poetry
February 22, 2024
Arts Box: Poetry
You’re A Refreshing Dream You look just like you’re made of refreshing dreams. The kind you have After going back to Sleep after jolting Awake from a nightmare. “Tea Time With Shayne” In my hands, some hot modified chai tea, With creamer, sugar, and cinnamon spice. A drink as delicious as drink can be, a comfort without supermarket price. The liquid falls down my desert dry throat into my stomach and warms me right up. My sandpaper throat, it will help me coat. My ceramic doctor in a quick cup. This mixture, my own secret remedy was volcano...
February 2, 2023
Award-winning poet to speak at GC
“Poetry for me is a space,” Urayoán Noel said. “It doesn’t have to be quiet. Poetry can be noisy; it can be messy; it can be performance.” Noel, a Puerto Rican poet, translator and performer will present at the 2023 S.A. Yoder Memorial Lecture, “Adjacent Islands: A Geopoetics of Translation” on Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. in Umble Center. Noel was invited to speak in the lecture series held annually to honor Dr. Samuel A. Yoder, an English professor at Goshen College from 1930-70. Every year, the GC English department seeks to bring nationally and internationally renowned writers and thinkers...
March 25, 2022
‘mountain mirror’ wins Broadside poetry contest
Gravel, mirror, sycamore, light, frivolous and marigold. Those were the words writers had to include in their submission to this year’s Broadside poetry contest. The winning poem by Olivia Martin, a junior math major, combined the words to create a scene based in Shenandoah National Park. “I really like to hike, and I really hate capitalists,” Martin said. “So I decided to write a poem about the frustration I felt when people go and destroy something so pristine and undeveloped to make more money. I wanted to write a poem about what would happen if people stopped doing that.” The...
November 11, 2021
Power of poetry
When I was in high school, I once heard an adult who I admired and considered an intellectual say they hated poetry – all poetry. I don’t even remember what their reasons were, but for a long time afterwards I believed all poetry was simple and stupid. On top of that, I believed that enjoying poetry was a sign that you were simple and stupid yourself. Now, I feel like anyone who has such a decisive and harsh view of an entire sacred art form that spans centuries, cultures and religions is probably a very judgemental person whose opinion I...
January 28, 2021
Reflecting through poetry
I’m embarking on the final semester of my college career, and the one thing that has been constant recently is reflecting. Reflection has never been my strong suit. I’ve always looked ahead, onto the next task, goal, or location. There was almost never a point where I stopped and thought about how far I’ve come. A time where I sat in the present and did not think about the future. Is this new momentary time of contemplation going to be a shift in my life? I really doubt that, but it’s been something I really should strive to incorporate into...
October 2, 2019
Ann Hostetler talks poetry and new book
Ann Hostetler finds her best voice on the page, writing poetry that “makes space for imagination” while inspiring her students at Goshen College to share words of their own. “There were lots of pens and paper around the house,” Hostetler, professor of English, said of her childhood. “I just loved to read from a very young age, and I loved to write…the idea that words can change the world was exciting to me.” In her new book of poetry, “Safehold,” Hostetler shares a collection of poems, which she began writing in 2001 at the time of 9/11 and finished with...
March 7, 2019
Acclaimed poet to perform on campus
Goshen College students can look forward to hearing spoken word poet Carlos Andrés Gomez this Friday at 8 p.m. in Newcomer 19. This event is the first put on by Campus Activities Council in March. A Colombian speaker, actor and writer from New York City, Gomez has authored several books, such as “Hijito,” the winner of the 2018 Broken River Prize, and his memoir “Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood,” published by Penguin Random House. “Man Up,” inspired by Gomez’s one-man play, is a coming-of-age memoir and seeks to reverse the ominous trends Gomez has witnessed in masculinity through...
March 29, 2018
‘Broadside’ publication hosts open mic
The Goshen College English Department hosted an Open Mic Night on Wednesday, March 21, to announce the winners of last fall's Broadside poetry/prose competition. The event also served to showcase the creativity of GC writers in an open mic session which followed the award announcements. "Broadside" publishes short prose and poetry by student, faculty, and visiting writers which can fit on single sheets of paper with writing on one side. They are hand signed by the author and distributed to a subscription list, then archived in the GC English department. Last fall, GC's "Broadside" publication committee collected about 20 prose...
January 18, 2018
Bringing Slam Poetry to Goshen: LaShawn Smith-Wright
Anyone who braved the cold on Monday morning for the Martin Luther King Day Coffeehouse heard first-year slam poet LaShawn Smith-Wright describe the racially-charged discomfort she felt in her Identity, Culture and Community class. Smith-Wright is both a storyteller and a listener. As an African-American woman, experiences of racism have challenged her to think about the nature of stories. Through poetry, she strives to tell her own truth. “People don’t know my story, but always want to comment on it, without actually learning it,” she said. “I never want to be that kind of person.” In an effort to avoid...
October 6, 2016
Indiana Poet Laureate visits GC
On Wednesday, Sept. 28, over 40 students, faculty and staff, and community members gathered to listen and learn from Indiana Poet Laureate Shari Wagner. The Goshen College alum returned to campus to teach a workshop and read her award-winning poetry. “I love Goshen College, so coming back is always a treat, but it was especially nice this time,” said Wagner. “I hope those who attended my workshop and reading had as much fun as I did. It was a perfect day, down to the delicious tamales and ice cream at the English department supper.” Ann Hostetler, a professor of English,...
December 3, 2015
Stewart hosts slam night
“My name say I can’t be impossible, because I be in existence: Ebony.” This line is from a poem written by Ebony Stewart, a spoken-word artist from Texas, performed as her self-introduction at the Nov. 20 Hour After performance. Stewart is a three-time Slam Champion in Austin, has coached several slam teams and has been featured in publications like the “Texas Observer” and “For Harriet.” In the biography on her website, Stewart writes that she “writes because she has to and eats cupcakes for fun.” Stewart is also a former sexual health educator, which influences much of the subject matter...
December 3, 2015
Wagner named poet laureate
The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) recently named Shari Wagner the new Indiana state poet laureate. During her two-year term as poet laureate beginning in January, the 1980 Goshen College graduate will seek to promote a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry. “As Indiana’s new poet laureate,” said Wagner, “I want to do on a state level what I’ve been doing in Indianapolis for a number of years—promoting the writing and reading of poetry in a variety of settings.” Wagner will present in libraries, schools, senior centers and many other settings. “I’m extremely excited that my term coincides...
November 6, 2014
Beyond Poetry: Annie Agutu
First-year student Annie Agutu made her mark on Goshen College early in the school year, receiving third place at Kick-Off for her powerful poetry. But there is more to Agutu than just her poetry. Born and raised in the small town of Kisumu, Kenya, a seven-hour drive from Kenya’s captial, Nairobi, Agutu attended a British system school and graduated two years ago. Shortly after graduation, her classmate’s parents wanted her to move to the United States with them; she agreed and moved to Richmond, Ind., where she attended and graduated from the local high school within a year. She chose...
October 8, 2014
Meet The Inventor Of The Sleeping King
After fall break, Jeff Gundy will visit Goshen’s campus to be this year’s S. A. Yoder lecturer. He’ll give a lecture and reading mysteriously titled “Poetry, The Sleeping King, and Creative Doubt” in Rieth Recital Hall on Tuesday Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. Gundy is no stranger to GC. In fact, he is a member of the class of ’75. Now a professor of English at Bluffton University, he has taught the English Department’s poetry workshop several times, and was a student under its founding poet and muse, Nick Lindsay. To give you a better sense of how down to...
January 22, 2014
Diversity Celebrated on Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Goshen College offered a series of Martin Luther King Jr. celebration events centered on the theme of “Diversity: Then and Now” on Monday and Tuesday. To commemorate the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., the college hosted the performance of Anthony Brown’s (’72) “I Go on Singing: Paul Robeson’s Life in His Words & Songs” at Umble Center on Sunday evening. A community breakfast, featuring state representative Rebecca Kubacki, as well as Spoken-Word Coffeehouseand Talkback Session, were held at College Mennonite Church Fellowship Hall the following Monday. Subsequent convocation featured a performance by the gospel choir Voices N...