Volume CXXXIII, Number 18 March 1, 2002 f

Poetry clinic hones skills
SUSAN CULLINEY
STAFF WRITER

The Bowdoin Literary Society brought poet Elizabeth Grainger to campus this past Monday. Grainger, who works as a counselor at Columbia University, gave a reading of her own work Monday night, and also took time that afternoon to hold a workshop with a small but creative group of Bowdoin students. These aspiring poets had emailed their work in advance to Grainger, who wrote down her comments and suggestions. When the writers gathered in Massachusetts Hall seminar room, she handed back their pages and engaged the group in a discussion of their work.

The conversation ranged from the broad issue of defeating writer's block to the more technical question of punctuation. The group discussed the necessity of this grammatical structure and if a writer can rely on the natural pauses found in a line. Grainger talked about using the form of a poem as a tool, which can function to express something which is not easily put into words. In addition to her suggestions, Grainger cautioned the students to make any of these decisions conscientiously, choosing a word, rhyme, or punctuation deliberately, although she did concede that some accidental choices can work well.

Many of the poems the students shared had distinct rhyme and rhythm when read aloud, a quality which the group continuously praised. The students commented on how reading aloud can bring out the qualities of a poem that are not immediately noticed on paper. This inevitably brought up the question of performance; and if these poets are any indication of Bowdoin's creative ability, then there is easily room for more opportunities to read and perform poetry on campus. Grainger ended the session by handing out poetic sources on-line and left the students with encouragement to both publish and perform their work.