M.P. Jones IV
Education
M.A. English, secondary focus Creative Writing, Auburn University. May 2014.
B.A. Engish, minor in Philosophy, University of Montevallo. December 2010.
Scholarly Interests
American Literature; literature & environment; ecocriticism; literary theory; ecopsychology; liminal spaces; apocalyptic literature; food studies; bioregionalism; agrarianism; animal studies, eco-phenomenology; science studies; queer ecology; ecofeminism; ecopoetics; creative writing; publishing; open-access technologies; literary undergrounds; ecopoetics; narrative; hybrid genres; world literature; post-colonial ecologies; process pedagogy; composition & rhetoric; digital rhetoric.
Teaching Interests
American Literature (pre & post-1850); British and American Romanticism; sustainability; writing across the curriculum; digital literacy & rhetoric; nature and environmental writing; apocalyptic literature; modern and postmodern American poetry; composition & rhetoric; (post)-colonial ecologies; The Fugitive Agrarians; hybrid poetics.
Academic Appointments
2012-14 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of English, Auburn
University [In-Progress].
Teaching Experience
(Teacher of Record, Co-Teaching, Practicum, Observation)
2014 Spring
English 1120-61, Composition II, Sustainability (M/W/F Teacher of
Record, Auburn University).
English 1120-65, Composition II, Sustainability (M/W/F
Teacher of Record, Auburn University).
Practicum II: Teaching Composition (Led by
Dr. Frank Walters, Dr. Chad Wickman, and Dr. Tricia Serviss,
Auburn University).
2013 Fall
Engl: 1100-071, Composition I, Writing Spaces, (M/W/F Teacher
of Record, Auburn University).
Practicum II: Teaching Composition (Led by Dr. Frank Walters,
Dr. Chad Wickman, and Dr. Tricia Serviss, Auburn University).
Spring
Engl: 2200-World Literature I ( F/F Discussion Section)
Teacher of Record: Dr. Kathryn Olsen, Auburn University.
Engl: 1120-Composition II Business Writing (Discussion Leader)
Teacher of Record: Dr. Dan Morris, Auburn University.
2012 Fall
Engl: 2260-005 & 008, American Literature II (Th/F Discussion
Section) Teacher of Record: Dr. Miriam Clark, Auburn University
Engl: 1100-005, Composition I, Discerning Selves (Observation)
Teacher of Record: Dr. Allen Salerno, Auburn University
Practicum in Teaching Literature and Composition (Led by
Dr. Miriam Clark, and Dr. Kevin Roozen, Auburn University).
Invited Campus Talks
2013 Spring
“Du Fu and the Tang Tradition.” English 2200, World Literature I.
Teacher of Record: Dr. Kathryn Olsen, Auburn University.
“The Graduate School Experience.”English 4800, American
Literature. Teacher of Record: Dr. James Ryan, Auburn
University.
“A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art.”―Henry David Thoreau
Articles
“Silence and the Lyric-Epic: Hybrid Ecopoetics in The Shadow of Sirius.” Merwin Studies (September 2013) 1 (1): 47-65.
“The Phallocentric Sublime: Jungian Shadows in ‘Mont Blanc.’” National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) Proceedings. (2009): 1199-1200.
Manuscripts in Submission
“Shadow and Liminal Space in Typee and Walden.” Journal of Ecocriticism [Submitted 7 May 2013].
Reviews
“Beyond Romantic Ecocriticism: Toward Urbanatural Roosting.” By Ashton Nichols. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Reviewed in Southern Humanities Review (Spring 2013) 47 (2): 190-192.
“Wilderness into Civilized Shapes: Reading the Postcolonial Environment.” By Laura Wright. Athens: U of Georgia P, 2010. Reviewed in Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. Oxford UP (Autumn 2011) 18 (4): 893-4.
Interviews
“Karla Linn Merrifield, On Nature Writing in an Online Environment.” Kudzu Review (Summer 2013) 3 (1): 7-10.
“Telephone Interview with Lakshmi Eassey.” Kudzu Review (Winter 2011) 1 (1) Web.
Conference Presentations
“Shadow and Liminal Space in Typee and Walden.” 2013 South-Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Conference: Atlanta, GA. 8-10 November 2013. [**Awarded the George Mills Harper Fund Travel Grant as one of five outstanding graduate student essays].
“‘A New Art Color For You Irish Poets, Snotgreen:’ Ecophobic Sensibilities, Scatological Shadows, and the Critical Reception of Joyce’s Ulysses.” 2012 South-Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Conference: Durham, NC. 9-11 November 2012. [**Nominated by panel chair for SAMLA’s Graduate Student Essay Award.]
“‘The Fierce Thrust of a Will’: From Rusty’s Rape to Nuclear Apocalypse.” 3rd Annual Graduate and Undergraduate Student Conference on Literature, Rhetoric and Composition: UTC Chattanooga, TN. 1-2 April 2011.
“The Phallocentric Sublime: Jungian Shadows in ‘Mont Blanc.’” 23rd National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR): University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. 16-18 April 2009. [**Paper was later published in the conference proceedings.]
Electronic Media Projects
Master’s Thesis ePortfolio website, madisonpjonesiv.wix.com/eportfolio, launched October 2013 as part of the requirement for Auburn’s M.A. in English.
Kudzu Review website (designed with Robin Ward) first launched in November 2010; fully redesigned (by Robin Ward) in 2012 at the permanent domain kudzureview.com.
Scholarly Publications
Books
Live at Lethe (Poetry). Rockford, IL: Sweatshoppe Publications, 2013.
Non-Fiction (Journals)
“A Fool on the Hill.” decomP magazinE. February 2012.
“Ride for the Dead.” Sleet Magazine. Fall 2011 (Vol. 3, No. 2).
Poetry (Selected Journals)
"Ubi Sunt." Saint Ann's Review. May 2014.
“Fish Tale,” and “To the Liquor Store with Hayden Carruth.” Harpur Palate. May 2014.
“Nocturne in an Empty Field.” Cumberland River Review. April 2014.
"Morning Otology." Portland Review. February 2014.
“Nostos.” Cumberland River Review. January 2014.
“Fig Tree,” “Amphora,” “The Mill at Sunset,” “Against Naming the Dead,” “Night Rendering,” “At the Planer.” Ginosko Literary Review. December 2013 (Iss. 14).
“A Prayer for Lethe.” Tampa Review. September 2013 (Iss. 45/46).
“Bangor Cave.” Town Creek Poetry. Spring 2013 (Vol. 7, Iss. 1).
“My Father, The Arborist.” Canary. Summer 2013 (Iss. 21).
“Wood Drakes Bobbing on Dark Water,” “Down the Oxbow,” “Gone Far Gone.” Grey Sparrow Poetry Review. April 2013 (Iss. 16).
“Asphalt Nightmare.” Willows Wept Review. June 2012 (Iss. 14).
“Mutualism.” Bolts of Silk. March 2012.
“Early Spring,” “Today I Felt You.” Avocet Review. Spring 2012 (Vol. XV, No. 3.).
“Ragweed.” The Centrifugal Eye Poetry Journal. February 2012 (Vol. 3, Iss. 6).
“Bird Song,” “Ebenezer Swamp” “Gathering Ferns,” “Love Song from a Sinking Island,” “Rain,” “The Deepening,” “What is the Wind?,” “Why Thoreau Left the Woods,” Wilderness House Literary Review. Winter 2011 (Vol. 6, Iss. 4).
Reviews
"Cosmonauts" By William Winfield Wright. San Dimas, CA: Rough Writers Publishing, 2012. Reviewed in A Few Lines Magazine (Online). May 2, 2012.
Readings
From Live at Lethe (Poetry). Third Thursday Poetry Series. Auburn, AL. 20 March 2014.
From Live at Lethe (Poetry). Pebble Hill Writer’s Series. Auburn, AL. 21 February 2014.
“Coyote Makes this world” (Poem). Mad Poet’s Award Ceremony. The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery, AL. 14 December 2013.
New Work (Poetry). 2013 South-Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Conference: Atlanta, GA. 8-10 November 2013.
From Live at Lethe (Poetry). 2013 Auburn Writers Conference: Artful Crossroads. Auburn, AL. 18-19 October 2013.
Selections New and Forthcoming (Poetry). English Graduate Association Annual Colloquium. Auburn University. Auburn, AL. 06 April 2013.
Out of the Kudzu (Poetry). GNU's Bookstore. Auburn, AL. 04 March 2013.
"Ecopoiesis" (Memoir). Imagination and Memory Readings. GNU's Books. Auburn, AL. 29 November 2012.
“Indecent Exposure: Ecopoetics, Waste, and Renewal in Central Alabama.” (Poetry) University at Albany 10th Annual English Graduate Student Conference. SUNY. 30-31 March 2012.
Creative Publications
2011-14 Kudzu Review: Literature of an Invasive Species, independent,
international journal published under the auspices of Kudzu House Press, a 501(c)3 Nonprofit; online and print; Auburn, Alabama.
Co-founder, Editor-in-Chief.
2012-14 Southern Humanities Review: Alabama’s Premier Literary and
Critical Journal, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.
Student Editor (Volunteer); 2013 Summer Internship (Funded).
Editing
2013-14 Online Writing Tutor, Smarthinking.com (Pearson). August-
Present.
Duties included providing assistance with essays for college
students in all disciplines, most commonly in English,
communications, and humanities courses, and tutoring
students in literature, grammar, and writing.
Private Writing Tutor. October-Present.
Worked with individuals in English composition
courses, guiding them in thesis development, organization,
grammar and mechanics, close-reading, analytic writing,
responding to prompts, freewriting, and process-centered
writing.
Tutoring
2008-10 Circulation Assistant. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo (Work-study).
Skills
Proficient in Microsoft Office, Wix, Wordpress.
Basic knowledge of HTML.
Languages
Spanish (can read and translate with dictionary).
German (limited reading and comprehension ability with dictionary).
Other Experience
Department Service
Auburn University
2013-14 M.A. Co-Chair, Auburn English Graduate Association
Other Service
University of Montevallo
2008-10 Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Member-at-Large, Scholarship Chairman.
UM Environmental Club
Professional Memberships
Academy of American Poets
Alabama State Poetry Society
Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment
English Graduate Association, Auburn University
South-Atlantic Modern Language Association
References available upon request.