The 2022 Walter Visiting Writer Erin Belieu treated an audience of students and faculty to an evening of laughter, contemplation, and joy as she read selections of her published poetry, took questions and signed books.
Each year the Department of Literature, Language and Culture invites an internationally-renowned author to visit campus to discuss their writing and sources of inspiration.
The author of five poetry books and the co-founder of Vida: Women in the Literary Arts, Belieu鈥檚 work focuses on gender, love and history. She鈥檚 currently a professor of English at the University of Houston. Her visit was part of Linda Berry Stein College of Fine Arts鈥� 2021-2022 Creative Arts Series and 60th Anniversary season.
She entered the stage of Terry Concert Hall on March 22 to generous applause before proceeding to crack ice-breaking jokes and begin her reading.
Belieu first read 鈥淚 Heart Your Dog鈥檚 Head,鈥� which garnered many laughs from the audience. She explained that the title came from having seen so many bumper stickers of dogs鈥� heads on cars and then one day noticing a joke bumper sticker that read 鈥淚 Heart Your Dog鈥檚 Head,鈥� a phrase she wanted to somehow incorporate into a future poem.
Belieu told many other anecdotes as she continued to read seven more poems, including 鈥淲hen at a Certain Party in NYC,鈥� 鈥淚n Airports,鈥� and 鈥淭he Body is a Big Sagacity.鈥�
While many of Belieu鈥檚 poems induced laughter, others produced a hush over the audience as they listened intently to the thought-provoking stanzas.
A former competitive diver, Belieu offered perspectives on how society views women as their bodies age in her poem 鈥淪he Returns to the Water.鈥� It鈥檚 about a middle-aged woman who swims naked under the moonlight and learns to love her body for how it is.
鈥淵ou know, middle-aged women鈥檚 bodies are so hidden, covered up,鈥� Belieu remarked. 鈥淓verybody wears basically like a tunic that goes down to their ankles as if we all have to disappear after the age of 30 or something.鈥�
After reading her final poem, the event transitioned to a question-and-answer session. Here are some of her answers from the discussion:
Belieu said she started writing at a very young age.
She gets through writer鈥檚 block by pushing against it and continuing to write. Her poems undergo many revisions before she is happy with them, and that she finds inspiration while riding in public transportation and driving her car.
Belieu said she feels her most memorable poem is 鈥淧lainsong,鈥� which she read for the audience after searching for it on the Internet (for she had forgotten to bring her book that contained it).
When asked 鈥淚n a nutshell, what is poetry?鈥� she answered:
鈥淧oetry is the history of our inner lives鈥hat I love about poems more than anything is it鈥檚 the most functional time machine that we have at this point鈥 can hear about the inner life consciousness of people that we wouldn鈥檛 have access to, and all the things they鈥檙e thinking about in the world that they鈥檙e looking at, the places that they lived. It鈥檚 the record of humankind鈥檚 inner life. I think that鈥檚 such a beautiful thing.鈥�
After the audience dispersed from the auditorium, Belieu sat outside Terry Concert Hall to conduct a book signing.
