Renowned poet recites work
By Christine Rhee
Daily Forty-Niner
Renowned poet Suzanne Lummis recited work
from her most recent book, "In Danger," to a quiet gathering of Cal State
Long Beach students.
Exploring the theme danger, Lummis read
"The Barbie Coffin," "Why Life is Worth Living," "Letter to My Assailant,"
"The Man Who Delivers My Paper," among others on Monday.
Lummis is a very important voice in American
Literature and a well-regarded poet, said Stephen Cooper, a professor of
the dept of English.
She is serious and very whimsical
all at the same time, Cooper said.
Lummis, a local poet, is a director of
the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, an award-winning teacher with UCLA Extension
and an author of three books titled "Idiosyncrasies," "Falling Short of
Heaven" and "In Danger," Cooper said.
Lummis said she feels inspired "when I
see or hear something that has the quality of oddness or irony and seems
to reveal something about a being.
In other words, an inspiration from outside."
"Also, a tremendous amount of emotion within
me brings out images and then I look for something to hinge the emotion
on."
Although many enthusiastic students were
eager to talk to the poet after the reading, some students had mixed feelings
about the poet and her poetry.
"I enjoyed the words she chose, her metaphors
and her humorous poems," said Robert Roden, a graduate student majoring
in creative writing.
"It was great because her selection of
poems were short and concise."
"But I didn't like the way she read her
poems; it just didn't seem natural," Roden added. |
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