All 194 seats of the H-Wing Auditorium were filled last Thursday for visiting poets Ross Gay and Steve Scafidi. The Schomburg Distinguished Visiting Scholars Program and Readings at Ramapo teamed up to host the event.
Gay read from his books, the poetry book “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” and the essay collection “The Book of Delights.” Scafidi shared unpublished work as well as poems from his book “The Cabinetmaker’s Window.”
Professor of creative writing James Hoch began the event by reading a quote from poet Alan Shapiro, then introduced Gay and Scafidi as poets who “notice the subtleties of everything around them” and display “emotional courage” in their work.
The poets touched on how to maintain the momentum of writing, which is never to allow yourself to kill the urge. Gay suggested that killing the urge isn’t possible for inherent writers.
Hoch was insistent on reminding everyone that poetry requires living in the moment, and the quality of writing accomplished by Gay and Scafidi is only possible by those who do.
Before his reading, Gay told the audience of his long-time friendship with Scafidi and how the letter-writing at the foundation of their relationship became a form of meditation.
“Anytime I thought I didn’t know how to be a writer, I wrote letters,” he said, expressing the significance of letters to writers, encouraging the audience to take part in the practice.
“There is something unsaid,” Scafidi said about when people who’ve sent each other so many letters see each other after a long time.
Among the works read, Gay shared “Braces on Adults,” an essay which begins with charm yet descends into contemplation of the greater meaning behind average things, like braces.
His essays in “The Book of Delights” always leave the reader in a different place than they began and listening to him read aloud is like going on a fast, unexpected journey somewhere exciting.
Before reading his poems, Scafidi discussed how reading poetry to friends, he thinks, is like publishing. “It counts as something in my invisible book of rules,” he said.
He explained that poetry is how we make use of the voices in our heads. Among his poems he chose the hauntingly beautiful “Ten-Letter Word for a Lucky Man” and “The Coin.”
Scafidi accomplishes eerie themes in his work by using graceful language. Even his poem titled, “Sometimes There Is a Shit Smell Everywhere” is graceful.
Following the reading was a Q&A where Gay and Scafidi expressed that students should be each other’s allies in writing. While there is naturally a sense of competition in writers and an expectation of obedience in school, there is community to be found in writing.
The poets touched on how to maintain the momentum of writing, which is never to allow yourself to kill the urge. Gay suggested that killing the urge isn’t possible for inherent writers. Ultimately, they agreed that pleasure should always be found in the work, and writers should remain curious of what they have yet to understand.
Gay shares that even at this point in his career there are still things he doesn’t know, and he himself follows their shared advice of remaining curious about the word of writing.
klombar5@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Todd Barnes
