The Live Poets Society, a new organization on campus, had its first meeting this past Tuesday, Feb. 14.
The idea for the group was the brainchild of Dorothy Lutz ’51, who taught at Gustavus in the late ‘50s, after she took Joyce Sutphen’s Writing Poetry class last semester.
“In Writing Poetry, Joyce suggested that we form groups and keep writing poetry,” Lutz said, “There was a group of students who were looking forward to this.”
“The idea came out of the Creative Writing class and some students wanted to continue learning and sharing, so the idea for the Live Poets Society was born,” English Professor Joyce Sutphen said.
The group is not just for students, however. The Live Poets Society hopes to be open to St. Peter community members who want to share their poetry, as well as holding more formal poetry readings for the St. Peter community.
“We hope that we can share our poetry with some of the people in town,” Lutz said. “We like to get to know students and what they’re thinking—one good way to do that is poetry.”
At the first session of the Live Poets Society, Senior English Major Scott Tollefson was the only student who shared his own poetry. Community members Lutz, Kathryn Christenson and Elizabeth “Bits” Bakalyar ’07 also attended and shared their work, as did Sutphen.
Sutphen also read a Wislawa Szymborska poem, “Could Have” and Christenson, who used to teach in the English department, brought in her soon-to-be-published book, Knowing Rolf: A Wreath For My Son, sharing discussion on possible covers and reading poetry selections from the book.
She wrote the collection of prose and poetry about her deceased son Rolf, who passed away 15 years ago. The book will be available in the Book Mark when it is published, hopefully in late March.
The rest of the meeting was spent discussing the possible forms that the group could could take in the future.
“I think it would be great if people could feel like they could bring a poem just to read, not necessarily for critiquing, but to share,” Sutphen said, “a meeting of minds of people who love to write and want to read.”
The idea of combining alumni and community members is especially appealing to participants.
“I like the camaraderie of students and alumni and friends listening to each other’s poetry; it’s just very exciting to hear new poems,” Lutz said.
“Live Poets Society is a great way for writers to connect with other writers,” Sophomore English Major Kristina Ericksen said.
The group also looks to inspire the writers it attracts.
“We all learned to express ourselves in poetry. We met other poets of course, when Joyce would read poetry to us, it would inspire us,” Lutz said.
Sophomore English Major Laura Schroeder said, “The Live Poets Society inspires me to work on my poetry.”
The group will not simply be a forum for reading poetry, but also a way to explore deeper issues.
“We could read poems by other people, we could read poems by ourselves, we could talk about the nature of poetry, the nature of art and whether poetry is important in the world,” Sutphen said.
They also hope to continue their growth as writers.
“We hope to bring back at least one alumnus every year who is still writing poetry and some professors have promised to give us presentations so we can keep on learning,” Lutz said. “When we have this alumnus poet come back, we will have an informal gathering in the banquet rooms—that’s something special to look forward to.”
Those wishing to attend the Live Poets Society are invited to attend the monthly meetings at 3:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday, in the Phi Beta Kappa room in Vickner Hall.
I also recognize a onenst when I hear it. If you took a onenst and threw it in without line breaks, it would still be a onenst:My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; coral is far more red, than her lips red: if snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; if hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, but no such roses see I in her cheeks; and in some perfumes is there more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know that music hath a far more pleasing sound:I grant I never saw a goddess go, my mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: and yet by heaven, I think my love as rare, as any she belied with false compare.Still sounds like a onenst. Poetry does not need any organized presence on the page. Beowulf, for instance, is not delineated in the MS. It is an aural art form. Line breaks are nothing more than the equivalent of a musical staff. We don’t confuse sheet music with actual music. Neither should we confuse sheet poetry (poetry on the page) with actual poetry (poetry out loud).If you want to see a double-standard, argue poetics with a langpo person. But again, I apologize for lax scholarship.Do you have proof that Bible readership has declined? Have Bible sales declined as a percentage of total books sold? Poetry sales have. There are 100 million Americans who read 3 or more books each year (and they buy slightly more than that). But only 3 million books of poetry are purchased each year less than one % of the total.Why? Apart from your readership problems (TV, movies, etc.) have you ever tried to find a book of contemporary poetry (apart from Jewel’s Night without Armor back in 1997 or so) in a book store? You have to look for it. Magazines, novels, non-fiction they all stare you in the face when you walk into the big box. Where is poetry? Shoved on some back shelf inbetween academic writing and philosophy. The lack of poetry readership may be tied in part to a theoretical decline in general readership but you cannot deny that it is directly tied to marketing.Open mind about what?MichaelG.M. Palmers last blog post..
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poetry writing in groups indeed is a good idea. it will not only shares thoughts of different peoples,but it will also make there thoughts to meet at a point,i hope for its prosperity.