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LISTEN: Iris Appelquist On A Confessional Style

Laura Spencer
/
KCUR

Iris Appelquist's latest collection of poems "where we were we were there" was published in March. It's the third book in Prospero's POP poetry series, releasing a chapbook each month by Kansas City area poets until the end of 2015. 

A Kansas City native, Appelquist is not only a poet — she's also a single mother. And the poems in the collection explore what she describes as "the mystifying process of personal growth."

"I really hate pro-love, anti-war poems ... it's too easy, it's not interesting, it's not complicated," Appelquist says. "And a lot of my work examines duality and the gray area." 

Spartan Press has published two full-length volumes of Appelquist's poetry, including BRIAR (2012) and Blunt Trauma (2009), co-authored by Jason Ryberg. 

All of our WORD readings, including bonus tracks by some readers, are archived on SoundCloud.

Laura Spencer is staff writer/editor at the Kansas City Public Library and a former arts reporter at KCUR.
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