On Thursday, the Department of Language Studies and the Arts hosted “Wild Gifts: a Reading by the Creative Writing Faculty,” which featured Gianna Russo, Anne Barngrover, Steve Kistulentz, Brooke King, and Patrick Crerand, in the Selby Auditorium from 7 pm until 9 pm. The room was filled with undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty members, and some visitors to the campus.
Gianna Russo was the first faculty member to perform. She began with a poem, titled “The Day in Crescents,” about the total eclipse that occurred August of last year. Her piece described the comradery among the faculty that day as they gathered outside of “Saint Eds” (Saint Edwards Hall) in the lawn with glasses on to watch the eclipse. Her next piece was named after something the president had said in 2016 after expressing his belief that Mexican immigrants brought crime into the United States. The poem is titled “And Some, I Assume, Are Good People,” and it was inspired by a piece of jewelry made by the Huichol Indians in Mexico that had been given to her by her daughter-in-law’s mother. The poem begins, “And so he became president. I stand with my Mexican daughter-in-law,” and goes on to describe Mexican people in her life who are affected by the hostility towards Mexican immigrants in America.
Brooke King is an Adjunct Instructor of English and Creative Writing, a veteran of the U.S. Army, and a mother to three kids. She described writing within the war genre as her way of “turning a frown upside down.” Credit: Kadyann Stupart
Russo’s reading involved many personal stories. She gave the audience ample insight into her inspiration for her work. Her third poem, “They Say Everything Happens for a Reason” was about how Hurricane Sandy had brought up old memories of a family member with whom she had, unfortunately, fallen out of touch. Russo described her last two poems as “homages” to her parents who have passed away. The poem about her father humorously and lovingly drew from his attachment to even the most seemingly useless materials, which he had developed living through the Great Depression. That poem, in particular, got a lot of positive response from listeners in the auditorium. The affection with which the piece was written was evident. Russo even blew a kiss up towards the sky at the end of it, and people in the audience let out an “aw” at that. The poem about her mother described a music competition that reminded her of how her mother had filled the house with joy by playing her grand piano. She had preceded the poem by informing the audience that she has donated the piano to the music department. The audience was able to connect with Russo and her experiences and emotions, and it further engaged the audience because most of it was made up of writers who would be interested in learning her process. There were laughs and smiles all around during Russo’s part of the reading.
Next up was Brooke King. She began by reading the first chapter of her memoir, called “War Flower,” to be released in March about her time with the military, particularly in Iraq. She read the piece melodically, describing how soldiers were afraid and lonely but, ultimately, defiant against death. King also announced that she had started working on her next book, “Tales of the Dead,” inspired by her father, a “deadhead,” or a fan of the band The Grateful Dead. Each chapter title in the book is to be named for a song by The Grateful Dead, and the chapter that King had read is titled “Brokedown Palace.” The chapter described how her relationship with her father had evolved from when she was a little girl dancing with him to The Grateful Dead at home, through her time in Iraq when she wasn’t sure if she’d make it home, to now that she has come out on the other side as a survivor.
Steve Kistulentz, author of the poetry collections “Little Black Daydream” (2012) and “The Luckless Age” (2010) is the Director of the Saint Leo Master of Arts in Creative Writing Program. Credit: Kadyann Stupart
Steve Kistulentz, director of the graduate program in Creative Writing, followed King. He read the opening pages of the novel on which he is currently working. It was the first time that he had ever read from that book, and he let the audience know beforehand of his “fascination with historical figures.” The piece he read was about Mikhail Gorbachev and the Soviet Union.
The next faculty member to the front of the auditorium was Anne Barngrover. She read three poems from her book “Brazen Creature” along with two other poems. She began with “Your Name in My Boot,” a poem from “Brazen Creature” that those who attended her previous reading in TECO Hall during the Spring 2018 semester may remember. She chose to “begin with a curse” because “the news cycle the past few weeks has not been fun.” The poem was inspired by a mysticism that contends that writing a name on a piece of paper and placing the paper inside of one’s shoe will cause the named person a good deal of misfortune. She followed up with a sonnet also from “Brazen Creature” called “Finding out the Lie One Year Later.” This poem described smoke and fireworks. Barngrover’s poems focus very little narrative and much more on imagery and sensory details, but she often shared stories to go with the poems about her inspiration. She transitioned into a villanelle called “Tennessee Is Burning” that she had written two years ago when she lived in Nashville and had heard a news story about a forest fire in Tennessee caused by accidental arson. She then read a more recent poem inspired by a screaming noise that she had heard from a bird by the lake in her apartment complex in Tampa called “The Crying Bird.” Her final poem for the night is from “Brazen Creature,” and it is called “In Defense of Not Getting over It, at Least, Not for Now.”
Patrick Crerand was the last of the Creative Writing faculty to perform his piece. He read from his essay called “Black Hearts” just one part titled “Shots.” It was an endearing and hilarious true story of when he had taken his three children to get their flu shots last year. He was inspired to read it that night because his wife had just taken their children to get their flu shots for this season that day. He told the story with the theme of comic book heroism tailored into the narrative. He had the audience in stitches as he relayed his innocent and curious children’s experience to us. It was a touching story because Crerand recognized their fear as legitimate based on their limited knowledge of the world, yet he had to put them through the terror to save them from worse things like getting sick. In the end, they forgave him.
The night celebrated the spirit of togetherness, the progress made so far, and the anticipation of what is to come. For updates on what the Creative Faculty is working on next, follow The Lions’ Pride Media Group’s social media pages. Be sure to watch out for video footage from this event.
