poetry
December 7, 2013
“Is the Word” slams poetry in semester event
During the spring of the 2012-2013 school year, Nina Fox, then a second-year student, walked into an empty Is the Word event. Or … nearly empty. Leaning against the opposing wall in the dusky, mood lighting of Newcomer 19, Hayley Brooks, the club’s co-founder, sat twiddling her thumbs. No one had shown up. Fox laughed aloud at the absurdity of the empty room and joined Brooks, where, waiting dubiously for others to join, the two laid out blankets on the floor and ate too many clementines. A half hour later, two students showed up, smuggling in candy from another campus...
September 18, 2013
Former GC professor to share acclaimed poetry
Todd Davis, a poet, academic and teacher, is coming to Goshen to perform poetry from his new book, In the Kingdom of the Ditch. Davis is an Elkhart county native and taught in the Goshen College English department for 6 years, from 1996 to 2002. Davis now teaches creative writing, environmental studies and American literature at Penn State University’s Altoona College. Davis’ poems have won the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize and have been published in magazines and journals such as Poetry Daily, Orion, North American Review and The Christian Science Monitor, among others. His works have also been featured on...
November 15, 2012
Writer’s Corner: Logan Miller
Logan Miller is a junior interdisciplinary major studying journalism, writing and business. —- YYZ was the first song I taught myself when I learned to play guitar back in middle school, while kids watched the riff I was playing containing a key only Rush could have known. To Toronto every note pulled me with the rhythm pulsating in Morse code. My hand would fret notes in asymmetrical tempo. Rush still plays it; I do too sometimes when I feel My fingers trying to take me to the airport, tag my bags, and fly to Toronto, Y Y Z —– I...
November 8, 2012
Writer’s Corner: Armarlie Grier
You, now, will be branded into the flow of time. I begin to change, and it melts into layers of white day by day. A toast to you! You hide underneath that smile until the very end. Even dreams crumble and future breaks: the gloomy morning has died, but the scattering flowers spill from the palm of my hand. I question in vain. Thank you! In the dreambox are my hopes turned freezing cold. It brings to life my new dream in my heart. Will my true self be there? In another incarnation I will search for you … —...
October 16, 2012
Poetry Slam Winner
Ammon Allen-Doucot , a first-year, was named the first winner of the “Is the Word” Poetry Slam event that was held Sunday Oct. 14. Allen-Doucot defeated the only other contender Kolton Nay, a sophomore, by the slim margin of 1.6 points. The judging was done by a random selection of audience members, Alma Miller, Elizabeth Franks-North and Liz Watson. The three were given crayons and scraps of white paper on which to write their score, a number from one to ten. The score is given as both a critique of the poems content and the poets’ performance.
September 27, 2012
Prose with power
Kate Stoltzfus, a junior, and Hayley Brooks, a sophomore, hope to bring “slam” to the ears of Goshen College students. Stoltzfus and Brooks are the co-founders of Goshen’s first Open Mic Night, which debuts Sept. 30. The Open Mic Nights will be a regular event falling on the second and fourth Sunday of every month. Though the first reading will welcome any kind of poetry, Stoltzfus and Brooks hope future readings will feature mainly slam poetry. Slam poetry, according to Stoltzfus, is its own unique genre of poetry. “It is more performance oriented,” said Stoltzfus. “[Slam poetry] doesn’t have to...
March 8, 2012
Fisher-Wirth brings poetry and environmental issues to campus
Poet Ann Fisher-Wirth visited campus on Monday, sharing from two of her published collections and promoting her newly released book, “Dream Cabinet.” Fisher-Wirth, an environmental activist and director of Environmental Studies at the University of Mississippi, began seriously writing poetry while living abroad in Sweden with her husband. Her book, “Carta Marina,” was inspired by an old map in a library near their home, and Fisher-Wirth’s daughter, also a poet, encouraged her to write about it. Though she did not set out to write a book, Fisher-Wirth said that various pieces of her life came together at the same time...
October 26, 2011
Poetry slams GC campus
Looking for a night of words? The third annual Goshen College Poetry Slam will be held at 10 p.m. on Friday in Newcomer 19, providing an opportunity to read and participate or just listen and enjoy. “Poetry readings have been done historically on campus,” said English professor Jessica Baldanzi, one of the coordinators. “This is the third recent one.” The event, hosted by CAC, will be black- and white- themed and attendees should follow a black and white dress code. Judges of the slam are previous competitors Kate Friesen, Issac Hernandez, Abi Tsigie and CAC representative Sam Jones. MCs will...
September 21, 2011
Poet speaks on writing, Mennonites, and beauty
Julia Spicher Kasdorf, poet and Goshen College alumnus, grinned as she faced dozens of students and several English department professors in a science classroom. She had just been asked what makes a professional writer. “Well,” she said after a slight pause, “you practice it, and you get paid for it.” Spicher Kasdorf, who visited Goshen on Friday as a stop on her book tour for her latest collection, "Poetry in America," is simultaneously lyrical and blunt, much like her poetry. Prior to her Friday night performance in Reith Hall, the poet spoke to a group of students from several classes,...
September 14, 2011
Award-winning Mennonite poet performing on Friday
Julia Spicher Kasdorf will present a poetry reading from her new collection on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Rieth Recital Hall. Her book, "Poetry in America," is about poetry in the ordinary aspects of our lives and how people interact with it. Kasdorf transforms the mundane into beautiful phrases. According to Goshen English professors Beth Martin Birky and Ann Hostetler, Kasdorf's talents go beyond poetry and stretch into her performances, to which she brings energy and dynamism. "She has a magnetic personality and is a great speaker," said Hostetler. "She writes poetry that inspires others to write." Much of Kasdorf's poetry...
September 14, 2011
Hostetler poem published in Washington Square Review
“Portrait of the Artist,” a poem written by English professor Ann Hostetler, has recently been published in the Washington Square Review. The poem is a personal narrative in which Hostetler describes a mother braiding a child’s hair. “It's been said that poems are a place to save things that you don't want to lose,” Hostetler said. “Revisiting this memory was a pleasure for me. It also reminded me of how much was not said in my family—which left a lot of room for interpretation and feeling.” Hostetler has been submitting poetry for publication since she was in graduate school. “Anyone...
February 10, 2011
Poet’s Corner 2/10
Premiums By Lewis Caskey we cry out– the name of the game where dad and I would race pushing our bodies and our bikes, stretching our front tires over the line past the mailbox or stop sign flying in the face of traffic. Breathe. The race over, the moment past; lactic acid fills our legs, lungs expand insistently. We don’t take score, we don’t take tallies, neither remembers who won. Bitter manure brings back our senses, away from an imagined race and back to now, to a gentle hill and corn cut low, a faded red barn behind cattle grazing....
December 1, 2010
Poet’s Corner: James Green
“Untitled” i think there for i am existence proof is the myth, or man my thoughts on paper self portrait and an illustrated narrative my pen to the pad man i could have been a painter except my color pallette has been a little tainted …i could have been a painter except my color pallette has been a little tainted years of media sex and violence i know its cliche but i got passed my eye lids i did everything i could to see good cant help but feel darkness when peering out a hood. the pictures skewed and lifes...
November 10, 2010
Poet’s Corner
This poem was written for a Creative Writing assignment in which students took the form of a certain poem and add their own content. Borrowing from the form of the poem “Red Sugar” by Jan Beatty, Friesen added her own thoughts and stories. Birdsong with thanks to Jan Beatty When I was young, I was a blackbird with just stretched red-spotted wings, and I flew under the shadow of my mother. That was my life. I didn’t know until I was thirteen that we carry others alongside us. Not just the helpless, but those that speak to us in ethereal...
November 3, 2010
‘Poetry cafe’ brings out student creativity
Friday, Oct. 29 turned Newcomer 19 into an assembly of poetry lovers. From 10 p.m. to a little before midnight, Goshen College students gathered to recite poetry and listen to readings at the “Poetry Cafe.” Student host Leah Moreno introduced the reciters. One by one, over 15 students got up on stage and read their personal narrations or in some cases, the words of other artists. This creative event quickly turned into a memorable evening for many. Some presented sung poetry, intense life experiences and even narrations in other languages such as Spanish and Amharic. Most poets were Goshen College...