Chasing rodents around a small one-bedroom apartment, reflecting in one’s daily three-hour-long shower and “Behind These Hazel Eyes” by Kelly Clarkson are all inspirations for humorous, accurate poems that cause people to stare in disbelief at their relatability.
On Sept. 25, the Joynes’ Reading Room and Plan II Honors department hosted award-winning poets Chessy Normile and Sarah Matthes, alumni of the Michener Center for Creative Writing program. Together, Normile and Matthes performed a reading, leaving audience members cackling in their seats and nodding in approval at every line break and page turn.
Matthes, a lecturer in the Department of English, walked from her office in Calhoun Hall to recite poetry from her book, “Town Crier.” Matthes said poems, like “Rodney the Mouse,” aim to recognize basic human ventures, making everyday tasks feel less mundane.
“Sweet patriarch, I’m going to kill your family. One by one, in a snap trap in the closet,” Matthes recited from the poem about her rodent-infested house.
Highlighting the daily activities of her writing, Matthes said she hopes her writing allows people to have a deeper understanding of poetry and language.
“The feeling I love the best is when people say to me, ‘I didn’t know poetry could be like this,’” Matthes said. “That really makes me feel like I’ve presented a different way of understanding, a relationship with language and with processing and feeling.”
Normile, a poet-in-residence at Ripton College and author of “Great Exodus, Great Wall, Great Party,” returned to UT to share her love for poetry in an intimate reading.
Reflecting on her poetic voice, Normile said she read poetry through graduate school and into her career.
“There was a lot of poetry I read as an undergrad that permitted me to write poetry that was funny,” Normile said. “I hadn’t known about that as an option until I read James Tate, Terrence Hayes, Charles Simic and Heather Crystal.”
Taking inspiration from these authors, Normile said she was able to infuse her own personality into her writing.
After the reading, Matthes and Normile left a moment of pin-drop silence before stepping off the stage, leaving the audience to question how the poets burrowed their way into their minds, reflecting themselves in the poems.
Sam Ho, a Plan II and special education junior, said she has been attending Joynes’ Reading Room author visits since her freshman year.
“I don’t usually like poetry, but this poetry was really funny, and it felt more down-to-earth and more accessible to me,” Ho said.
Matthes said that was the goal of the reading: To make poetry feel inviting, like work that anyone can partake in.
“My work feels open to people,” Matthes said. “I want people to feel invited into it, and invited into it so much so that they start thinking poetically themselves.”
