Civitella Ranieri is celebrating African American History Month by featuring some of our African American alumni. We asked Patricia Smith (CRF 2017)…
1) What are you working on now?
“I expanded the manuscript I “finished” during my stint at Civitella. A ravenous crown of sonnets (15 poems) turned into a double crown (30 poems), then a TRIPLE crown (45 poems). The sonnets are dramatic monologues based on my collection of 19th century photos of African Americans. I’m also working on a book of short fiction examining the lives of African-American mothers who have lost children, most often to police violence.”
2) How did Civitella influence you or your work?
“Civitella left me alone with myself. That was utterly important, since the work raised many technical and cultural questions and some of the answers were difficult to confront. The unbridled beauty, the silence, the absence of distractions and the option to laugh and dine with the like-minded pushed the work forward in ways that were revelatory. I miss it terribly.”