Poet David Wojahn concluded his one-week stint as the University’s Rhea Visiting Writer Thursday evening at a poetry reading held at the University Bookstore. Wojahn, an English professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, read primarily from his most recent book, “World Tree,” which won the 2012 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets. His slow, rhythmic cadence captured an audience of more than 50.
Wojahn’s poems are famous for their political and cultural commentary, second-year College student Jack Bennett said. “I liked all the cultural references from the 60s to the 80s,” Bennett said.
John Milton, John Calvin and Dante also made cameos in the poems that cast characters from Nixon to Reagan.
“A lot of my poems seem to be written to the dead,” Wojahn said. “I’m starting to write not so much language poems but poems about language.”
Wojahn was comfortable with the audience, willing to share his favorite lines and open to joking about the “worst title of any poem I’ve ever written.” After reading his poem “Ode to Fox P2,” Wojahn said, “I love those poems where you get a little carried away.”
Wojahn met with the University creative writing program earlier in the week to discuss the craft of poetry writing. As a Rhea Visiting Writer, he has spent the last week working primarily with creative writing students in the MFA program. “This has really been an enjoyable time,” he said, proceeding to compliment University faculty and students.
In his parting advice, Wojahn told students: “If you keep writing, keep writing for years and years. The likelihood is you’ll get better.”
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