Poets bring a voice to CMU’s campus

By Sarah Schuch

Edited by Meredith Mayberry, Amanda Crabtree and Kelly Morse

Poets share their life and their voice with students Monday night.

William Olsen and Nancy Eimers read some of their poems to more than 60 people and had an informal talk with students Monday afternoon.

Olsen said the audience can connect the voice on the page to a human voice at poetry reading.

“It creates some sense of community in the air,” he said. “There’s something about a really good poetry reading that creates intimacy.”

Olsen, who has written four books of poems, read to the audience first.

He said he tries to get an entire world into his book. He started from the beginning with his first poem about birth.

“It’s impossible to remember your birth,” Olsen said. “But it’s impossible not to try.”

Speeding up and slowing down as he thought was needed, Olsen read the poems like he thought they should be read. He read his poem “Bedside” and “Grocery Night.”

Olsen wrote poems about loved ones and one was about his 20-year-old cat. The poem was titled “Trust.”

When Eimers stepped up to the microphone, she explained to the audience how she came up with most of her titles. At the class session, the poets talked about which came first: the title or the poem. Some of her titles came from real events.

Eimers’ poem “May Not Be Found” came from a headline in headline in the Aug. 20, 2007 issue of USA Today, she said. The headline was “Trapped miners may not be found.”

She described different uses and meanings for all the words in the title.

Another poem she read was “Derby winner clings to chance of recovery.” She read poems about her father, where she used to live and experiences she had.

One of her poems was about watching the neighbors and hoping that they don’t notice, because then they wouldn’t act natural.

“I liked in the work of both the strong presence of everyday life,” said Eric Torgersen, English language and literature professor.

Lansing sophomore Alissa Hooker said it was interesting to get the background stories and situations that inspired the poets to write the poems. It was good to hear them read their own work.

“You know exactly how it’s supposed to be read,” Hooker said.

The informal talk was with Torgersen’s ENG 392 class along with four or five other students. It was mainly just a question and answer session, Torgersen said.