Trinity Student Alenka Doyle ’26 Selected for CT Poetry Circuit

Hannah Smith ’26

Executive Arts & Entertainment Editor

On March 31, Trinity hosted students from across Connecticut who were selected by the Connecticut Poetry Circuit to present their work at various universities across the state. Those selected include Olivia Jascot (University of Hartford), Taryn Riley (Quinnipiac University), Dan Sousa Silva (Western Connecticut State University), Sunny Vuong (Yale University) and Trinity’s own Alenka Doyle ‘26.

Doyle is a neuroscience and English double major with a concentration in creative writing. She is currently working on a collection of poetry for her senior thesis and those who attended the CT Poetry Circuit readings were treated to a sneak peek at some of those poems before her thesis is officially turned in and completed. When asked what it has been like writing her thesis, Doyle said, “It has been incredibly fun and also quite difficult. Getting to sit down and write poetry is certainly the most fun kind of work, but it becomes challenging to find more within yourself and get poems to a finished end point. I have also loved reading the work by the other senior thesis writers. Everyone is incredibly talented, and I hope to buy their books one day!”

During the Circuit readings, Doyle has shared works from her thesis, including a collection of sonnets titled “Night Birds.” These “Night Birds” poems make up a subsection of her thesis that are a reflection on her time at college. They are “the moments in time that felt insignificant, but I will certainly miss after graduating.” She said, “…these poems have become a central part of my thesis. They’ve changed a lot, and I’m still not quite sure what their final appearance will be, but I consider them to be kind of the crux of my poetry collection.” Speaking further about her thesis, Doyle said, “I have been focusing on form. My research has introduced me to not only the physical shapes that poetry can appear in, but also the ways in which contemporary writers change form to suit their voices. I write a lot about nature and people, and I try to think about the traditions of each form and which would be best suited for the content of each poem.”

As a neuroscience and English double major, Doyle has a perspective on the world that very few do. Because she studies in both art and STEM related fields, she said, “I think it makes everything much more rewarding. I know I am supporting all of my passions, and I am grateful that I don’t have to give up writing for STEM, or vice versa. I wouldn’t say my poetry is STEM-related at all, though maybe it will be one day—I look up to Arthur Sze as a model of science-influenced poetry. Yet, I do think poetry improves the work I do in science. Even small things, such as knowledge of line breaks, influence the choices I make in research presentations and posters. I love neuroscience because I love the human brain, and I feel like poetry is also a way to explore the mind.” Beyond her majors, Doyle is also a coxswain on Trinity’s men’s rowing team and she allows her time on the Connecticut River to inspire her work, often writing about the water and what she sees while out on the boat.

Doyle has been writing poetry since high school, ever since reading Richard Siken’s “Crush.” She was struck by the style of the collection, introducing her to the fun and unique side of contemporary poetry. Since then, she’s taken many classes with Trinity’s English department that have helped her develop her own personal style. When asked about her writing process, she said, “I write poems first as a stream of consciousness, free verse style, and then in my editing process I rework them into a specific form, like sonnet, pantoum, villanelle and so on. So in the first stage I’m just getting ideas onto the page, and then I am tightening up the language and trying to make the poem say something interesting.” Crediting her Trinity professors, she said, “Professor Berry strikes an impressive balance between positive and constructive feedback. He points out what he likes in my poems and what he’d like to see changed, and almost always, I agree on the weaker sections. Outside of the English department, I took a Philosophy of Literature class with Professor Vogt, and we read some really cool writers like Samuel Beckett and Peter Handke; that certainly influenced my style.”

After graduation, Doyle will be pursuing a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at Vanderbilt University, but she won’t be leaving her poetry in the past. “I will definitely keep writing as a hobby and as a way of interrogating the world. And Vanderbilt has a vibrant poetry community that I hope to be inspired by. I would love to publish a poetry collection one day, but not anytime soon. Maybe in thirty years.”

The students on the Circuit have given readings at Yale, Quinnipiac, Western Connecticut State University and Trinity, with the final reading taking place at the University of Hartford.