UNCW Poets Featured on WHQR’s Communique

In an effort to shine a light on “the original human mind,” WHQR’s daily Communique, which explores arts, events, and ideas in the Cape Fear Region, recently took a weeklong look at the work of local poets. Included in the program were readings by Department of Creative Writing faculty member and Ecotone editor Anna Lena Phillips Bell, recent MFA graduate Ashleigh Bryant Phillips, faculty member and Lookout Books publisher Emily Louise Smith, and current MFA student and Ecotone managing editor Aurora Shimshak. Host Gina Gambony also spoke with Phillips Bell about her Vassar Miller Prize-winning collection, Ornament, and with Phillips about honoring her rural upbringing through poetry. Listen and read their poems below.

“Roustabout” by Anna Lena Phillips Bell

“Hard Biscuits” by Ashleigh Bryant Phillips

“The Summer Before He Came Out” by Emily Louise Smith

“Saturday Morning at the Apartment Complex” by Aurora Shimshak

Anna Lena Phillips Bell, Ashleigh Bryant Phillips, Emily Louise Smith, and Aurora Shimshak in the WHQR studio