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113:, taking influence from West African praise poetry and concerning themes of racial justice. Throughout her career, her work has become more experimental, stretching the boundaries of genre and the definition of poetry. Her fixations still include justice, but she expanded into a fascination with text placement's effect on meaning. These experiments with form culminated in her development of
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tines of a fork. She uses the word "limited" to express that, though an observer gains understanding of art through these bifurcated systems of comprehension, the same systems limit their understanding. Just as one can only eat that which adheres to the tines of a fork, one can only internalize the facets of a piece of art that adhere to these bifurcated tines of understanding.
59:, in a working-class family in Ohio. Her father chose the name Thylias because he decided she needed a name that had not existed before. According to Moss, her first few years of life were happy, living with her family in the upstairs rooms of an older Jewish couple named Feldman (who Moss believes were
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Moss contributed to experimental literary theory by introducing the metaphor of a fork to conceptualize how people internalize art and literature. The fork as a metaphor for understanding represents bifurcation, and Moss argues that the branching out of the mind to understand art mimics the branching
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When Moss was five, the
Feldmans sold their house and moved away. Her parents continued to live in the house with the new homeowners and their 13-year-old daughter, Lytta, who began to baby-sit Moss after school. Moss experienced constant harassment from Lytta and several traumatic events before the
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district. After enduring bullying and racism from both her peers and teachers, she withdrew from social interaction at school and did not speak freely in classes until many years later in college. It was during this time she gave more attention to writing poetry, an activity she had begun two years
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The development of Moss's POAMs (products of acts of making) coincided with her theoretical development of
Limited Fork. These multimedia pieces use as many sensory elements as possible, including movement, color, and sound. Moss has also expressed interest in incorporating olfactory elements in
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heritage. Her poetry has been published in a number of collections and anthologies, and she has also published essays, children's books, and plays. She is the pioneer of
Limited Fork Theory, a literary theory concerned with the limitations and capacity of human understanding of art.
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from 1971 to 1973. She eventually left university due to racial tensions and entered the workforce for several years. During this time she had two sons, Dennis and Ansted. She enrolled in
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age of nine. She later said about her trauma: "I never said a word of this to anybody....I was there witnessing things that only happened when I left that house."
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121:. Moss's POAMs are combinations of film and poetry, emphasizing how text placement and movement, among other sensory elements, can enhance the meaning of a poem.
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in 1979 and graduated with a BA in 1981. She later received a Master of Arts in
English, with an emphasis on writing, from the
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in
Andover, Massachusetts. Since 1993, she has been a Professor of English and a Professor of Art and Design at the
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future projects. These POAMS are usually displayed in galleries, but many can be found online in
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Cull, Ryan (2016). "Inexhaustible
Splendor: Thylias Moss, Praise Poetry, and Racial Politics".
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At age nine her family relocated, causing her to be sent to school in a predominantly
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Wannabe
Hoochie Mama Gallery of Realities' Red Dress Code: New & Selected Poems
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Into a Light Both
Brilliant and Unseen: Conversations With Contemporary Poets
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application of
Limited Fork Theory caused Moss to adopt the persona of
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Modern
American Poetry information page on Moss's life and poetry.
336:"Thylias Moss: A Poet of Many Voices and A Spellbinding Delivery"
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Artist's Fellowship from the Massachusetts Arts Council (1987)
359:. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. p. 122.
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survivors). The Feldmans treated Moss like a grandchild.
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University of Michigan STAMPS School of Art & Design
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Her early work is considered part of the legacy of the
447:"Shadows, Boxes, Forks, and "POAMs" by Richard Siken"
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explaining details of both her life and her theory.
549:, an interview on the Poetry Foundation website.
474:"Two Oberlin Alums Tapped as MacArthur Fellows"
98:After finishing school, Moss taught English at
565:An online collection of Thylias Moss's poems.
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575:University of Michigan Department of English
671:21st-century African-American women writers
661:20th-century African-American women writers
342:, October 1995, via Modern American Poetry.
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199:Small Congregations: New and Selected Poems
205:Rainbow Remnants in Rock Bottom Ghetto Sky
406:MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S
288:Dewar's Profiles Performance Award (1991)
83:Moss married at age 16 before attending
382:, Academy of American Poets, poets.org.
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676:21st-century African-American writers
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559:Examples of Moss's recent print poems
144:The complexities associated with the
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266:(Dial Books for Young Readers, 1995)
656:21st-century American women writers
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512:from the original on July 19, 2011.
547:"Shadows, Boxes, Forks, and POAMs"
542:A collection of Moss's video poams
223:Hosiery Seams on a Bowlegged Woman
152:, pseudonyms under which she runs
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193:Last Chance for the Tarzan Holler
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187:Slave Moth: A Narrative in Verse
119:POAM (product of act of making)
26:) is an American poet, writer,
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534:Children's literature portal
412:: 125–417 – via JSTOR.
22:(born February 27, 1954, in
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621:20th-century American poets
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555:at The Whiting Foundation.
298:Witter Bynner Poetry Prize
500:Brasier, Rebecca (2008).
256:The Dolls in the Basement
117:and the invention of the
651:American women academics
243:Tale of a Sky-Blue Dress
150:Forker Girl/Forker Gryle
106:in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
631:Native American writers
355:Pereira, Malin (2010).
57:Thylias Rebecca Brasier
616:African-American poets
611:Oberlin College alumni
502:"Thylias Moss (1954-)"
104:University of Michigan
28:experimental filmmaker
283:Guggenheim Fellowship
626:American women poets
394:, Poetry Foundation.
277:MacArthur Fellowship
189:(Persea Books, 2004)
183:(Persea Books, 2006)
181:Tokyo Butter: Poems
177:(Persea Books, 2016)
681:Women sound artists
561:published in Frigg.
138:, journals, and on
125:Limited Fork Theory
115:Limited Fork Theory
111:Black Arts Movement
85:Syracuse University
34:and playwright of
601:MacArthur Fellows
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451:Poetry Foundation
250:Talking to Myself
238:(2017), a romance
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32:sound artist
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591:1954 births
211:At Redbones
79:Adult years
585:Categories
314:References
480:March 10,
457:March 10,
75:earlier.
61:Holocaust
510:Archived
140:YouTube.
136:podcasts
44:European
553:Profile
506:Opus 40
435:. 2020.
225:(1983).
156:and an
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271:Awards
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169:Poetry
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230:Prose
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361:ISBN
307:NEA
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