Thylias Moss (born February 27, 1954, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American poet, writer, experimental filmmaker, sound artist and playwright of African-American, Native American, and European heritage. Her poetry has been published in a number of collections and anthologies, and she has also published essays, children's books, and plays. She is the pioneer of Limited Fork Theory, a literary theory concerned with the limitations and capacity of human understanding of art.

Youth

Moss was born Thylias Rebecca Brasier, in a working-class family in Ohio. Her father chose the name Thylias because he decided she needed a name that had not existed before. She later said about her trauma: "I never said a word of this to anybody....I was there witnessing things that only happened when I left that house." She eventually left university due to racial tensions and entered the workforce for several years. During this time she had two sons, Dennis and Ansted. She later received a Master of Arts in English, with an emphasis on writing, from the University of New Hampshire.

After finishing school, Moss taught English at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Since 1993, she has been a Professor of English and a Professor of Art and Design at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Her early work is considered part of the legacy of the Black Arts Movement, taking influence from West African praise poetry and concerning themes of racial justice. Throughout her career, her work has become more experimental, stretching the boundaries of genre and the definition of poetry. Her fixations still include justice, but she expanded into a fascination with text placement's effect on meaning.

Limited Fork Theory

Moss contributed to experimental literary theory by introducing the metaphor of a fork to conceptualize how people internalize art and literature. These POAMS are usually displayed in galleries, but many can be found online in podcasts, journals, and on YouTube.

The complexities associated with the epistemological application of Limited Fork Theory caused Moss to adopt the persona of Forker Girl/Forker Gryle, pseudonyms under which she runs blogs and an Instagram account explaining details of both her life and her theory.

Work and awards

Poetry

  • Wannabe Hoochie Mama Gallery of Realities' Red Dress Code: New & Selected Poems (Persea Books, 2016)
  • Tokyo Butter: Poems (Persea Books, 2006)
  • Slave Moth: A Narrative in Verse (Persea Books, 2004)
  • Last Chance for the Tarzan Holler (1998)
  • Small Congregations: New and Selected Poems (1993), included by critic Harold Bloom in his list of works constituting the Western Canon of literature.
  • Rainbow Remnants in Rock Bottom Ghetto Sky (1991)
  • At Redbones (1990)
  • Pyramid of Bone (1989)
  • Hosiery Seams on a Bowlegged Woman (1983)

Prose

  • New Kiss Horizon (2017), a romance.
  • Tale of a Sky-Blue Dress (1998), a memoir.
  • Talking to Myself (1984), a play.
  • The Dolls in the Basement (1984), a play.
  • I Want To Be (Dial Books for Young Readers, 1995)

Awards

  • MacArthur Fellowship (1996)
  • Guggenheim Fellowship (1995)
  • Dewar's Profiles Performance Award (1991)
  • Whiting Award (1991)
  • Witter Bynner Poetry Prize (1991)