Poets Read Their Work at CSM

See two nationally recognized poets at the College of Southern Maryland’s annual Connections Literary Series, starting with Evie Shockley on Sept. 30 and Rick Benjamin on Nov. 4.

The literary series continues the college’s tradition of bringing engaging writers to its campuses. Ms. Shockley, a Holmes National Poetry Prize winner, will visit the Prince Frederick Campus on Sept. 30, and Mr. Benjamin, former state poet of Rhode Island, will be at the Leonardtown Campus on Nov. 4.

CSM professor Neal Dwyer coordinates the program. He is a professor in the Languages and Literature Division, and said both poets will be a good fit for the annual series.

“I was struck by their commitment to using poetry as a way to build bridges and break down barriers,” he said.

Ms. Shockley will read from her collection “the new black” at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 30 in Building A, Room 119 on the Prince Frederick Campus, 115 J.W. Williams Road.

Shockley was born and raised in Nashville and earned a bachelor’s degree at Northwestern University, a juris doctor degree at the University of Michigan, and a doctorate in English literature at Duke University. She is an English professor at Rutgers University.

She is the author of several collections of poetry, including “a half-red sea” (2006) and “the new black” (2011), as well as the critical volume “Renegade Poetics: Black Aesthetics and Formal Innovation in African American Poetry” (2011). Her poetry and essays have been featured in several anthologies, including “Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry” (2009), “Poets on Teaching: A Sourcebook” (2010), “A Broken Thing: Contemporary Poets on the Line” (2011), and “Contemporary African American Literature: The Living Canon” (2013).

Mr. Dwyer hopes Ms. Shockley’s presentation will serve as an opportunity for the larger Southern Maryland community to join in a conversation, not only about racism, identity, and society, but about the role poetry and storytelling can play in transforming conflict.

Mr. Benjamin will read from his work at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Leonardtown Campus in Building A, Auditorium, 22950 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown.

He has taught at Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, the MFA Program in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College, in many schools, and in community and assisted living centers — where, he said, “I have passed good time in the company of people who range in age from 6 to 96.”

Mr. Benjamin was a Fellow at New Urban Arts, an afterschool arts mentoring program for Providence area high school students. His poems and essays have appeared in “PRØOF,” “Watershed,” The Providence Journal, “Tongue,” 350.org, “The Writer’s Circle,” “American Poets in the 21st Century: The New Poetics” (Wesleyan University Press), “Urthona: An International Buddhist Journal of the Arts, Poem, Home: An Anthology of Ars Poetica” (Paper Kite Press), and “La Petite Zine.”

Mr. Benjamin believes that poetry can play a primary role in creating vibrant and connected communities. Mr. Dwyer said that is what drew him to the poet’s work.

“Rick is about building community and using poetry as a way to bring people together. That could be the theme for this season of Connections: Poetry’s role in bringing people together,” Mr. Dwyer said.

Mr. Dwyer is excited about the upcoming fall Connections authors and the prospect that poetry could be the force to ignite a community dialogue on important issues.

The work these poets are doing is important and relevant, Mr. Dwyer said. He said he has seen the extent to which a poem can actually be “a direct connection to the lives that my students are living. These poets can inspire an audience to believe that there are other ways of dealing with conflict, trauma, and division – at very least, their works can serve to begin the conversation.”

“As an educational institution, that’s a big part of our job,” he said, “… to begin the conversation, to bring people together over issues that matter, to share stories, to employ words, poetry to engage the larger CSM community … in terms of how we give back to the region, that’s what we’ve been doing through the Connections series and the literary magazine for years.”

Looking for Connections entries

Along with the Connections readings by Shockley and Benjamin, the Connections Magazine is soliciting submissions. The magazine is a regional literary journal published twice a year that features poems, stories, artwork, and photography of Southern Maryland residents. A reading by contributors to the magazine will take place at 7:30 pm Dec. 2, 2016, on the La Plata Campus Center for Business and Industry (BI) Building, Rooms 103/104 at 8730 Mitchell Road, La Plata. The event is free. Another reading will be held in May.

To be considered for fall 2016’s issue, the deadline for submissions is Oct. 31.

Ms. Shockley’s reading is sponsored in part by a grant from the Arts Council of Calvert County and the Maryland State Arts Council. Mr. Benjamin’s reading is sponsored in part by a grant from the St. Mary’s County Arts Council and the Maryland State Arts Council.

The spring literary series will include visits to CSM by author Michael Archer on Feb. 17, novelist Sunil Yapa on March 3 and Affrilachian poet Frank X. Walker on April 7.

Tickets for the Shockley and Benjamin readings are $3 in advance at the CSM box office, $5 at the door, and $3 with a CSM student ID. For tickets, contact [email protected] or 301-934-7828.

For information on Connections, study guides, and author links, visit the CSM website. Featured books are available at any CSM College Store or online.

For more about the College of Southern Maryland, visit their Leader member page.