy to me and I often felt frustrated that I couldn’t understand the simplest of concepts. But my colleagues in Regis’s math and chemistry departments have helped to show me the elegance of mathematics and the imagination and creativity involved in this discipline. Math is very similar to poetry, in its use of symbols and metaphor. I love to hear my colleagues talk about the beauty of their favorite equation, or the revolutions of geometry.

Where do you write?
I usually draft on my laptop on my living room couch and revise by hand on print-outs. Occasionally I also write on my desktop at work.

What are you working on?
I’m currently at work on two projects: an opera libretto about the life and work of Christine de Pizan, the world’s first professional woman writer, and a poetry project called “Wolf Tours” about a pack of wolves that runs a wilderness touring company in Colorado. 

Have you anything forthcoming?
Yes, I have a few poems forthcoming at print and online magazines, including a piece called “Epistemology of Wolves” that will be  published by Alaska Quarterly Review.

What would you rather be doing?
I love video games, baking, and running, and often wish I had more time to do all of these. I also really enjoy traveling and working on my new house. I’ve been learning how to tile and how to do basic plumbing and electrical work, but there’s never enough time to do all the projects I want to do!

Two poems

“Floating Epithalamium” at Alaska Quarterly Review

“Genesis” at Requited