Kieron Walquist [he/they] is a queer neurospicy poet + visual artist from mid-Missouri. Their work appears in Best New Poets, Gulf Coast, IHLR, The Missouri Review, Pleiades, Poet Lore, Third Coast, Waxwing, + elsewhere. Their chapbook, LOVE LOCKS, was selected by Luther Hughes for the 2022 Quarterly West Chapbook Contest.
He holds a BA from Lincoln University of Missouri, an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, + has received fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, Vermont Studio Center, and Monson Arts in Spring 2024.
He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Utah + lives in Salt Lake City.
1) What was the best part for you about being at Monson Arts? And what, if anything, did it teach you about your own creative process?
I’ll never forget my experience at Monson Arts—from my cohort of amazing artists/humans, the 20+ inches of snow over two days, to the sublime sight of the Solar Eclipse, the residency was both reviving and restorative for my work and my being. I learned to trust my ever-changing writing process while in Maine, and I’m grateful to my cohort for their encouragement to embrace the change.
2) Did you start a project while in residency and/or were you able to “complete” or wrap-up a work during your time here? What’s been your focus since you left Monson Arts?
I was inspired to write/create poetry zines for the first time, and I loved the materiality / hybridity of the form. I also wrote toward what I believed, at the time, to be my second poetry chapbook that has since gone on (changed!) to become my forthcoming debut collection, OUR HANDS HOLD VIOLENCE. The manuscript would not have taken shape without the support of Monson Arts. Currently, I’m editing the collection and starting my PhD coursework at the University of Utah, while dreaming of a second collection.
3) Name 3-5 writers, poets, artists, books, musicians, or visual works that continue to inspire you.
I’m incredibly lucky to know their work and to call them kindreds: Erin Malone, Gabe Brown, Tavi Gevinson, and Elijah Hamilton-Wray.
Time and space to create.
Monson Arts is a new artists’ residency and arts center in Monson, Maine. Programs include residencies for artists and writers, intensive shorter workshops, and educational partnerships with area secondary schools.