Trevor Cunnington holds a Master’s in English and a PhD in Communication and Culture. Though most passionate about poetry, he appreciates all forms of art and has published work in Carousel, Cerasus, Open Arts Review, Poetry Super Highway, and Maisonneuve, with forthcoming pieces in The Rivanna Review, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Inlandia, Radon, Last Leaves, Word For/Word, and Rundelania. Recently, Trevor has rekindled his love for gardening and foraging.

 

Trevor enjoys poems that mystify and spark curiosity, prompting re-reads without feeling like a puzzle or "gotcha" game. Though a tough sell on concrete poetry or constraint-based forms like OULIPO, he’s open to them when executed with undeniable skill. He’s drawn to approaches that blend complexity and simplicity, like T.S. Eliot’s objective correlative, Williams’ “line as a unit of breath,” and the metonymic style of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets such as Lyn Hejinian and Ron Silliman. Trevor gravitates towards lyric, narrative, and imagistic poems, provided they carry emotional resonance, and he’s particularly moved by modernism. Among his poetic influences are John Milton, Audre Lorde, Rita Dove, Mary Oliver, Dionne Brand, Adrienne Rich, and Emily Dickinson, though he considers Robert Frost and Elizabeth Bishop a bit overrated. Currently, he’s been captivated by the work of Bob Hicok and dreams of reading horror or sci-fi with the linguistic beauty of Dionne Brand’s poetry.