On Thursday, Feb. 21, the Literature and Creative Writing Department hosted a reading featuring Associate Professor of Literature and Creative Writing Professor Jane Springer and Literature and Creative Writing Professor Philip Memmer in the Events Barn. During the event, Memmer and Springer read from their recently published collections of poetry for faculty members, students, and family in the audience.
Memmer started off with a reading from his book Pantheon, the final copy of which he had just received from his publisher the day before the event. Memmer expressed excitement in having the opportunity to share his book’s release with his wife, Performing Arts Administrator Michelle Reiser-Memmer, his children, and his parents, who all travelled to campus to hear him read from his new book. Memmer also said he was happy to be able to read in front of his children who were now old enough to truly listen to his words.
Pantheon (set to be released April 11, 2019) is a collection full of dramatic monologues in which mythical gods address their human follower. In the collection, Memmer gives voice to his mythical deities, engaging with the presence of the omniscient and the omnipotent forces that play a role in our daily existence. At the event, Memmer discussed some of the gods that he created, such as the God of Lullabies, the God of Skunks, and the God of Importance.
Memmer accompanied each poem with an anecdote, often making the audience laugh at or muse about the ideas his poem would express before his delivery. For example, he nodded to his father before reading “The God of Skunks,” remembering how his father thought that “skunks smelled sweet.” This comment elicited a laugh from the crowd and a smile from Memmer’s father, who kept smiling as he listened to his son deliver the poem. Memmer said his poem “The God of Importance” was for the writers in the room. The poem seeks to show how the writer may be mortal but his or her words are not bound by the same pressure and decay of time. “The paper so thin she wonders which weighs more,” read Memmer, “the page or the words themselves.”
After reading from his own work, Memmer introduced Springer to the stage. Memmer said that Springer’s recently published collection Moth is “inventive, gorgeous, and funny.” The Louisiana State University Press published Springer’s collection Moth on Aug. 7, 2018. The collection has been applauded her use of form, structure, and themes of serious subject matter. Springer read “The Ghost, the Driver, the Martyr,” “Gasoline Psalm,” and “Moth” from the book. The poems featured powerful storytelling, gorgeous imagery, and knockout lines like, “We can’t all be tough fruit” and “Pollen puffed asthmatic halos” from the titular poem “Moth.”
These lines stuck out because of their unique nature the imagery utilized. The use of original and thought-provoking metaphors was similarly striking. The lines stood out because Springer read them with passion; listening to Springer read was an experience, as her voice conveyed the vulnerability, empathy, and attention of her written words. She brought her poems to life with her humor, pacing, and purposeful language.
During her half of the event, one poem that stuck out was Springer’s unpublished “The Pussy-Grab Pantoum.” Though this poem did not quite fit thematically with the others that Springer read, it reminded the audience that poetry can be beautiful and serious at once. Instead of keeping the crowd swept away by imaginative images and figurative language, Springer discussed America’s current political climate, anchoring the audience in the truths that poetry can also express.
