“That was amazing.”
“She was so helpful.”
“I love her!”
These were some of the comments from Butler poetry MFA students as they left one-on-one meetings with poet Brenda Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy visited the campus last week as a Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writer. In addition to the individual workshops, Shaughnessy held a public poetry reading and a Q & A discussion on writing.
Shaughnessy shared personal details of her struggles in life and writing and candidly answered questions from students. She discussed practical advice, like how to use correlative objects to make readers care about a character or emotion. Stressing the importance of defamiliarization, she explained how staring at a wall in McDonald’s created an image of loneliness.
For most of the discussion, Shaughnessy focused on encouraging young writers. “Writing is like karaoke or dancing. Just do it. Don’t think you have to be really good. Don’t quit if you hit a wrong note,” she said. “Poetry is not about knowing things; it’s about asking things, exploring things, wondering things.”