Ninth Westminster Poet Shares Love of Poetry and Life

Poet Dorianne Laux visited Westminster School April 22 and April 23 as the ninth Westminster Poet.

At a poetry reading Wednesday evening in the Werner Centennial Center, she read poems from each of her four acclaimed books of poetry and told the audience, “You don’t know what it means to a poet to know that everyone in the audience has read at least one of my poems.”

During her visit with English classes Thursday morning, Laux signed copies of her books and fielded questions from students about such things as the autobiographical nature of her poetry, which poets have inspired her and how she shapes a poem.

“The more you write, the more you get in touch with your subconscious and put pieces of the puzzle together,” she said. “I work pretty hard on each poem. There are not a lot of rules I am following. It is instinct you are working with.”

Laux said that becoming a poet is not something a person decides. After she found herself writing a lot, she decided to publish what she had written.
“I am delighted that people in high school would read my poems,” she told the students. “One of the purposes of poetry is to remind you life is worth a lot. Live your life!”

English teacher Tim Quinn said that for students in his English classes, “It was simply amazing for them to interact with a living poet whom they have studied. Given the nature of some of her poems, many were nervous to meet her, but this anxiety turned out to be unfounded.”

“In general, students found Laux to be an accessible poet in terms of narrative and language, but a challenging poet in terms of subject matter and poetic techniques,” said English Department Head Michael Cervas. “In short, her books proved to be perfect vehicles for generating great discussions in English classes.”

Laux’s books of poetry include “Facts About the Moon,” which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the recipient of the Oregon Book Award, and short-listed for the 2006 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; “Awake”; “What We Carry”; and “Smoke.”

 She has received two Best American Poetry Prizes, a Best American Erotic Poems Prize, a Pushcart Prize, two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Laux and her husband, poet Joseph Millar, live in Raleigh, N.C., where she serves on the faculty at North Carolina State University as a poet-in-residence.