The final Dr. Bert C. Bach Creative Writing Initiative reading of the year was held on Nov. 12 at the Reece Museum as debut poet Savannah Sipple read pieces from her recent publication, “WWJD and Other Poems.”
Sipple is an assistant professor of English at Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Lexington, Kentucky, and a mentor in the low-residency M.F.A. program at West Virginia Wesleyan College. She is the recipient of awards from the Barbara Deming Fund and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Her poems can be found in journals such as “Waxing,” “Appalachian Heritage” and “The Offing.”
From Beattyville, Kentucky, Sipple self-describes as a “queer, fat, unapologetic Appalachian woman.” She writes about the back-and-forth, love/hate relationship where she grew up, how she survived her abusive father, stereotypes that were met with shame from her devout Christian community and the inner turmoil of her closeted homosexuality.
“I am from East Kentucky, and with that being said, I made the poems within this book heavily rooted in the language of Appalachia as well as my experience growing up there,” Sipple said.
“WWJD and Other Poems” is crafted to be a self-discovery and self-reflective narrative of Sipple’s life as queer woman from Appalachia.
“This book, in a lot of ways, is a coming-out story,” Sipple said. “It’s divided into three sections. The first section is more of being in the closest; the second is coming out and maybe trying to be okay with that; and the third is more of a movement toward being at peace with who I am.”
Though the poems have a distinct language to them, there are powerful messages in the words Sipple spoke that resonated with the entire audience.
“If you’re from Appalachia, I feel as though you can find a connection with my poems in some shape or form, and if you’re not from Appalachia, I feel like you benefit from hearing it,” Sipple said.
