William Doreski Wins Aesthetica Poetry Award

Poet and KSC English Professor William Doreski recently won the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition 2010 poetry award.

Aesthetica is a British-based art and culture publication that explores both emerging and established contemporary arts and design. The annual competition received 4,000 entries, and one winner was chosen from each of three categories: Artwork & Photography, Fiction, and Poetry. Each winner received an award of £500 and an additional prize from Aesthetica’s competition partners. Winners and finalists have their work published in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual.

Prof. Doreski had published more than 400 poems and 16 books of poetry, criticism, and memoir. He has taught creative writing at Keene State College since 1982. “‘Your Sea Bass’ summarizes a moment of innocence, early adulthood in Boston where everything seemed new and old at once,” Prof. Doreski explained, “and the shabby old waterfront, before the building of the aquarium, embodied the history and outlook of a lost New England that I instinctively loved. My then-wife had never gone fishing, so I took her to the waterfront where old men who looked like semi-retired blues singers patiently sat with their poles. I had caught a couple of stripers there, and thought it would be amusing to see my wife haul one in. She didn’t get a bite, but the poem turns on the possibility. Poems and literature in general are all about ‘what if?’ not ‘what is.’ We already know about the ‘what is.’ It’s more fun and more challenging to explore the ‘what if?’”

To read “Your Sea Bass” and several of the poet’s other work, visit his page at Mad Swirl.