Junior English major Sara Green is one of five student poets selected for the Connecticut Poetry Circuit. Students were selected based on entries they submitted to the circuit and will tour with their writings across the state from Feb. 6 to March 11.  

Green submitted a handful of poems from her chapbook, a small collection of poems she is writing with the end goal of publication. The chapbook, titled “Sporadic Resurrections,” has been worked on by both Green and English Professor Daniel Donaghy during her independent study, “Writing for Publication.” Green aims to submit her chapbook for publication by spring 2024. 

“Professor Donaghy has been an outstanding and consistent mentor who has given me, along with many other students, the permission to explore our ideas in lousy first drafts, try on different forms that suit us, and above all else, read the works of many other poets, particularly those with silenced narratives,” said Green. “I’ve been really fortunate to have been given a safe space to confront difficult truths in my work as of late, including honoring my own wickedness and examining generational and institutional traumas from different perspectives and points of reference.”   

As a nontraditional student, Green finds herself being stretched in many different areas, making the recognition even more valuable. “At school, I am a student, but at home, I am a partner, coordinator of the home, dog mom, and most nights I'm out late at roller derby practice as Sylvia Wrath! I have a lot of late nights, so being recognized for my work has been very validating of the hard work I put in when I’m wearing either hat.”  

Green’s love for poetry sprouted unexpectedly. “I sort of discovered what I was writing was poetry, so I began taking creative writing courses at a community college and going to poetry workshops at a neighboring university,” she said. “I made my way to the slam poetry circuit at Providence Poetry Slam where I had the honor to hear and share a stage with some seriously talented and vulnerable humans. I started at Eastern in 2019 and have since found the beautiful love child of all my interests,” said Green, who majors in English and aspires to become a language arts teacher. 

Regardless of her busy schedule, Green is excited for the upcoming poetry tour. “It's a new opportunity to both share truths and cultivate connections,” she said. “Plans for school and poetry projects tend to always be metamorphosing, most of the time, inconveniently.  I'm going to go in with a lot of trust in myself and that whatever needs to be written will find a way out.”  

The Connecticut Poetry Circuit was established in 1968 to continue the work of the New England Poetry Circuit, which was founded in 1964 by the Academy of American Poets and Holly Stevens, daughter of the acclaimed poet and Hartford insurance executive Wallace Stevens. This year’s judges were Randall Horton, Clare Rossini, Kate Rushin, Vivian Shipley, and John Stanizzi.  

In addition to Green, this year’s winning student poets are Isabella Bullock of Western Connecticut State University, Oliver Egger of Wesleyan University, Alisa Mejia of Quinnipiac University and John Nguyen of Yale University.