It’s been a while since
I’ve posted, and of course, college being fairly busy and fast-faced, a lot has
happened in that time! One of the things that stands out most, though, is that
I got to introduce a visiting writer.
Susquehanna’s writing
department brings in a series of visiting writers each year, spanning across
genres. These writers do Q & A sessions with students in the afternoon and
then have a reading in the evening. At each reading, a selected creative
writing student always introduces the author before they take the stage. I was
surprised when I received an email from the head of the department asking me to
introduce Alison Stine.
Alison Stine is a poet
who has had two full-length collections and one chapbook published. For my
Advanced Poetry course, we read her book Ohio
Violence, which I enjoyed. Though I was honored that my poetry professor
had thought to refer me for this task, I was also very nervous! I still don’t
feel as if I’m very articulate when discussing poetry, and I felt like I had no
idea what or how much to say. Thankfully, the introduction started to shape up
when I began thinking about my personal connection with Stine. Stine,
particularly with her first collection, explores some teenage female
experience, and in interviews, had really embraced a young readership. I loved
that. I, too, write about young female experiences. In my collection for
Advanced Poetry right now, I sometimes examine figures of teenage pop culture
(Nick Jonas, Corbin Bleu, etc.). Other poems are inspired by my experiences, as
a teenager and as a young adult, of trying to measure up to standards of what a
“good Christian girl” should be. These aren’t necessarily the topics poetry
critics are always interested in—but Stine’s work reminds me that I don’t need
to write for them and that these youthful experiences can be imbued with
beautiful language and complexity. Finding this connection allowed me to tap
into a passion that I think, judging by some of the comments I received after
the reading, really came across in my introduction.
Because I was
introducing Alison Stine, I was invited to go to a dinner before the reading
with her and some of the Creative Writing faculty at BJ’s. This was a bit
nerve-wracking for me because I’m not the most extroverted person. However, I
think it went well. I also was able to bring a friend with me (who is much more
extroverted than me fortunately), which made it more comfortable.
This scenario, along
with this whole semester, has led me to reflect more on what it might be like
to pursue poetry professionally. Though I’ve been growing more and more
comfortable considering myself a “poet” as my time at Susquehanna goes on, I
think this semester I have spent much more time imagining being a professional
poet as a possibility. One day—possibly—I could be the person giving a reading
and being introduced by a student. Over winter break, I plan on going through
the poetry I’ve written for my Advanced and Intermediate poetry workshops and
finding poems I think might be ready to be sent out to magazines. In the world
of poetry, you usually need a number of poems published before you can pursue
chapbook-length or book-length publication, so this is an important step.
I have one poem that is
forthcoming in an issue of a small journal called the Saint Katherine Review, which I look forward to seeing in print.
Last year, my Intermediate Poetry professor recommended the journal as a place
to submit one of my poems. The editor of the review is Scott Cairns. Just
recently I picked up some of his poetry from the library, and I am loving it so
far! He tackles religious and spiritual subject matter in a beautiful
way. It’s exciting to know that someone whose work I admire has read my work--and it's particularly exciting to think about a future where there may be many more people who read my work (even if that poetry audience is quite smaller than fiction or nonfiction's).
