Tiana Clark

Tiana Clark is an American poet.^[1] Clark is the author of Equilibrium^[2] and I Can't Talk About The Trees Without The Blood.^[3] Clark writes about race, Southern history, religion and sex.^[4] She teaches creative writing at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

Education

Clark received her B.A in Africana and Women’s Studies at TSU, she then graduated from Vanderbilt University's M.F.A. program. She worked as the editor for the Nashville Review while at the university.^[5][6]

Awards

• 2015 Rattle Poetry Prize^[6]
• 2016 Afaa Michael Weaver Award for Frost Place Chapbook Competition for Equilibrium^[7][8]
• 2016 Academy of American Poets University Prize^[9]
• 2017 Furious Flower's Gwendolyn Brooks Centennial Poetry Prize^[10]
• 2017 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize
• 2017-2018 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellowship at the Wisconsin Institute of Creative Writing^[11]
• 2019 Pushcart Prize^[12]
• Fellowship Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
• Fellowship Sewanee Writers' Conference
• Fellowship Kenyon Review Writers Workshop
• Fellowship Frost Place Poetry Seminar
• Fellowship New Harmony Writers Workshop

Equilibrium

The Chapbook Equilibrium was published by Bull City Press after the manuscript won the 2016 Frost Place Chapbook Competition.^[7][13] The book investigates questions of identity and discusses being a both Black and a woman in the U.S.^[14][15]

I Can't Talk About The Trees Without The Blood

I Can't Talk About The Trees Without The Blood is Clark's first full length collection. The works was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, and released on September 18, 2018.^[16][17]

In this text, Clark writes about her great-grandmother Freelove, who lived on a farm in North Carolina and was a single mother of 12 children during the Great Depression.^[9] Clark states this is an attempt to record oral histories of her family.^[9]

The Ayes Have It

Clark's poem "The Ayes Have It" was adapted into a short film by Savanah Leaf.^[18] The poem is in response to the murder of Trayvon Martin.

Personal life

Clark was born in Los Angeles but later moved to Nashville when she was seven. This move was significant for Clark because Nashville had fewer people of color residing near her and attending her school, she was one in four black children at her elementary school. She was frequently asked questions about her race. Clark attended Hume-Fogg High School. As a child, Clark and her mother once woke up to find two nooses hanging from a tree outside their residence.^[19][20]

Clark's mother worked several jobs—IHOP, Red Lobster, Rainforest Café, Shoney’s.^[7] Clark thus spent a lot of her time alone and developed an interest in reading and poetry.^[21] Clark never met her father.^[9]

She wrote in Equilibrium (2016) that it "took me 30 years to say I am glad I don't pass for white" due to societal critiques of women of color.^[22] Clark was sexually abused as a child (12) while at church, by an older boy. This sparked her curiosity over the "pure intentions" of the church. Clark frequently comments that she doesn't like pleasantries and likes to talk about the "elephant in the room." She no longer goes to church, or attends a type of organized religion, but identifies as spiritual and believes poetry is an element of her spirituality.^[20]

Her mom is black and her dad is white. Clark grew up with her mom and writes about her family life, gender, class and racial trauma.^[23] She used to ask permission from family members before publishing poems about them. One notable poem she published noted that Clark waited to have sex until after marriage, and when she and her husband had sex on the wedding night, she was disappointed-- she did ask her husband for permission to publish and read this poem. She does clarify that regardless she writes the poem, nothing is off limits in writing, sometimes she does negotiate exposing that poem to the public, but prefers to expose the truth even if it shows family members in a negative light.^[20]

References