photo by Reina Santa Cruz
Brandon Cesmat, author of “Driven into the Shade” lectured, read poetry and gave a class on writing poetry. “Voice is something beyond words,” he told the groups, who attended the Tuesday events, held in the Harris Gallery, the Cabaret Theatre and the Wilson Library.
Students learned about discovering their voice in poetry while attending an Honors Lecture Series talk led by poet Brandon Cesmat Tuesday in the Harris Art Gallery.
“Voice is not something that is taught but something uncovered,” said Cesmat, author of “Driven into the Shade.”
One of the key ways to uncover voice and express it through creative writing is self-cynicism, Cesmat said to an audience of mostly honors and creative writing students.
People can identify their voices through reexamination of themselves, he said.
The talk began late but coordinators Kirsten Ogden, assistant professor of English, and Gerard Lavatori, interim Honors program director, filled the time with an impromptu reading and discussion about two of Cesmat’s poems.
Students responded to “Jitters,” a piece about the energy derived from drinking coffee and “New Light,” the most recent piece by Cesmat.
The poet also read some of his work to make his point about voice.
“Cesmat’s own breath and interior rhythm influence the sound of his work when read out loud,” Ogden said.
Another way to find voice is to recognize children’s voices, Cesmat said.
“There is a lot of evidence for children acquiring voice and their own obsessions,” he said.
It is by writing down these obsessions that voice emerges.
Cesmat is a member of California Poets in the Schools, which strives to bring professional poets into classrooms from kindergarten to 12th grade.
Cesmat said that Oscar award-winning director Sofia Coppola was involved in CPITS as a second grader. Her film “Lost in Translation” reflects similar concepts that she explored at a young age in a poem set in Japan.
This is an example of Cesmat’s point that voice is uncovered and found to have consistency throughout a person’s life, Ogden said.
“Voice is something beyond words,” Cesmat said. “Word is not the essence; word is the approximation of essence.”
He said a writing exercise for people trying to find their voice is to write a response to a piece of literature that claims to not invoke action.
In his own writing, Cesmat tries to make his work mean something. For example, he wrote a column in response to development plans to condemn a dairy near his home in San Diego. The column worked to stop the developers, he said.
“If you write long enough and throw your lot in with a group of people you can make something happen,” he said.
“I like his socially active voice,” said senior creative writing major Sara Lesniak. “It’s interesting how he makes it work for his community.”
After the talk, Cesmat, honors students and faculty were invited to the Honors Center for pizza.
“It is refreshing to see his writing and know that he is being published, because I like his style. It’s refreshing to see he is accepted and liked for his modern voice,” senior English major Jessica Bohatch said.
A poetry reading, book signing and creative writing workshop followed later in the evening.
The last Voice in Action Reading and Master Class Series for the semester will present Terry Wolverton, author of “Embers,” at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 30 in the Cabaret Theater.
Bailey Porter can be reached at porterb@ulv.edu.