On Thursday, Nov. 5, acclaimed poet, essayist, and professor in English and creative writing Aimee Nezhukumatathil, visited the Bexley Library to celebrate her fifth poetry book, “Night Owl.” This collection of poetry illustrates the author’s personal connection to the night and explores the perception of nature, family and change.
Nezhukumatathil was also joined by Columbus-based poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib, who acted as the event’s moderator, delivering his insight on Nezhukumatathil’s poems.
Nezhukumatathil read from a few pages of her book during the event, telling audience members the physical and emotional nights that inspired the poems. During the poetry reading, the author stated that her mother was a criminal psychiatrist leading Nezhukumatatihil and her family to live on the grounds of various mental institutes. One of her poems was inspired by a time her mother had to live away from her for work and the feelings that came from missing her.
Nezhukumatathil discovered poetry during her junior year at The Ohio State University when encountering the poem “Mint Snowball” by Naomi Shihab Nye. This poem led Nezhukumatathil to reflect on what she really wanted for her career while she was a chemistry major at Ohio State.
Abdurraqib and Nezhukumatathil discussed how the idea around nighttime has been misconstrued over the years. “To think about Ancient Greece, how it was a sight of divinity, healing and really revered,” said Abduraqib.
The idea of nighttime has been altered from a place of beauty and transformation into a subject of fear throughout history. “I wanted to push back … and say, ‘Look, there’s so much beauty but also so much reconnecting with ourselves and each other that takes place at night,’” Nezhukumatathil said.
Abdurraqib was intrigued by Nezhukumatathil’s depiction of aging in “Night Owl.” When Abdurraqib asked Nezhukumatathil how she found the depth in writing about aging, she exclaimed that there is joy and excitement that goes along with the grief and sadness of getting older: “Why on Earth would I be sad that I have a couple more crow’s-feet than I did when I was twenty?”
Nezhukumatathil also explained her use of Carmina Figurata, poems arranged into certain images. A modern way of referring to this technique is “concrete poetry.” Nezhukumatathil states that she was getting tired of the nice and neat stanzas and wanted to branch out of it and experiment. “It allows me to get a breath or a pause when I’m dealing with so much white space in a poem, and my hope is that it gives the reader a breath or a pause,” she said.
Audience members noticed that her poems indicated a sense of wonder and joy in Nezhukumatathil’s writing. “When wonder is a practice, you don’t ever feel alone,” she said. “If you just go about in the spirit of inquiry and questions, it’s easy to find wonder and it becomes contagious to the people around you.”
Nezhukumatathil is also certified to give firefly tours for all state parks in Mississippi. Fireflies have been an important part of her writing process. She explained how the fireflies in Mississippi are a rare breed known as “Synchronous Snappy,” describing their development as a “visual heartbeat in the forest.”
Abdurraqib states that he cherishes nighttime the older he gets because “it is a time where he can count on a lack of interruption. He also states that the nighttime increases a level of vulnerability within him.
When asked to emphasize on the emotional journey that helped inspire her book, Nezhukumatathil spoke on the concept of activating the “Night Mind,” introduced by the poet Edward Hirsch. This concept encourages writers to ponder on what they think about before they fall asleep, and what they associate with the night.
Another audience member stated that she admired the sense of pedagogy in her writing. She asked what the relationship is between her teaching and poetry. Nezhukumatathil states that she’s “more immersed in teaching when writing and more immersed in writing when teaching.”
Nezhukumatathil’s passion for teaching motivates her to create an environment where students want to ask questions and learn more.
As the event wrapped up, Nezhukumatathil stated that she’s always looking for books that gather people together and taught Abdurraqib’s first book, “The Crown Ain’t Worth Much,” in one of her classes. Her students fell in love with Abdurraqib’s poems, a moment she felt needed to be mentioned.
The full video of this event can be found here.
