Joseph Ross is the author of four books of poetry: Raising King (forthcoming in 2020), Ache (2017), Gospel of Dust (2013), and Meeting Bone Man (2012). His poetry has appeared in a wide variety of publications including The Los Angeles Times, The Southern Quarterly, Xavier Review, Poet Lore, Tidal Basin Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, and Sojourners. His work appears in many anthologies including Collective Brightness, Poetic Voices without Borders 1 and 2, Full Moon on K Street, and Come Together; Imagine Peace. He served as the 23rd Poet-in-Residence for the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society, just outside Washington, D.C. He is a six-time Pushcart Prize nominee and his poem “If Mamie Till Was the Mother of God” won the 2012 Pratt Library/Little Patuxent Review Poetry Prize.
Ross currently teaches in the English Department at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C.
He will share his own poems and discuss the craft of writing, “When readers explore my work, I hope they discover three main traits; I hope they find poems that say something, use surprising language, and are moving. To me, these are the marks of a strong poem. I teach these three traits to my students and they seem to help them make meaningful poems.”
The poet will also teach a Master Class open to the first 15 students who submit a poem on a subject that Ross has addressed in his own work. These students will share their poems with him over a lunchtime celebration.
This free, artist-in-residence style event will be presented on Thursday, November 7, in Old Main Gym. Joseph Ross will present four open readings with Q&A sessions at the following times: 8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m., 10:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m., 12:30 p.m. – 1:15 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. All are welcome.