Poet shares work, discusses workshopping

November 14, 2005 —

Award-winning poet and author Mary Ann Samyn read from her works and spoke on the elements of poetry in the Roberta Allen Reading Room Nov. 2.

As part of the "Voices in the Valley" series that brings speakers to share their artistic voices with the SVSU community, Samyn shared her experiences in creative writing.

"A poem is an act of discovery," she said. "Language is volatile stuff, it's complicated stuff ... creative writing talent often comes from an eye for detail, taking in the world in a certain way."

In addition, Samyn spoke about the difficult process of developing and polishing poetry.

"The best poems can't really be paraphrased, can they?" she asked. "That's why workshop is so challenging, because as the poems get better, the discussion gets more in-depth, more demanding."

In addition to workshopping others' poetry, Samyn revises her own poetry and uses her natural abilities in creative writing to complete a piece.

"I don't need a lot to start a poem or too much to finish one," she explained. "How do I know when a poem is done? I hear a loud click. I really do. I hear the poem line for line (the line is my unit of measure). And so, I know when the poem is finished when I hear it come down, loud."

Samyn's poems have been influenced by her surroundings, daily life, family, friends, and the literature she has read. When asked about her motivation for writing this long series of poems about Alice in Wonderland, Samyn said, "It's a girl falling. What more do you want?"

Although Samyn admits to being captivated by Alice and other captivity characters at earlier times in her writing, she has changed the topics and style of her most recent poetry and prefers to read her new poetry to audiences to assist her revision process and for the enjoyment of her listeners.

Samyn strives to capture the experience of everyday life in a variety of ways in her poetry.

"My poems aim to work on as many 'registers' as possible, mixing the colloquial and the 'poetic,' to mirror the complexity of everyday life and rush of experience."