Virgin

Poetry is a divine way to express inner thoughts and perspectives on life. Not only is this something new to me, but so is everything that goes along with Professor Chasar's class. I have never studied poetry to the degree that my peers in this class have, and I am being introduced to many new things. One being a live poetry reading. At first I was skeptical of the attention span I would have while sitting in the audience listening to an unknown name to me, when everyone around me seemed to be squirming in their seats with big smiles waiting anxiously for the speaker to approach the tiny podium. As a young-looking man timidly walked up to the audience after a brief introduction, he seemed more intimidated by the situation than I did. Looking around at a broad age range of audience, I soon realized this is a big deal. The eager listeners encouraged me to take more of an interest in not only Zach Savage, but also poetry readings themselves.

Zach Savich, a former U of I student, quickly broke the awkward silence. He gave a few shout outs, made a few personal jokes, and paused. I sat there, clueless to the references of his former professors and lost in a big room with chairs filled with people. Even though I felt like everything he was going to say would go over my head, I sat there patiently trying to figure out what this was all about.

His smile was genuine. Almost looking as though he did not deserve to be there, he still held his head high and smiled. After giving an interesting brief history of his writing, he introduced his book he would be reading from. Then I felt comfortable. Finally, I thought, this is what I walked down to Prairie Lights to be a part of. Then he raised a question before he read his work aloud: "What do you write for? What do you think of when you write, and how do you portray this?" I paused. Seeing as how I've only written one occasional poem, I really thought about his questions. Is there nothing I am passionate about in my life that I can't, like Zach, write a poem expressing my perspective? Or is what I am passionate for not clearly recognized to the point where I can express my perspective to tell a poetic story? Maybe there is just something I'm not understanding.

Zach's voice was clear, but timid. I felt like he was nervous, which made me nervous too! He finally recited a poem—and, to my disappointment, with little enthusiasm. Or was this the way that his poetry is read aloud? I can not blame him for being nervous, but his presentation did not do his poems justice. Just as we had discussed in class, some poems are written for the page and some for the stage. After putting aside his actual presentation, it was easy for me to listen and understand the context of what he was saying, and really enjoy them.

Zach writes with such romanticism, and he mentioned he draws a lot of inspiration from Shakespeare. This was something I felt I could relate to—a romantic point of view—and after listening to his poems I felt a connection to the whole atmosphere. With each poem, I grew more intrigued, like I was finally understanding why Professor Chasar assigned these reviews.

After all was said and done, the whole experience only lasted an hour. Even though Zach invited us to stay and chat after, I felt as though I needed time to reflect on my experience instead of making random small talk with him. I feel like I am more prepared and have a better mindset for the next reading I will attend.

by Whitney Overmire