National Poetry Month Playlist: Nicole Oquendo’s Picks

To celebrate National Poetry Month, our Sundress editors are sharing some of their favorite poems, most influential poems, and poems that they are really digging right now. Put them all together, and you have the Sundress Poetry Playlist!

Today’s picks come from Sundress Assistant Editor Nicole Oquendo!

Falling by James Dickey

One of the poems that influenced me taking up poetry again seriously after a long hiatus was James Dickey’s “Falling.” It was one of the first examples given to me where a lingering statement of fact blended with rhythmic language and extremely precise control over pacing in stanzas. The poem made me feel like I could combine the two of the things I loved most in the world: nonfiction and poetry.

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Nicole Oquendo has tugged at genres for most of her life. Having recently completed her first book, a hybrid memoir project, she is currently drafting a book of poetry about abandoned places, as well as an illustrated chapbook of Lucretius translations. Her work has appeared in DIAGRAM, Hippocampus Magazine, and other literary journals. In her free time, when she is not writing or working on terrifying paintings for her loved ones, you will find her tweeting the madness of Cassandra of Troy @nicoleoq.