Michael Waters was the last writer to speak at the University as part of this semester’s Visiting Writers Series last Tuesday. However, this poet isn’t a stranger to campus since Waters is not only an award winning poet but also an English professor here.
After being introduced by Two River Theater company founder Dr. Robert M. Rechnitzas as “one of the greatest living American poets,” Waters read various poems from his upcoming book, “Gospel Night” in Wilson Auditorium.
This will be his 15th collection of poetry published in addition to various other contributions that have been published in journals.
Waters has won numerous awards for his poetry including three Individual Artists Awards and four Pushcart Prizes, as well as fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Ocean Township resident read many selections from his latest assortment of poetry as well as some from previously published collections. Waters said, “Writing poems, I guess, is a way to get to know oneself as well as the world.”
Exotic locales seem to inspire Waters, who received his MFA from the University of Iowa and his PhD from Ohio University. He first read “White Stork,” a poem set in Costa Rica. “The Bells” was set in Malta, and “Beloved” was set in Romania.
“Beloved” was one of the most interesting poems he read. It is a love poem about his wife who grew up in Romania. The poem is set there in 1979 and tells of how she would journey into an abandoned library with her own light bulb (as all of the ones in the library had gone out) searching for American books like “Ethan Frome.”
Waters’ wife, Mihaela Moscaliuc, actually read one of her own poems during his reading. Her poem was about how people in her culture spoil the dead. You don’t just put someone in the ground and forget about them. You visit the grave, talk to them, and leave gifts.
Waters then read his own poem, “The Visit,” in response to his wife’s poem, about how it took him years to visit his father’s grave.
Waters, who is the faculty advisor for The Monmouth Review, often writes about sex and politics. He said he finds it hard to separate the two and wouldn’t be able to choose just one to write about. He read about the awkward experience of a friend turning on porn without warning while Waters and his wife were visiting.
He then followed that with the political poems “Lying Awake” and “Dead Iraqis.” The latter was inspired by a trip he took to Iraq in 1986 for a poetry festival. He discovered that many people who were living under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein were against him but had to die for his cause.
His poems seem to be very focused on specific events, so it was interesting that Waters said, “It’s never the poem that I set out to write.”
During his question and answer session, the audience got to know Waters a bit better. He grew up with beat poets like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, but learned a lot about simile and metaphor from musicians like Elvis Presley and the Beatles.
Sophomore Michelle Melzl said, “I thought it was interesting that he learned about poetry from the Beatles as a kid. I never really thought about the fact that you learn about [simile and metaphor] really early in life from songs.”
One student asked about teaching poetry to which Waters said, “Teaching poetry is impossible.” After much laughter from the audience he added, “I blame that on me, not you.” Waters went on to praise the University’s creative writing program, something which many other schools lack.
To conclude the evening, Waters’ parting words were “Talent means nothing if you don’t have the discipline.”
The Visiting Writers Series will return March 22 with Natasha Trethewey in Wilson Auditorium at 4:30 pm.
PHOTO COURTESY of socialregister.co.uk
