Dom Fonce
Poetry | Youngstown State University | Class of 2023
Odd Nest is the result of extensive, vulnerable discussion between grandmother and grandson. From the perspective of his grandmother, Fonce traces her life from childhood to old age, highlighting impactful moments like teenage pregnancy, abortion, the grief of losing a son, having an affair, raising a family, and seizing her own neopaganistic spiritual beliefs in a male-dominated religious world.
About Dom
Dom Fonce is the author of the two poetry chapbooks Here, We Bury the Hearts and Dancing in the Cobwebs. His poetry has been published in, or is forthcoming in, trampset, Gordon Square Review, Rappahannock Review, Delmarva Review, Jenny Magazine, Sweet Tree Review, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA from the NEOMFA. He lives and writes in Youngstown, Ohio. He can be found at domfoncepoetry.com.
DOM'S FAST FACTS
What’s on your nightstand right now?
West : Fire : Archive by Iris Jamahl Dunkle and Lying by Lauren Slater
Do you have any eccentric habits/strategies to get you started writing? What are they?
For my thesis book, I embodied my grandmother in persona poems. She has neopagan beliefs and recites a mantra to a specific goddess every morning. So, to get into her voice, I would start each draft like this: Goddess,
Essentially, I believe that invocating my grandmother's spiritual figure before poems allowed me to write better poems. Doing this especially helped me get into her voice and persona.
Your advice to an incoming MFA student?
Make friends. Carpool. Take a chance and reach out to people across different campuses. Go get drinks. You will learn infinitely less if you don't talk with your cohort.
© 2021 NEOMFA
English Department
Cleveland State University
2121 Euclid Ave., RT 1815
Cleveland, Ohio 44115