Pat O’Brien here to talk about Penn State’s numerous poetic endeavors!
Poetry is somewhat of an enigma to me. As a student I have never been necessarily taken with poetry, but never really against the idea of reading it. In my career as a high school student, I read a number of great poems from a variety of authors including Poe, Dickinson, and Keats. However now as an English Ed major only two short semesters away from graduation, I decided to broaden my poetic horizons a bit. As a result I found myself sitting in Foster Auditorium on the evening of Thursday April 5th hoping to hear some poetry and not be too bored by the end of it. However, I was pleasantly surprised as I left the auditorium a few hours later at the amount of really great poetry I had heard. The first poet, Julia Kasdorf, is actually a local to the State College area, born in Lewistown, and is actually currently a member of the English Department here at Penn State. Kasdorf has won a number of awards for her books of poetry, and she recited a number of poems from her collections entitled Sleeping Preacher, Eve's Striptease, and Poetry in America. Her selections from Sleeping Preacher were really interesting and outlined her difficulties with growing up in a Pennsylvania Mennonite home but then attempting to live a normal life in New York City. Clearly there was some serious conflict when she wrote these poems, and that really came through in her reading. I really got what she was saying and it all just really made sense to me.
As Kasdorf finished up, I was looking forward to the next poet to recite. However, when New Orleans native Nicole Cooley arrived on stage I was surprised by the subject matter of her poems. Far from the Mennonite subjects in Kasdorf’s poems, Cooley read from her 2010 book, Breach, concerning the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and the living in the Gulf Coast. These poems were hauntingly beautiful and really hit home concerning the terrible event of Hurricane Katrina as well as the difficulties faced by those who survived the disaster. These poems gave grim testament to the aftermath of the hurricane and brought a perspective to my thinking that I never would have had before. Overall, both poets performed exceedingly well and their poems were strong and moving. I highly suggest looking into their publications and keeping an eye out around campus for upcoming poetry events. One such event is the Evie Shockley’s reading from 4:30 to 6:30 on Thursday April 12th. I’m pretty sure it’s in Foster Auditorium as well, so if you’re interested come on out!
I'm bummed I missed this reading, it sounds like it was a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of English Ed majors don't learn enough poetry, so they end up being lousy poetry teachers themselves, and this is a shame since poetry is both very rewarding and often too difficult for students to learn on their own--so they really need a knowledgeable teacher.
Anyway, glad to hear your making an effort to learn a bit before you find yourself teaching it!