Aimee Nezhukumatathil Speaks to 9th Graders

By: Leela Gandhi, Anna Kim, Nhan Phan, Valentina Zhang

Poet Aimee Nezhukhumatathil delivered a poetry reading and answered questions to the prep class via Zoom on April 20. She read from a variety of her works including her award-winning essay collection Word of Wonders, and from her newest collection of poems titled Oceanic. Nezhukhumatathil answered student questions in a virtual Q&A session after her presentation.

Nezhukhumatathil, who was a 2020 Guggenheim fellow, began by reading a few poems from her book, including “On Listening to Your Teacher Take Attendance” and “Mr. Cass and the Crustaceans.” During the webinar, she started a narwhal-drawing competition when reading her essay “Narwhal” which received numerous submissions.

During the Q&A session, Nezhukhumatathil shared her story of how she became a poet. She explained how her parents had wanted her to become a lawyer, but after reading a poem called “Mint Snowball,” by Naomi Shihab Nye, she left law behind in pursuit of poetry. Despite the barriers of Zoom, Nezhukhumatathil connected with students by inviting them to share their connections to the poems, such as a favorite teacher from elementary school.

All prep English classes read Oceanic this spring. In Oceanic, Nezhukhumatathil uses nature, specifically the ocean, to bring attention to the abundance of life and love in the readers’ surroundings.

English Instructor Michelle Dionne shared her thoughts about the webinar. “I loved how she encouraged us to ‘wonder,’ like little kids, at clouds and trees and learn the names of things so that we might feel more ‘tender’ and less inclined to destroy nature,” she said. “I came away thinking that her conscious orientation toward ‘wonderment,’ as opposed to trauma, may be the secret to living abundantly, with all the joie de vivre Aimee herself so clearly has to share.”

English Instructor Duncan Holcomb reflected on teaching Oceanic in classes this past term. “I have enjoyed teaching and reading Oceanic. There’s a wide variety of material, so there’s something for everyone if you look closely,” he said.

Students also greatly enjoyed the reading. Prep William Weber explained the impact of seeing the authors he was reading. “It was really cool to see her because I didn’t know what she looked like, even though there’s a picture at the back of the book; I was experiencing her presence and her heart through her poetry,” Weber said.

Weber continued. “We’ve been talking in class and a lot of the discussion questions have been around ‘What does this poem mean?’ and, ‘Is it a metaphor of her experiences?’ And I think we learnt from the webinar that you can really just write a poem for the joy of writing a poem inspired by a documentary about penguins, and maybe that weaves into real life and there’s not always one specific answer to the puzzle of the poem. There’s no specific answer to ‘What does this really mean?’” Weber said.

Prep Eden Murphy enjoyed the opportunity to connect with Nezhukumatathil as a person. “What stood out to me most about the webinar was just getting to know Aimee a little bit. Through her writing we can see things that are important to her but seeing her personality makes it so you can see the person behind the words in the poem,” Murphy said.

Prep William Newby shared his favorite parts from the webinar. “I think when we read the poem in class, it’s a little bit different because we are interpreting the poems in different ways. Hearing her read the poems in such a different way, she brought different moods in different poems,” Newby said.

Prep Jamie Reidy added, “You could hear the passion and love of poetry just when she was reciting it and when she was discussing each poem and when she was answering the Q&A.”

Prep Aavik Wadivkar agreed. “It gives a greater depth on Oceanic, and the motivations that Aimee had for writing each of the individual poems and bringing it together because that’s an insight into the author herself. It really helps in understanding the meaning and thoughts behind the text on a page. It’s the power of words and it’s transformative. I find them thoughtful and I find them very personable,” Wadivkar said.

Prep Vedika Amin spoke to how Oceanic affected her. “Many poems in Oceanic have resonated with me thematically, but it was especially refreshing to read poems that accurately portray Indian culture. Oceanic has emphasized my view that books and poems do not have to revolve around just European or American culture, characters, and stories, and that they can, and should be more diverse,” Amin said.

Prep Indigo Ogiste noted that comfort that Nezhukamatahil’s provide in exploring identity. “I really liked it, especially the way it kind of really subtly incorporates racism and being a brown girl into it,” Ogiste said. “It's really interesting how, being Black myself, being able to see that, but then seeing the rest of like my non-POC classmates not catching it. When we discuss the poems, racism never is part of the conversation, but I'm like, this is definitely about racism. I think that's really funny.”

“I feel you need to know the story of the poems to like the poetry,” Ogiste continued. “And so to hear why she wrote the things she did and what it was really about, it was really eye opening. I feel like that's probably going to motivate me to learn more about the poems that I read in the future.”