Molly Peacock
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Molly Peacock (born Buffalo, New York 1947) is an
American-Canadian American Canadians are Canadians of American descent. The term is most often used to refer to Canadians who migrated from or have ancestry from the United States. Demography According to the 2016 Census, 29,590 Canadians reported American as ...
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
,
essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
, biographer and speaker, whose multi-genre literary life also includes memoir, short fiction, and a one-woman show.


Career

Peacock's latest book is
Flower Diary: Mary Hiester Reid Paints, Travels, Marries & Opens a Door
', a layered memoir and biography that examines the balancing act of female creativity and domesticity in the life of
Mary Hiester Reid Mary Augusta Hiester Reid (10 April 1854 – 4 October 1921) was an American-born Canadian painter and teacher. She was best known as a painter of floral still lifes, some of them called "devastatingly expressive" by a contemporary author, and b ...
, a painter who produced over three hundred stunning, emotive floral still lifes and landscapes. Critics noted that the biography is written with the "lingering observations and lyrical touch of an established poet, yet with an easygoing, conversational tone often lacking in didactic art biographies." As with The Paper Garden, this "lush and beautifully produced" treatise also tracks Peacock's own marriage with the late Joyce scholar Michael Groden. Peacock's works include
The Paper Garden
', a biography of
Mary Delany Mary Delany ( Granville; 14 May 1700 – 15 April 1788) was an English artist, letter-writer, and bluestocking, known for her "paper-mosaicks" and botanic drawing, needlework and her lively correspondence. Early life Mary Delany was born at C ...
, an 18th-century gentlewoman and a meditation on late-life creativity. ''The Paper Garden'' was selected as a book of the year by
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
, which said of the work, "Like flowers built of a millefeuille of paper, Ms Peacock builds a life out of layers of metaphor." Her latest book of poems i
''The Analyst''
a collection exploring her evolving relationship with her psychoanalyst who, after a stroke, reclaimed her life through painting. She was a Faculty Mentor at the
Spalding University Spalding University is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. History Spalding University traces its origins to Nazareth Academy, one of the oldest educational instituti ...
Brief Residency MFA Program, 2001-13. Molly Peacock is also the author/performer of a one-woman show in poems, "The Shimmering Verge" produced by Louise Fagan Productions, reviewed by Laura Weinert in the
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
. "She can inhabit a moment with quiet intensity: in a haunting poem about an alcoholic father hovering over her, she fully enters her scene, gripping the folds of fabric around her as if they might swallow her alive." She has published seven collections of poetry, including ''The Second Blush'', love poems from a midlife marriage and ''Cornucopia: New & Selected Poems''. Widely anthologized, her work is included in '' The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988–1997'' and ''The Oxford Book of American Poetry'', as well as in leading literary journals such as the ''
Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'', ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', and ''
The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...
''. Peacock is the author of a memoir, ''Paradise, Piece By Piece''. Her essay on Mrs. Delany, "Passion Flowers in Winter", appeared in ''
The Best American Essays ''The Best American Essays'' is a yearly anthology of magazine articles published in the United States.Robert Atwan (ed.), Adam Gopnick (guest ed.). ''The Best American Essays 2008'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. It was started in 1986 and is ...
''. Other pieces appear in '' O: The Oprah Magazine'', ''
Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...
'', '' House & Garden'', and ''
New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...
''. She is also the editor of a collection of creative non-fiction, ''Private I: Privacy in a Public World''. As President of the Poetry Society of America, Molly Peacock was one of the creators of the Poetry in Motion program; coediting ''Poetry In Motion: One Hundred Poems From the Subways and Buses''. She was also the Series Editor of The Best Canadian Poetry in English (Tightrope Books)from 2008–2017, as well as a Contributing Editor of the
Literary Review of Canada The ''Literary Review of Canada'' is a Canadian magazine that publishes ten times a year in print and online. The magazine features essays and reviews of books on political, cultural, social, and literary topics, as well as original Canadian poet ...
. Peacock keeps in touch with
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, her former home, by teaching at the
92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...
every February and March as she has since 1985.


Personal life

Peacock was born in Buffalo, New York. Currently, she lives in downtown Toronto and holds dual Canadian-American citizenship. She was married to scholar Michael Groden, who died in March 2021.


Writings


Poetry

* ''And Live Apart'', University of Missouri Press, 1980, * ''Raw Heaven'', Random House, 1984, * ''Take Heart'', Random House, 1989, * ''Original Love'', Lightning Source Inc, 1996, * ''Cornucopia: New & Selected Poems'', W.W. Norton, 2002, * *
The Analyst
''W.W. Norton. 2017. ''


Fiction

* ''Alphabetique, 26 Characteristic Fictions'', McClelland & Stewart, 2014,


Non-fiction

* *; Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2011, *''How To Read A Poem and Start A Poetry Circle'', Riverhead Books, 1999, *''Paradise, Piece By Piece'', Riverhead Books, 1998, *


Edited anthologies

* ''Poetry in Motion: 100 Poems from the Buses and Subways'' (co-edited with
Elise Paschen Elise Paschen (born January 1959) is an American poet and member of the Osage Nation. She is the co-founder and co-editor of Poetry in Motion, a program which places poetry posters in subways and buses across the country. Career and education Th ...
and Neil Neches). New York: Norton, 1996. * ''The Private I: Privacy in a Public World''. Saint Paul: Graywolf P, 2001. * ''The Best Canadian Poetry in English'' (each annual volume co-edited with a different Guest Editor). Toronto: Tightrope Books, 2008— .


Selected essays

* "What the Mockingbird Said." ''Conversant Essays: Contemporary Poets on Poetry''. Ed. James McCorkle. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1990. 343–347. * "One Green, One Blue: One Point about Formal Verse Writing and Another About Women Writing Formal Verse." ''A Formal Feeling Comes: Poems in Form by Contemporary Women.'' Ed. Annie Finch. Ashland, OR: Story Line P, 1994. * "The Poet As Hybrid Memoirist." ''The Writer'' 112.2 (February 1999): 20–22. * "From Gilded Cage to Rib Cage." ''After New Formalism: Poets on Form, Narrative, and Tradition''. Ed. Annie Finch. Ashland, OR: Story Line P, 1999. 70–78. * "Introduction." ''The Private I: Privacy in a Public World''. vii-ix. * "Sweet Uses of Adversity." ''The Private I: Privacy in a Public World''. 80–94. * "Rhyme and the Line." ''A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line. Eds. Emily Rosko and Anton Vander Zee''. Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 2011. 176–177. * "A Calendar of Affections." ''Arc Poetry Magazine'' 65 (2011): 166–171. * "New Formalism at the Millenium." ''Green Mountains Review'' 25.1 (2012): 268–272.


Honours

Peacock has received recognition from the
Leon Levy Center for Biography (CUNY) Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
,
Danforth Foundation The Danforth Foundation was one of the largest private nonprofit foundations in the St. Louis Metropolitan region. It closed its doors in 2011 after 84 years of operation and more than a billion dollars in grants distributed. Background Establishe ...
,
Ingram Merrill Foundation The Ingram Merrill Foundation was a private foundation established in the mid-1950s by poet James Merrill (1926-1995), using funds from his substantial family inheritance.J. D. McClatchyBraving the Elements ''The New Yorker'', 27 March 1995. Retriev ...
,
Woodrow Wilson Foundation The Woodrow Wilson Foundation was an educational non-profit created in 1921, organized under the laws of New York, for the "perpetuation of Wilson's ideals" via periodic grants to worthy groups and individuals. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the chai ...
,
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, and
New York State Council on the Arts The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell (1905–1996), ...
. She was President of the Poetry Society of America from 1989 to 1995, and again from 1999 to 2001. She served as Poet in Residence at the American Poets' Corner, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine from 2000 to 2005. Peacock was also Regents' Fellow at
University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...
and Poet in Residence at
Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. ...
and the
University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...
.


Residencies

* The Poetry Center, 92nd Street YM/YWHA, New York. 1985–present. * Poet-in-Residence, Poets' Corner, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York. 2000–2004. * Visiting Writer, Bennington College 2002 * Woodrow Wilson Fellow 1994–2001 * Regents Lecturer, University of California, Riverside. 1998. * Writer-in-Residence, University of Western Ontario. 1995–1996. * Poet-in-Residence, Bucknell University. 1993. * Visiting Poet, Columbia University, 1986, 1992. * Poet-in-Residence, Barnard. 1989–1992. * Visiting Poet, Sarah Lawrence College 1990. * Visiting Poet, Hofstra University, 1986.


References


External links


Molly Peacock's Personal webpage

Interview with Laura Leichum

Brooklyn Rail interview

Pif Magazine interview


 Molly Peacock papers, Binghamton University Libraries {{DEFAULTSORT:Peacock, Molly 1947 births Living people 20th-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian poets Writers from Buffalo, New York Formalist poets Canadian women poets American women poets Spalding University faculty 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century American poets Kentucky women writers 20th-century American women writers American women academics 21st-century American women