Brittany Poeppe | Assistant Arts + Life Editor
On Thursday, October 29th, Professor Gwen Hart read original poetry from both of her books. Hart is in her 6th year of teaching at Buena Vista University (BVU). She teaches several courses: Linguistics, Creative Writing, and Written Communication. Hart’s first book, Lost and Found, was recently published, and she is currently working on her second book. Many of her selections were from Lost and Found, but she did read a few poems from her new book.
Hart began ACES event by informing students that she tried to put together a Halloween-themed selection of poems. Many of the poems focused on fears or characters. Hart told students that some of her poems were meant to be humorous.
“If a poem makes you want to laugh, try to laugh with me,” Hart said.
Hart began with a poem entitled, “Twenty Years Ago,” which was a poem about her mother in a grocery store. The second poem she read was entitled, “YMCA,” which included a list of common fears at the community pool.
“I’m sorry for bringing these fears back up for anyone who has experienced them,” Hart laughed.
Hart also read poems about ex-boyfriends, Barbie and Ken’s break-up, and horror movie survivors. She told students that she used to love watching horror movies, but now they are hard to watch. “Lucky” was the name of the poem inspired by Hart’s former love of horror films.
After the reading, Hart opened the event for questions. A number of students wanted to know why she became a poet. She told students that she began writing poetry in elementary school. Her class was learning about Pompeii, and she was so fascinated by it that she went home and wrote a 50-line poem about the event. She also confessed that she used to write other students’ poems on the bus to school.
“Different things sparked different poems- life experiences, news headlines- almost anything can become a poem,” Hart said when asked what inspired her poetry.
Hart also talked about the challenges she faces when writing poetry. She told students that the ending of poems are the most difficult to finish. It can take months for her to find the perfect ending for a poem. Hart keeps a journal of ideas, and she told students that one in every ten of her ideas become a poem.
Student Austin Adamson attended the event, and he thought it was “cool.”
“I thought a lot of the poems were interesting, and I think it’s cool that Gwen uses poetry as a creative outlet,” Adamson said.
