by Max Quay
Thursday at 6:30PM, students, professors and other humans gathered in a dimly lit Huntington Recital Hall to hear Denise Duhamel read poetry. The turn-out was impressive considering the usual apathy that such esteemed presenters are met with by our student body.
Denise Duhamel is a celebrated, award-winning American poet whose most recent accomplishment is being chosen to edit the 2013 edition of “The Best American Poetry.” She also recently published a new collection, “Blowout.” Duhamel has previously published eight other volumes of poetry.
In his introduction, poet and professor, Dr. Kevin Griffith praised Duhamel’s work for it’s ability to transcend genre divisions, citing this as an influence in his own work. This is true when considering the strong narration in her poems.
The narrative structure, combined with her straight-faced, honest presentation of what is at stake a given poem, the reading felt at times like Duhamel was reading out of her subjects’ private journal or diary.
Duhamel began the reading with selections from “The Best American Poetry” before the reading from “Blowout.” Included with each reading from “The Best American Poetry” was a brief rational about her selection of the poem as well as a shout-out to the literary journal that the poem had been published in.
In her discussion of her experience editing, Duhamel made a point to include an even split of poems from men and poems from women (one of the poems being collaboration between two women). This is the first time an edition has been split in such a way.
She ended the reading with a poem written by a Capital alum, Wendy Barker. After the reading, Duhamel allowed for discussion where students and others asked questions ranging from her creative process and how to infuse humor into poetry. Following that there was time for book-signings and shmoozing.
mquay@capital.edu
