Elaina Eakle
ehe001@marietta.edu
Author and poet Dr. Andrew Grace spent the day at Marietta College on Feb. 26 by having lunch with interested students, conducting a poetry workshop in a creative writing class, and ending the day by reading a selection of his poetry.
Grace is an English professor at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and has published several books and poems including “Shadeland” and “A Belonging Field.”
“Throughout his books, the poems of Andrew Grace employ language that is characterized by both formal control and verbal energy,” English professor Dr. Nathan Anderson said. “These are poems in which patterns of sound and rhythm not only surprise us, but also seem absolutely necessary.”
The verbal energy was present in the poems Grace selected to read, as audience members audibly reacted to emotional content and graphic imagery in the poems. His selected poetry focused on illustrating past and present life in the Midwestern United States, drawn partially from his childhood in rural Illinois.
“I bemoan the fact that there is not a great Midwestern poetic tradition in the past 50 years,” Grace said. “And I’m talking about not people that live in the Midwest, but people that write about it.”
Sophomore Rachael Schleich enjoyed the reading and believed it expanded her understanding of poetry.
“I thought his perspective on the Midwest was really enjoyable because many poets don’t write about the Midwest and the people who live there,” she said. “It was refreshing to see an insider’s point of view.”
Sophomore Carmen Thorne believed that Grace’s visit to her creative writing class improved her own writing process.
“I thought the most helpful and impressive activity was when he had us perform a writing exercise that he does with his students,” she said. “We wrote two random detailed images on two pieces of paper and we kept one and the other went to another individual in the class. Then we were supposed to write a poem that connected the two images.”
Grace said he was very pleased with the resulting poems from the activity, and believed that writing poetry was beneficial even for students who are not planning on pursuing a career in writing or English.
“There is going to be some process of discovery,” he said. “You can’t help but learn more about yourself and people you know.”
That process is what Grace enjoys most about writing poetry.
“When I surprise myself, and when the poem seems like it’s going to be one thing, but it demands to be a different thing – that’s what I enjoy most,” he said.
Grace also offered advice for students who plan to write in the future.
“My advice is read, read everything, read outside of your genre, read deeply with in your own, and don’t be afraid to read bad writing,” he said. “Allow yourself to write poorly before you write well.”
Grace emphasized that for student writers, good work can result even when the process is challenging.
“If I only wrote when I had good ideas, I would have only written eight poems in the last 36 years,” he said.
In addition, Grace stressed the benefits of reading poetry.
“I do think that I’ve learned so much about other types of people through the poetry that I’ve read,” he said. “I feel like my world view is expanded.”
