"Many of my poems are concerned with the legacies and constraints of tradition and inheritance. Discussing sexual violence is difficult, and as a means of demonstrating the constraints associated such a topic, I've chosen to use poetic forms relevant my identity as a Jewish woman. The poetry of the Torah includes forms such as anaphora, call and response, abecedarians, and acrostics, in which the first letter of each line spells out a particular word running vertically through the poem."
- Yael Massen
Yael Massen is an MFA Candidate in Poetry at Indiana University. Her work can be found within the pages and URLs of Colorado Review, The Journal, and DIAGRAM. She is the inaugural winner of the Kraft-Kinsey Award from the Kinsey Institute, and recipient of the 2016 Vera Meyer Strube Academy of American Poets Award.