Poetry at Tech kicks off with native Georgian poets

Poetry at Tech has launched its new season with the first of five poetry readings this year honoring poets across the country.

The first event commemorated nationally renowned poets from Georgia.

"It's something we do every year...one reading a year we specifically honor poets from Georgia," said Thomas Lux, chair of the Poetry at Tech program.

"We try to look for a wide range of poets...diversity is important," Lux said.

According to Lux, around 300 people attended the Sept. 26 event.

Poets Cherryl Floyd-Miller, Martin Lammon and Tania Rochelle were invited to present their work at the Clary Theater in the Student Success Center.

Cherryl Floyd-Miller has won many writing fellowships and authors a collection of literature in museums in New York and Boston.

"I really enjoyed a lot of her catalogue poems; she did a lot of singing to it, which is something you don't normally see in poetry readings," said Sean Delgado, a third-year Science, Technology and Culture major.

Martin Lammon retains the Fuller E. Callaway, Flannery O'Connor Poetry Chair.

He is also a faculty member at Georgia College and State University.

"I learned a lot about Georgia [from his poetry]. I got to hear about a lot of places in Georgia [and] he made me want to travel and see a lot of the places he was talking about....He wrote a really good poem about going to Blood Mountain....I want to go to Blood Mountain now," Delgado said.

Tania Rochelle works as a poetry editor for the Chattahoochee Review and has published her works in several different journals and reviews.

"Tania Rochelle was my favorite. A lot of her poems were really playful, she was from Marietta, and I am from Marietta and I could relate to a lot of what she was saying. She could take other people's stories and own them," Delgado said.

At the event, each poet displayed a different style and spent about 30 minutes reading their works.

"They write about everything: the laughter and the tears of life," Lux said.

Some poets were livelier than others.

"Readings are oral, spoken often with a great deal of animation. Often they are funny; they are very serious, very musical. Often the poet offers some kind of comment about the poems. [It is] very direct human speech," Lux said.

The poets' styles ranged from "free verse forms to highly traditional forms; [they were] both traditional and more experimental," Lux said.

Over 70 authors have come to Tech for its poetry program in the last four years, testifying to its status as a popular and well-respected program.

"I think it's great; it's a really vibrant program...it seems to be drawing a large community from not only Tech but from the Atlanta literary community as well," said Stuart Dischell, a professor at North Carolina Greensborough College and Tech's McEver Chair of poetry.

"Poetry at Tech is the only reason I am here," Delgado said.

There are 60-70 students who are actively involved with the Poetry at Tech program.

The students write poetry, attend readings and usually take classes within the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

"[Institute President] Wayne Clough and the Dean of Ivan Allen College, Sue Rosser, have been supportive of the program from the beginning," Lux said.

Poetry at Tech began in 2002 when Henry C. and Margaret T. Bourne gave a generous endowment to the program. Lux currently holds the Bourne Chair in poetry.

The next reading will be held Oct. 25 and will feature Frank Bidart, Major Jackson and Gregory Orr.

Another reading will be held Nov. 17 to honor the Spoken Word movement in poetry, which will feature Marvin Heath, Bob Holman, M.L. Liebler, Patricia Smith, Kodac Harrison and Reggie Gibson.

All Poetry at Tech events are free and open to students.