State’s poet laureate visits Valley for reading and workshop
HEBER — Aspiring poets gathered at the Imperial County Free Library here Tuesday to participate in a poetry writing workshop led by Olga Garcia Echeverria and listen to California Poet Laureate Dana Gioia give a poetry reading.
As residents shared their creative works with workshop peers, they were given the opportunity to learn new writing techniques, read personal memoirs aloud, and create small handheld poetry books. Echeverria led the workshop, showing participants how to enhance their writing via meditation exercises and activation of their senses.
Once residents completed their poetry writing, Gioia introduced himself to the audience and spoke about his mission to help inspire poetic creativity throughout California.
Appointed poet laureate of California by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2015, Gioia has embarked on a tour to visit every county in California to help promote the art of poetry. By mobilizing youth via Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation contest for high school students, Gioia wants to spread the message that ordinary people can bring about the cusp of cultural change through poetry.
“Poetry is currently the fastest growing art in the country,” Gioia explained. “Poetry stays authentic and not commercialized, so we as people can create the culture we want to live in.”
Gioia informed the audience of listeners that the revival of poetry is driven in large part by teens and young adults. With memorization and the oral tradition of poetry playing a key role in its growth, Gioia noted that the youth culture of modern America connects to poetry through music and meaning. By sharing personal experiences with others, people of all different backgrounds can collaborate and connect with one another.
As he recited selected poems from his collections to the local residents, Gioia shared emotional stories from his life concerning his grandfather’s past, experiencing feelings of love and losing his infant son. Noting that it took him 25 years to finish a single poem, Gioia emphasized that writing poetry can be a lifelong emotional endeavor.
Following his poetry reading, Gioia answered questions from members of the audience. Discussing the various methods for teaching poetry, he talked about his experiences in the classroom. Gioia explained that as a current professor at the University of Southern California, he believes students should focus on writing about their own experiences and performing them before engaging in detailed poetic analysis.
By relying on personal experiences to tell unique stories, the process of writing poetry provides a democratization of expression to everyday citizens, regardless of their background, Gioia said.
“Poetry is one of the many pleasures that ordinary people have,” he said.
When asked how he felt about traveling to Heber and interacting with people outside of larger California cities, Gioia responded with grace and modesty.
“Everyone should have the right to experience poetry, not just people in big cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco,” he said.
Gioia stressed the idea of reaching out to people in all areas of California. By serving the state as a whole, his goal is to act as a catalyst for the implementation of written and oral poetry in public schools across the Californian landscape. In the most recent year that Gioia’s Poetry Out Loud contest was held, approximately 44,000 high school students from California alone were entered into the competition.
Students who enter into the Poetry Out Loud contest are expected to memorize poems, recite poetry in front of an audience, and give a performance of the work onstage. As students compete in the competition, they receive the opportunity to travel to Sacramento and advance to the final round, held at the Senate chambers in Washington D.C.
Giving students the opportunity to express themselves through performance is important to Gioia; as he wrapped up the Q&A session, he encouraged some of the local high school students in the audience to keep investigating their writing talents. With the writing workshop and poetry recital taking place in Heber’s local library, Gioia urged the crowd to view the building as a cultural center that contains more than just books. By viewing the library as a meeting hub for cultural communication and collaboration, Gioia remarked that it is possible for local residents to foster a sense of unity through the human purpose of poetry.
“Life is precious,” insisted Gioia. “Poetry can help everyone embark on their own spiritual journey.”