Many thanks to all the students, faculty, staff, friends and community members who came to my poetry reading at SMSU today as part of the 5th Annual Fine Arts Celebration. I love writing, sitting alone at my desk, finding out where the words will take me. But I also need this juicy part--sharing those words in public, trying to be a good spigot, letting the poems flow through me, and hearing what comes back, completing the loop.
After the reading, the audience had great questions. I crave that give-and-take, the wider conversation about writing, the process, where poems come from, how a poet knows when a poem is "done," how often we write, which poets and writers have inspired and influenced our work.
I like to read other poets' work at my readings to honor them and share their work with my audience, a practice I picked up from poets such as Robert Bly and Bill Holm. Today I read "Go to the Limits of Your Longing" by Rainer Maria Rilke,(you can read it here) and two Beth Ann Fennelly poems, "The Myth of Translation" from "The Impossibility of Language" (you can read it here) and "Cow Tipping" by Fennelly (you can read it here).
Much more to come in the next few weeks with the SMSU 5th Annual Fine Arts Celebration. Big thanks to Dr. Jan Loft, Chair of the Art, Music, Speech Communication and Theatre Department, for all her hard work organizing this month-long feast of the arts. Check out the online schedule. Join us. Feed your soul.
After the reading, the audience had great questions. I crave that give-and-take, the wider conversation about writing, the process, where poems come from, how a poet knows when a poem is "done," how often we write, which poets and writers have inspired and influenced our work.
I like to read other poets' work at my readings to honor them and share their work with my audience, a practice I picked up from poets such as Robert Bly and Bill Holm. Today I read "Go to the Limits of Your Longing" by Rainer Maria Rilke,(you can read it here) and two Beth Ann Fennelly poems, "The Myth of Translation" from "The Impossibility of Language" (you can read it here) and "Cow Tipping" by Fennelly (you can read it here).
Much more to come in the next few weeks with the SMSU 5th Annual Fine Arts Celebration. Big thanks to Dr. Jan Loft, Chair of the Art, Music, Speech Communication and Theatre Department, for all her hard work organizing this month-long feast of the arts. Check out the online schedule. Join us. Feed your soul.
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