Nicholas Regiacorte

Assistant Professor in English

General Interests
"My motivation to make poems remains to attain single moments of surprise, in which I feel at once stupider than humanly possible and smarter than I have ever been. Another way to put it is to borrow what Eugenio Montale wrote, 'I would have wanted to feel harsh and essential.' When I arrive at a discovery in the process of writing or re-writing a poem, it feels harsh and essential. Somewhere between pick-axe and thaumatrope.

Currently, I am working on a manuscript of poems that carries the title Singleton, after a murderer (Charles Laverne Singleton) who was medicated with anti-psychotic drugs and subsequently found sane enough for the State of Arkansas to execute in January of 2004. While they are not overtly political, many of the poems thus far do express grave doubts for a world subjected to "sanity" and righteousness. Many poems give voice to an adulterer and fascist, a psychopath, murderer, an abusive and drunk brother-in-law. There are other poems, however, that speak for a saint-translator, a hermetic mathematician, and my boy-self. I am not attempting to re-enact the contest between experience and innocence, evil and good, the latter voices being insufficient in themselves as antidotes to the former. Rather, I feel this book tests my kinship to both. To quote a poem by Frank Bidart, "Insanity is the insistence on meaning." Essentially, these poems insist and do not insist. They are singleton and pluralton."

Years at Knox: 2002 to present

Education
M.F.A., 1998, University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.
B.A., 1996, Roanoke College.

Teaching Interests
Creative writing--poetry, modern american poetry fiction, creative non-fiction, composition, and Italian

Recent Recognition
Awards
Winner of 14 Hills' Bambi Holmes Award for "Grotto," 2005.

Nominee for a Pushcart Prize, 2003, 2004.

Voice Human, an unpublished book of poetry, selected as a finalist for Sarabande Press' Kathryn A. Morton Prize and semi-finalist for the University of Wisconsin and Alice James' first book competitions, 2002.

Grants
Fulbright Grant, Southern Italy, 2000-2001.

James Michner-Paul Engle Grant, Iowa City, IA, 1998-1999.

Recent Accomplishments
Publications

“Vitruvian Moon," “Black Shirt," “Defense of Singleton.” Copper Nickel, September 2007.

"Grotto to Sebastian." New Orleans Review, Fall 2006.

"Grotto." 14 Hills, 2005.

"Adeste Fideles," "Straw Tail." Third Coast, Spring 2003.

"Plums of Damascus." Phoebe, September 2001.

Campus & Community Involvement
Reader, Off-Knox, Kaldi's Coffee and Tea Room, once per term.
Reader, Knox College, Caxton Club Reading.

Reader, Venice, Italy, Fulbright Presentation of Research.
Reader, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Reader, Prairie Lights Bookstore, Iowa City, Iowa.
Reader, The Mill Restaurant & Bar, Talk Art, Iowa City, Iowa.

What Students Say
"One of the reasons Nick succeeds at inspiring students lies in his insistence that they write what they would not write and read what they would not read. That he is an impressive cook, an accomplished chalkboard sketch artist, and has great taste in music, is not unrelated; that is to say, it is through Nick's concept of entire learning that his students come to understand why poetry matters."
-Thomas Cook, Creative Writing Major

Contact
309-341-7359
nregiaco@knox.edu