{"id":476,"date":"2019-04-25T06:22:02","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T06:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/westernmassqtwriters\/?page_id=476"},"modified":"2019-04-25T06:24:03","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T06:24:03","slug":"kenny-fries","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/westernmassqtwriters\/kenny-fries\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenny Fries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kenny Fries was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 22, 1960. He received his undergraduate degrees in English and American Literature, at Brandeis University, and then completed an MFA in playwriting at Columbia University. He currently teaches in the master\u2019s program for Creative Writing at Goddard College.<\/p>\n

Fries writes largely about the physical body and his experiences as a gay, disabled man. He uses the body as he describes it \u201cas both subject and metaphor; as the place where the personal becomes the universal; as the site of memory, language, and desire.\u201d He even wrote his own version of Alison Bechdel\u2019s test on fair representation to address disability, calling it the Fries Test<\/a>. For a creative work to pass the Fries Test he asked: \u201cDoes a work have more than one disabled character? Do the disabled characters have their own narrative purpose other than the education and profit of a nondisabled character? Is the character\u2019s disability not eradicated either by curing or killing?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the poem Body Language<\/em><\/a>, Fries explores the physical and metaphorical use of a scar, as the past and present meld into the scar itself. I find this poem particularly evocative as it uses the visceral descriptions and sensations of touching this scar and comparing that to the vulnerability and acknowledgment of the memories that follow this wound. There is a concern that Fries explores whether a scar is a sign of closure or a reminder of pain. With a potent last stanza Fries writes: \u201cThe skin has healed but the scars grow deeper\u2014 When you touch them what do they tell you about my life?\u201d<\/p>\n

Awards and Honors<\/strong><\/p>\n