Gonzaga Poets & Writers Club Hosts Virtual Gathering of Alumni Poets

On Thursday, January 14, Gonzaga Poets & Writers Club hosted its annual Alumni Poets' Gathering via Zoom. In continuation of the three year strong tradition, several alumni poets offered their time to assist members of current English IV Creative Writing - Poetry class in the morning before participating in a reading and discussion in the afternoon.

In the morning class, Lucas Jung ’19 and Kyle Newman-Smith ’16 wrote poem drafts and then all the alumni present “workshopped” those drafts to show the class how it’s done. “Workshopping” a poem is a strict and useful process in which the poet mostly listens to others assess his work. It’s an excellent way to improve a poem, for the poet to know how others understand, or misunderstand, his words. 

At the afternoon reading, each alum told us a bit about his current life now and his writing since Gonzaga. Then several of them read poems they’ve recently written. Kyle Newman-Smith ’16, read his poem “sip” and Walter Hill ’16 read two poems referencing racial violence, one, “I’ve Been to Georgia,” was published in “Apiary,” an online literary journal. 

After the reading, other participants asked the alumni poets questions and made comments on their work. The alumni discussed the ways poetry helps them in their current jobs. They discussed how it can also serve as a source of personal expression, as well as an artistic pursuit. It’s clear that these poets look at the world around them and bring it to poetry, their art. 

Alumni in attendance included Landen Buckson '16, Jirhe Love '17, Walter Hill '16, Liam Wholihan '16, Ryan Baker '16, Kyle Newman-Smith '16, Joseph Wete '19, Lucas Jung '19, Derrell Bouknight '15, and Maurice Holmes '14.

Thank you to all who made this annual event a success!
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