Lamont Poet: Julia Alvarez
The lights dimmed as Julia Alvarez, a small lady in a black dress and leather boots, took the stage. Alvarez, this term’s Lamont Poet, surprised the audience with her powerful voice as she began to share her poetry with the Exeter community on Wednesday evening, presenting a repertoire of both the “oldies but goldies” and more recent drafts. With her exquisite skill in language and tales of childhood as an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, she captured the attention of many Exonians.
English Instructor Mercy Carbonell, who introduced Ms. Alvarez on stage, commented on the impact her poetry has had on her life. Carbonell came across Alvarez’s poetry during the last months of her college career, when Alvarez’s debut novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents had just entered the literary scene.
“The nature of the questions her poetry opens us to ask is just what literature can offer us: to interrogate our perception, to further our ways of seeing, to allow compassion and forgiveness for lenses we may have inherited within what one of my students called ‘the emotional vulnerability’ of navigating a ‘socio-cultural script,’” Carbonell said. “Teaching her work in the current landscape and historical American moment is, quite simply, a serious gift.”
Carbonell elaborated, “I loved the way my students taught me how to read Alvarez’s poems. In those moments, I found breaths of thought and sensibility I had not seen before. My hope was that they would appreciate her work: the art, the meaning, the sensual experience, the returning to childhood to gather a self in the present.”
Upon first coming across Alvarez’s work in English class, Exonians were especially touched by her messages on intersectionality and identity. “I just feel like she really had a real message,” said lower Binuki Thiruchelvam. “The way that she was able to not have to tell us straight out what she was feeling but instead show that feeling through her usage of words.”
“I expected her to read some really well known poems,” upper Anna Fahey said. Fahey, much like other Exonians, was surprised to hear her read drafts of poems which were only written two days prior. “It just felt more intimate and special because you knew that she was just sharing and giving this to you,” explained Fahey. Lower Senai Robinson agreed. “When she shared her newer work, I thought it was better, and her courage to be up there and humbleness was really amazing,” Robinson said.
The following day, Alvarez also held a question and answer session during Department Meeting, which attracted many interested Exonians. Prompted by their inquiries, the poet spoke more about her family—a constant source of poetic inspiration—and her way of looking at poetry. “People think we write because we know things, but writers write because we want to find out things,” she said.
Alvarez also gave advice to aspiring writers, saying, “Something special happens in the voice of the poem when you truly connect with it.” She cautioned against the use of clichés and abstractions, which she likened to “processed food.” She said,“When you’re trying to write about big concepts and difficult questions, the hard thing to remember is to stay with the experience…Let the readers experience for themselves.”
Because of her visceral descriptions of real-life scenes, many students were able to relate with Alvarez’s poems, some to the point of tears. Thiruchelvam connected to a story the poet shared about how she had not wanted her father to meet her friends because of his immigrant background. “I really wanted to know how she overcame that and how that worked out for her,” Thiruchelvam explained. “I have felt the same way when I was little, or even just last year. I never really wanted my parents to meet my friends because I just thought the language barrier and cultural differences would be a little weird.”
While not all of the community could connect to these specific problems, everyone was able to leave Alvarez’s poetry reading having learned something. “Though I can’t relate with many of her poems and topics, I think that when she talks about more universal topics like love, family and fulfillment in one’s on life, her poems are more relatable for someone who doesn’t share many experiences with her,” senior Alan Xie said.